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"Tasker" is a BEAST! (in a good way)

Does anyone know if you can use tasker to read your calendar and then change settings based on a calendar entry (example- My calendar shows I'm in a meeting, so tasker turns my volume off)? Is there a way to do this?
 
brianr8011 said:
Does anyone know if you can use tasker to read your calendar and then change settings based on a calendar entry (example- My calendar shows I'm in a meeting, so tasker turns my volume off)? Is there a way to do this?
Click to expand...
Yep - It's a State Context: Calendar Entry. You can do pattern matching on the title, location or description. You can even select which calendar to monitor. I've got a profile called "Don't Be a Jerk!" that puts my phone on vibrate every time I'm in a one-on-one meeting (title = *1:1*).
 
kpantz said:
Yep - It's a State Context: Calendar Entry. You can do pattern matching on the title, location or description. You can even select which calendar to monitor. I've got a profile called "Don't Be a Jerk!" that puts my phone on vibrate every time I'm in a one-on-one meeting (title = *1:1*).
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Followup question- Can it access Touchdown calenders or just Google?
 
Still debating on this. Admittedly, I don't use my phone to its full potential to really make Tasker shine (never really listen to music on it, mostly just browsing, apps, news, etc). Even one of the biggest touted GPS features is overstated. I used to turn GPS off and on thinking it'd save battery.. but many seem to not realize it only drains battery when an app is accessing it. Maybe I'll get it so it'll automatically turn on WIFI when I'm home. If I can find even one automated daily usage on this, it'd make it worth it for me.
 
brianr8011 said:
Thanks!

Followup question- Can it access Touchdown calenders or just Google?
Click to expand...

Not sure - I don't know Touchdown, but I've heard it mentioned alongside Exchange. I can state for a fact that it works with Exchange calendars. I've got Exchange sync going on my Incredible and Tasker picks it up just fine.
 
3 easy things to do make the App worth it alone:

1. Turn on vibrate when at work (GPS)
2. Turn up volume and turn on sound when home (GPS)
3. Set phone to silence when placed face down on your desk.
 
My favorite use for it is to send an SMS to my wife when I reach a point about 15 minutes from home during my evening commute. Location-based and time/day based contexts. If I'm in that spot Mon-Fri between 3 and 7 PM, fire it. Works like a charm. :)
 
This is sick. People should post interesting ideas they come up with for tasker. We should use this thread as a brainstorming session for cool things this application can do. So far here's what I've set up. Nothing particularly complex, but I'm happy with it so far:

1. Phone goes to vibrate mode when within 2km of where I work (just to be safe), using net location
2. Media volume increases to max when I plug in my headset, and all other volume settings are turned down to mid-range
3. GPS turns on when I open google maps.
4. Phone switches to silent mode (except for the alarm) from 10:30pm to midnight Sunday-Thursday, and midnight to 6am Monday-Friday
5. Media volume automatically adjusted to a lower setting for games that play particularly loud.
6. Wifi turns on when I am in range of my home router.
 
For all those using GPS location-based profiles for things like work and home, consider doing Wifi Near instead. Much more precise and better in terms of battery.
 
dalper5 said:
3 easy things to do make the App worth it alone:

1. Turn on vibrate when at work (GPS)
2. Turn up volume and turn on sound when home (GPS)
3. Set phone to silence when placed face down on your desk.
Click to expand...


These are features I was interested as well and think I'd be using on a daily basis.
 
Now, I have another question...can you create a Yes / No dialog box? For example, I get near the grocery store, I have the phone notify my (based on location). I want a popup that asks something along the lines of "Do you need anything at the store?" with a Yes / No dialog box. If I select Yes, load OurGroceries app. If I select No, stops the task.

I know I can change the Open App action to a menu, but it is just a popup menu that you have to either click on to launch the app, or wait for it to time out. I would like to be able to just click no and stop it there without waiting for the menu to timeout. The menu interface also isn't very clean, as it just says the name of the action and doesn't provide for custom text entry (that I can find).
 
Hahahha...look what it says on the official website...

Status

Order issues are overwhelming user support due to the Lifehacker review, please have patience while the backlog is reduced.
Click to expand...


brianr8011 said:
Does anyone know if you can use tasker to read your calendar and then change settings based on a calendar entry (example- My calendar shows I'm in a meeting, so tasker turns my volume off)? Is there a way to do this?
Click to expand...

To answer your question:

Use this as a guide to setup whatever you need to..
Muteinmeetings - Tasker Wiki
 
I had played around with the free beta for tasker for a while and one thing that bothered me was that the program would not allow my phone to go into sleep/standby mode. My "awake time" was equal to my "up time" or increasing at the same rate. Is this something that has changed in the final Market release?
 
I've been using Timeriffic to automate things on my DI, which is similar, but less powerful, as it is basically limited to time of day scheduling. Regardless, I use it to do several things, that Tasker could probably do too.

1. Set all notification volumes to 0% and vibrate ON during work hours. Set notification to 100% otherwise.

2. Turn WiFi on or off at times when I'm at home or at work usually.

3. Turn screen brightness to 100% during times I'm outside or in the car (commuting). Turn it down to ~20% from 7pm -bedtime, to save battery and eyestrain.

4. Turn phone into Airplane mode from when I go to bed to before I wake up. This saves battery in case I forget to plug in overnight.

I've been happy with these settings, but may look in to Tasker for more advanced stuff, like opening apps at certain times (like Weatherbug in the morning), or when I plug in headphones (Listen, Pandora, Music).
 
dibs ODDJOB said:
I've been using Timeriffic to automate things on my DI, which is similar, but less powerful, as it is basically limited to time of day scheduling. Regardless, I use it to do several things, that Tasker could probably do too.

1. Set all notification volumes to 0% and vibrate ON during work hours. Set notification to 100% otherwise.

2. Turn WiFi on or off at times when I'm at home or at work usually.

3. Turn screen brightness to 100% during times I'm outside or in the car (commuting). Turn it down to ~20% from 7pm -bedtime, to save battery and eyestrain.

4. Turn phone into Airplane mode from when I go to bed to before I wake up. This saves battery in case I forget to plug in overnight.

I've been happy with these settings, but may look in to Tasker for more advanced stuff, like opening apps at certain times (like Weatherbug in the morning), or when I plug in headphones (Listen, Pandora, Music).
Click to expand...

I actually haven't been able to replicate one of the features of Timeriffic, which is day-of-week scheduling. When I create a new time-based profile, all it asks are for start and end times.
 
lvlln said:
I actually haven't been able to replicate one of the features of Timeriffic, which is day-of-week scheduling. When I create a new time-based profile, all it asks are for start and end times.
Click to expand...

you can add a day-based profile, then select days of the week instead of dates.

you can actually apply multiple items in the criteria for a single task, so for example I set mine to be silent from midnight to 6am and from 10:30pm to midnight. Then I added another criterion to the same task, specifying the days of the week I wanted it to apply to.

I hope this all makes sense >.<

This is crazy powerful.
 
This looks very promising, I think I'll buy it outright. I have a few questions though for those who use it already

  • Has anyone noticed an adverse effect on their battery life?
  • Is there some kind of global setting for how often it checks for conditions (again for battery concerns)?
  • Is it easy to set up a delayed text message? What is the basic process?
Any information would be awesome.
Thanks!
 
marcusmpe said:
This looks very promising, I think I'll buy it outright. I have a few questions though for those who use it already

  • Has anyone noticed an adverse effect on their battery life?
  • Is there some kind of global setting for how often it checks for conditions (again for battery concerns)?
  • Is it easy to set up a delayed text message? What is the basic process?
Any information would be awesome.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

I second the questions about battery life, and also wanted to add:

Can it send Google Voice text messages?
 
For the location based tasks, is there a way to apply the same set of settings to multiple locations without having to create a new task for each location.

Example- I have a location task for my office that sets all of my volumes to zero and turns on vibration. I would like to apply these same rules to the local movie theaters that I go to.

If I can do this all in one task, that would be awesome, otherwise I can just create multiples.

Thanks for all the great help so far.
 
I'm not sure about sending texts through a specific application. I was wondering the same thing. I would be willing to bet there's a way to do it. I just don't know how.

I did just successfully set up a late night SMS auto-reply, though. Pretty sweet.

Also, I'm not seeing any adverse effects on the battery life. Doesn't appear to be using any significant amount of battery.
 
Yes, there are options on how often it scans things, and in categories too. For example, you can set a time in milliseconds on how often it checks to see if new applications have been started. And on the standard settings, I haven't noticed any extra drain on battery. If anything, this has helped since I set conditions for battery states < 15% (such as turning down the brightness and ending a few applications that I typically run). Sorry, but I haven't messed with any of the text options.
 
I also forgot to ask if anyone has figured out a way to do an automatic, and more importantly random (or apparently random) wallpaper changing task. Ideally it would randomly select a wallpaper from a given folder on a set interval. I see that it can specifically change the wallpaper, but wondering about a randomness option.
 
if any one has created a gps rule, please let me know what i am missing...

i created a task widget that does the following:
1) starts gps
2) opens navigation app
3) sets all volume options to max

what i cant find is a way to revert all this once i exit out of the navigation....
I know i can create a separate rule that when navigation closes, gps would shout off.
but it has to be an easier(smarter) way to do this.

any ideas? and yes i read the devs site with all the q&a and wikis and examples :)

Lifehacker has a nice writeup, but doesnt accomplish what i am trying to do...
 
I've been using the tasker beta since I first got my incredible back in april. As soon as beta ended I bought it, so far it's the ONLY app I've bought. I can't imagine my phone without it. When I get in my car it starts my music, adjusts my volume, turns off wifi, etc. It knows when I'm at work, at home, or just out and about, and sets stuff accordingly. It's updated constantly and keeps getting better. Love it.

I've tried settings profiles and locale and they just don't give me the freedom or options that I get with tasker.


Tasker Does
 
crutoi said:
what i cant find is a way to revert all this once i exit out of the navigation....
I know i can create a separate rule that when navigation closes, gps would shout off.
but it has to be an easier(smarter) way to do this.

any ideas? and yes i read the devs site with all the q&a and wikis and examples :)
Click to expand...
From the dev's site under user guide:Setting Restoration
Single Profile Tasker treats settings slightly different to other actions.
When a setting is applied by the Enter Task, it's value is restored when the profile becomes inactive. For example, if the ringer volume is at 7 and is set to 0 in the Enter Task, when the profile becomes inactive it is automatically set back to 7. In other words, settings are only valid for the lifetime of their profile.
Click to expand...
I downloaded the demo and I don't doubt it will consume me for the next few days. The possibilities are endless!
 
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