Introduction
Are you using often your iPhone calendar (more platforms to follow) for creating new events and wish there was a way to create faster entries by typing all details in one line?
Now there is a way for just that!! You type all the details in one line – Title, Start date using Natural Language and an optional Note. The app then picks up these details, fills in the right fields and displays a dialog for confirmation and save!
Code available on GitHub: https://github.com/mickthegrit/oneliner-entry
Quick Examples
Cook dinner 19:00
Meet Angelo Monday 15:00 bring notepad
Gym Sat 10:00am
Phone session with coach next Tue 13:00
Trip NYC next weekend
*you could also write w/end above
Meet landlord for rent 1 August
*Aug works too
Start date and time supported formats
Time
Both 24 hours’ and US formats are supported.
Date is optional. If the set time implies tomorrow (less than the current time), then the start date will be automatically set to tomorrow rather than today. For example, if current time is 13:15 and the input time is 13:00, then the start date will be tomorrow.
If an event for today is required with past time (today or yesterday), then add the operator today or yesterday as set date.
Examples
- 24 hours formats
- 12:15
- 18:30
- 00:10
- US format
- 12:15pm
- 12:15 pm
- 6:30am
- 6:30 am
Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday
The app understands the above operators. If no time is entered, then all-day events will be created.
Power user tip: Tod is a shortcut for today, while tom for tomorrow.
Week days
Full week day name or the 3-letters shortcut, e.g. Monday or Mon etc.
It is possible to add the next or following operator to move 7 days later the calculated start date.
Weekend
Simply write the word weekend or w/end to get an all-day two-days event for the coming weekend.
It is possible to add the next or following operator to move 7 days later the calculated start date.
Count and time unit
Add to the current date and / or time the specified Duration.
The supported time-unit values are (singular and plural are supported):
- Minutes
- Hours
- Days
- Weeks
- Months
- Years
Apart from the minutes and hours time units, all the rest can be combined with an optional time, before or after the input date.
Examples:
- Meeting 35 Minutes
- Meeting 1 hour
- Meeting 3 days
- Meeting 3 days 8:00
- Meeting 8:00 3 days
- Meeting 1 week
- Meeting 3 weeks
- Meeting 5 months
- Meeting 2 years
Note: it is not possible to make a combination of time units currently, for example 2 years 3 months 1 day. If you are interested in this feature please let us know
Next or Following Operators
Further to the before mentioned scenarios, next or following can be combined with:
- week
- month
- year
The time is optional (all-day event).
Count, month name and year
Specify a number, the month’s name (full name or 3-letters shortcut) and optionally the year (2 or 4 digits).
Examples:
- 10 September 18:00
- 20 Oct
- 25 Dec 2024
For Power users
It is possible to simply add only a number which is being interpreted as the number of minutes in the future from the current time – no need for input date.
For example, Cook lasagna 20 will create an entry in 20 minutes from now.
Any number of minutes is allowed – it will be automatically converted to the expected future time.
Default values
Alert times
For events with start time: 30 minutes before the due time
For all-day events: 16 hours before the due time
* These values are not configurable with your input. They can only be updated at the confirmation dialog.
Note: in iOS Settings for the Calendar there are default values as well. It is possible to suppress the hard-coded alert times that this app generates by adding one of the following keywords (case insensitive)
- NOAL
- NOALERT
- NA
Event duration
45 minutes
* Not configurable at the moment with your input. It can be updated at the confirmation dialog.