What's the Flavor of the Day?
Changelog4/29/2021: The shortcut has been updated to include a built-in method to subscribe to the Flavor of the Day calendar if you choose. It is set by default to check your device’s calendar for events where the Flavor of the Day is included in the title. If you are already subscribed to the calendar, the shortcut will not prompt you to subscribe. If you’re not, the shortcut will ask you if you want to subscribe. If you don’t want to subscribe, and don’t want to be asked to subscribe going forward, change the Number near the top of the shortcut editor to “0.”
5/18/2021: The shortcut will now display the Flavor of the Day when it’s ran on an iOS device, rather than speak it out loud. If the user asks Siri “What’s the Flavor of the Day?” then Siri will speak the result.
6/7/2021: The shortcut will now prompt for decision on whether you would like to subscribe to the Flavor of the Day calendar or not. If you’d like to be asked to subscribe, leave the number as 1. If not, change to 0.
11/2/2021: Our friends over at Goodberry’s left us without an updated Flavor of the Day calendar for the month of November until well into the first day of the month. If that scenario arises again, and a user attempts to run the Flavor of the Day shortcut, the user will see a message that indicates the calendar has not been published and to check back later. Further, there is a workaround to accommodate holidays where Goodberry’s is closed and there is no Flavor of the Day as a result. The shortcut should return a message that Goodberry’s is closed.
11/4/2021: The previous update included a workaround to accommodate holidays that Goodberry’s is closed. There is a more permanent solution to this scenario in this newest version. When Goodberry’s is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, the user will see a relevant message.
11/25/2021: The holiday message function, added in the previous iteration, was broken. It should no longer be broken.
11/25/2021: Overlooked something silly in the last version. Fixed again and all should be right in the world.
12/25/2021: Google decided to change the syntax for their public Calendar links just in time for Christmas. I think it’s fixed, but I’ll keep testing it over the next few days to make sure.
01/01/2022: I added a redirect link for the Google Calendar within the Shortcut. I’ve avoided this up until now because the Shortcut will prompt the user to allow data to be sent to/from my website, which can be alarming.
Now that Google has proven they are willing to change the Google Calendar URLs without notice, there is a high likelihood that there are many, many users out there where the link to get the Flavor of the Day is broken. Changing the URL to point to my website, which will ONLY redirect to the Google Calendar link, will allow me to correct the issue without users needing to update the Shortcut.
Also, I’ve adjusted the message that displays when the Shortcut does not return a flavor, as a result of Goodberry’s not providing the updated calendar, me not adding the updated flavors to the Google Calendar in a timely, or Google updating the URL to break the Shortcut.
P.S. Happy New Year!
01/01/2022: My update earlier turned out to be a bad idea. I changed it back, but also created a method of checking for an updated version. It basically creates a file on a user’s iCloud Files of the current URL to download the Shortcut, and will compare the URL to the file each time the Shortcut is ran. If the Shortcut recognizes a difference in the URL at some point in the future, it will indicate an update is available.
01/03/2022: My version checker is not compatible with iOS 15 because of all of the bugs in the Shortcuts app in iOS (womp womp).
The bug in this case points to an action that seeks a file in iCloud Drive that contains the last-saved Shortcut link. If the Shortcut doesn't find a file, it's supposed to omit an error given Error If Not Found is disabled. Apparently that selection means nothing in iOS 15, because the Shortcut throws an error, and then stops entirely without providing. Depressing.
In this version, I added an action that checks whether the device is running iOS 15+. If yes, the Shortcut omits the version checker. If no, it should proceed normally.
It's also worth mentioning that I have no idea if the Shortcut works with an iOS version prior to iOS 14. I don't think I have a device running anything prior to iOS 14, but I shall look.
01/05/2022: Scratch everything about the version checker/updater from the previous update(s). The Expand URL is not behaving for me to accomplish the goal, so I took it out entirely. Perhaps I'll finally get down and dirty to figure out how to implement a functional updater. We shall see.
01/07/2022: The updater is workin', y'all! I added the Shortcut to
RoutineHub, which is where it will seek the most up-to-date version. If a newer version is found, the Shortcut will ask the user to update.
01/11/2022: If the Shortcut doesn't return a result for some reason, previously the it would simply say that. Now, it will say that, but it will also present options to see the Flavor of the Day calendar on Goodberry's website and on my website.
Also added some clarity to the instructions for subscribing to the Flavor of the Day calendar from within the Shortcut.
Lastly, revised some of the messages in the Shortcut.
01/28/2022: An action was added that connects to the Count API. Count API does exactly what it says, and will simply count the number of times the page is hit. By default, the Shortcut will hit the page each time it is ran, which will allow me to get a better idea of the Shortcut's usage. There are instructions in the initial install that will allow a user to opt out if preferred.
Added an option to the list that is presented when the Shortcut does not return any results. The user will be capable of creating an email, including a pre-populated message, to reach out to me directly for assistance.
Made some further adjustments to the comments found within the Shortcut.