Integration with Tasker

[mabahj]

Great! :-)

Sent fra min One via Tapatalk

[Kostya Vasilyev]

About Tasker:

I've often gotten comments about how great Tasker support is in K9 Mail.

Is this it, from Tasker user docs?

http://tasker.dinglisch.net/userguide/en/variables.html

Email From / Cc / Subject / Date / Time (dynamic)
%EFROM / %ECC / %ESUBJ / %EDATE / %ETIME
The From, Cc, Subject, Received Date and Received Time of the last email received by the K9 email agent.

I've searched K9 source code for Tasker support, and found nothing. Looks like K9 support is built into Tasker, not the other way around.

Can anyone who've used K9 with Tasker comment on this?

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Answering my own quesiton:

Ok, so K9 support is built into Tasker itself.

It has a problem: only data from the most recently received message is available.

If I were to write a plugin for Tasker as part of Aqua, I'd be able to make data from multiple messages available.

But overall, events from Aqua would not be seen in Tasker in exactly the same way as K9 events.

What are people looking for? Add events in Tasker based on message sender / cc / subject?

[Kostya Vasilyev]

I am in the process of getting something to work, but...

...is there any interest in this? Should I continue?

[pyler]

Yes!
And you should relax and watch Google I/O

[mabahj]

My main need is to get the unread message count from AquaMail on my Pebble. And it looks like the Glance developer may work on that.

This, however, limits me (and others) to use Glance. If this information could be available in Tasker, then it would give us more flexibility.

And the actual email content Pebble can get from AquaMail is limited to the notification content. I would love to be able to read the entire message, delete it, move it to spam or archive it. This would require a bigger email client for the Pebble, which is too much to ask. However, there are several Tasker clients available , and if this information and these features (or a subset thereof) could be available in Tasker, then I can script most of the rest. I would assume that this would be useful for others trying to get AquaMail info into other gadgets and services.

So, to summarise, my prioritised wish list is:
1. Full AquaMail client on my Pebble, with predefined answers I can choose from. (I know, but it is still the top wish. :-))
2. Unread message count (probably Smart Folder) in Tasker
3. Arrived message notification/event in Tasker with message content available.
4. Ability to do something with that message. (mark read, delete, move to spam, move to archive, maybe a simple reply)

Regarding getting all the messages: I understand why you think that is better, but in my mind it would not be the best use of your resources, at least when it comes to smart watches and similar devices. They are very much focused on passive content consumption, as it happens. You get a notification, and you decide on what you want to do - dismiss or maybe send a simple reply. Or pick up the phone. I can read my older text messages on my Pebble but I never do. I have already consumed that information and the small screen is not really ideal for mailbox cleanup and things like that. My two cents.

Best regards,
Markus

[pyler]

Yes!
And you should relax and watch Google I/O

Something for you
http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/06/25/io-2014-google-announces-the-gmail-api-promises-much-faster-performance-than-imap/

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Well, I really don't think that using Tasker as a bridge for notifications is a good way to go about it.

If a Pebble app developer wants to support notifications from Aqua, they should either have their own API or use Aqua's.

This has worked remarkably well with Apex Launcher, Nova Launcher, LightFlow, other notification enhancement apps. There is no reason it can't work for the Pebble, but the one important thing is --

-- whether these developers have any interest in integrating with Aqua.

The developers of the apps I mentioned above did have interest, or responded to my queries about how I could integrate.

"It takes two to tango", you know.

About other kinds of things that could be useful (and I don't quite know the scenarios, since I don't personally use Tasker for anything):

I kept hearing that K9 integration in Tasker is really really great.

Well, I checked it out. It provides access to data from one and only one most recent message. The data is things like sender, subject... etc but not message text.

I already have things like sender / subject / to / CC  / folder name / account name working, as an Event plugin. You can set triggers on text matches in header fields.

So it's up to K9 level but without the "one and only one message" limitation (there are some others, but they won't be addressed in Tasker 4.4...)

Event plugins are new in Tasker 4.4, which is currently in beta. So the only questions, for me, are about when / how to release this, also considering that 1.4 is still not fully rolled out.

I could wait for Tasker 4.4 to be fully released, then do a 1.4.1 update, while keeping working on new features for 1.5. That's one possible scenario to think about.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

About the new Gmail API.

I've only gotten half a dozen queries about it today

It says right here:

https://developers.google.com/gmail/api/

Note: The Gmail API should not be used to replace IMAP for full-fledged email client access. Instead, see IMAP and SMTP.

About performance:

There is no reason IMAP can't be fast. Gmail's is a bit on the slow side, although not that bad (Outlook.com is noticeably worse).

Maybe Google needs to send someone to apprentice at Fastmail.fm

And one other thing: maybe they (Google) can finally fix their IMAP IDLE (push) implementation, which is incomplete since 2007, not sending message state changes.

Oh wait, that's not something new and shiny, going back and fixing stuff is mundane and difficult. Besides, the Android Gmail app doesn't use IMAP, and so it gets state changes just fine.

From the article you linked:

[ the new API] because it no longer uses TCP / SMTP

No longer uses TCP... And what, pray tell, does REST HTTP traffic run on top of, if not TCP/IP?

[Scott_Miller]

What are people looking for? Add events in Tasker based on message sender / cc / subject?

I think you've got this right. Tasker users would want to trigger an action or series of actions based on receiving an email with a specific (wildcard matching exists in Tasker) subject, sender, recipient,  body content, etc. Anything that could be unique enough to reliably be seen as an event.

For example, as an IT professional, I rely on a monitoring system to tell me when something is not working. It can notify me by email. I would configure Tasker to provide some really obnoxious alarm when that email is received, so I don't ignore it. But other email would pass by without any Tasker intervention.

It could also be used to help create an autoresponder, for example when driving, to let specific people know you will respond later when it is safe.

I currently use Maildroid. I don't like K9. But K9 is the only email that has any integration with Tasker, and that was done by the developer of Tasker, probably as an example to show what is possible. Having this capability with Aqua Mail would probably make me switch, and I suspect, others, as well.

Thanks for pursuing this.

Scott

[Kostya Vasilyev]

K9 Mail integration is indeed built into Tasker.

Starting with Tasker 4.4 (currently in beta), there is a way to implement this type of thing as a plugin, and it can actually be better in some ways.

I already have it working in Aqua, on a separate code branch.

It's possible to match messages on: from / to / cc / subject / priority / account.

No matching for message body, might be added later or maybe not (since the user may have Aqua only load message headers and no text when checking mail).

The plugin sets variables from a matched message: from / to / cc, account name, folder name, etc.

Now as to when it's going to be released, and how -- after I'm done with rolling out 1.4.0, and probably after Tasker 4.4 is actually released.

I also posted a detailed message on Tasker users mailing list here:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/tasker/ptRmSJcZ6Es/VDs6RBhF4aQJ

Some screenshots, sorry about their large sizes.

[Scott_Miller]

Thanks. I did see your comments in the Tasker thread. That's what lead me here. I have been a Tasker user for several years, including the betas. I am using the 4.4 beta.

I am very much encouraged by your willingness to implement the event plugin. It's been needed for a long time. I had a thought earlier, and wanted to mention it as another idea. I believe it's possible to set an importance flag on a message. This may also be useful as a query in Tasker. It's just a suggestion, for what it's worth.

Thanks again, and I'll keep watching for the next release. By the way, I'm getting accustomed to AquaMail, and I do like what I see.

Scott

[pyler]

Will be possible force mail check by Tasker?

[mabahj]

Will be possible force mail check by Tasker?

I believe that this is already supported. Create a task and select the AquaMail plugin. Scroll down the configuration list and look at Check mail almost at the bottom. I have not tried this myself so I could be wrong.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Yes, triggering a mail check, as well as changing the app's settings (e.g. mail check frequency, enabling or disabling push) has been possible since... forever.

As @mabahj said -- be sure to look under Plugins, not built-in Tasker actions.

On the other hand, Pent said something about moving Aqua's plugins into a better place in his menu hierarchies.