ix
commented
8 years ago It's definitely possible but it could be quite a bit of work, I think the best way to do it manually (as opposed to integrating with GCal) would be to maintain a sqlite database of mentor schedules and check to see when somebody's scheduled to be available, then confirm with them whether or not they're still available, that would also involve working out how to receive messages with slacker, which I'm not sure is actually possible yet... Then posting to #learning is easy.
Some things to consider are what the best way to keep the schedule checking efficient is, as each second sounds unreasonable in my opinion, and also what to do if no response is received from the mentor.
If we also wanted to post only the time slots that haven't been taken, we'd probably need to integrate with Google Calendar unless we devise a format mentors can send their remaining schedule back and the bot can parse it. Thinking about it, integrating with Google Calendar in general might be better and make it easier as a whole.
If there's a simple way to see "upcoming events" that'd be perfect.
Could the bot send a private message to mentors some time before their scheduled lessons times, asking if they're still available? And if they are, posting an announcement in the Learning channel with what times are available?