Justin Haaheim

Fixing GTasker

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Justin
in

Update 1/29/13: GTasker seems to be working for me now both in Safari and Chrome. It is working for you? Leave a comment below.

Lots of folks have been using a version of GTasker I reposted after the original went down. GTasker a tool to display multiple Google Tasks windows side by side, but now it seems to be non-functional. I don’t have the time to do much troubleshooting on it, but I’d like to empower others to do so, so here’s the skinny:

GTasker in GitHub

GTasker runs simply in HTML and Javascript. When the original went down, I was able to recover it using the Wayback Machine on the Internet Archive. I tweaked it slightly and then reposted it primarily for my own use, so I didn’t bother to take out the code and comments that the wayback machine added.

GTasker has never worked for me in Google Chrome because Chrome obeys X-Frame-Options strictly, which is something Google put in their Google Tasks code to (presumably) prevent it from being embedded. Safari historically hasn’t cared about that, so it ran fine there.

As of last week (1/18/13, I believe) it stopped working in Safari. It’s quite possible it’s an easy fix, but also quite possible that Google has changed something rendering a tool like GTasker impossible or more difficult.

I’ve posted the code (just html+javascript, again) to GitHub to facilitate working on it and give it an online home. As far as I know the code has no explicit license.

Lots of people have emailed me about working on it, so I’ll leave the comments open here for folks to communicate with each other.

Comments

16 responses to “Fixing GTasker”

  1. Polshgiant Avatar
    Polshgiant

    This seems to be a change on Google’s side. Now, the tasks page comes back with X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN which tells browsers not to display the page in a frame if the page isn’t on the same domain. Google’s own Google Tasks Chrome extension is also broken. Links for reference:

    https://productforums.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/calendar/miofrjPmpHU

    https://productforums.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/chrome/r5yXcB0v8E0

    https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/chrome/DeVkSQS6dm8/aGL4MobwkjIJ

    Unfortunately, I think we’re boned until Google removes the header. As a disappointing workaround, you can browse directly to https://mail.google.com/tasks/canvas (it defeats the purpose of the lovely GTasker, but it’s better than working with Tasks in GMail).

    Reply
  2. Davdi Avatar
    Davdi

    https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig?up_CurrentListId='+++list_id+++'&parent='+++escape(window.location)+++‘

    This is the javascript that makes the magic!

    Reply
  3. jon Avatar
    jon

    Hey Justin, Thanks for continuing to look for a fix for GTasker. I realy depend on it, as I have hundreds of tasks accross a dozen tasklists for multiple clients, work & home. From google research, it appears that lots of other related apps stopped working around 1/15/13. Perhaps if you reach out to those forums/communities, we can get it fixed.
    Also – I noticed your appeal for help showing up at the top of JustinH.org, but not on http://www.gtasker.co.uk (which is showing an odd page). Thanks much!!!

    http://code.google.com/p/google-tasks-chrome-extension/issues/detail?id=24

    There is one post that may be a “temporary work around”
    I had tasks working great as a web page in my proto page but it recently quit working too.
    I suspect that Google made a change that does not allow tasks to be in a frame.

    Reply
  4. Polshgiant Avatar
    Polshgiant

    Looks like Google removed the header and GTasker is working again! Woohoo!

    Reply
  5. jon Avatar
    jon

    Gtasker is working again at this URL https://justinh.org/gtasker/#1,5 but not at the URL most people bookmarked at http://www.gtasker.co.uk/ (which appears to be someones site: Wicked Game is a 60ft narrowboat).
    – Do you or the owner of that domain need to change a redirect?
    – Did you need to change anything to get it working, or did Google Fix it? Are they possibly mucking with it to try to retire iGoogle?
    Thanks much for keeping it alive!

    Reply
    1. Justin Avatar
      Justin

      Hi Jon,
      I don’t (and never did) own gtasker.co.uk, and I don’t think google did either. The original site (gtasker.com) was managed by someone else, but then it disappeared in the last year or so. AFAIK, justinh.org/gtasker is the only place that hosts this little script right now, though there’s nothing stopping anyone from hosting it elsewhere.

      Justin

      Reply
  6. Federico Avatar
    Federico

    Works again, great :)

    Reply
  7. Dylan Avatar
    Dylan

    it is not working for me on the newest version of chrome.

    Reply
  8. Polshgiant Avatar
    Polshgiant

    ARG! Broken for me as well in Chrome, Firefox, and IE. Same problem as before (X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN header).

    Seriously annoying.

    Reply
  9. jon Avatar
    jon

    Quit working on 2/12 again in Chrome or IE8. Are we still dependent on google to roll back their changes, or do we need an alternative? The next best thing I’ve created is to use the Chrome Extension “split Screen” to show a Task View on the right and Tasks Canvas-View on the left (with the list picker).

    In IE8 I get this error.
    This content cannot be displayed in a frame
    To help protect the security of information you enter into this website, the publisher of this content does not allow it to be displayed in a frame.

    What you can try: Open this content in a new window

    Reply
  10. Federico Avatar
    Federico

    Stopped working again :(

    Reply
  11. jon Avatar
    jon

    Hey Everyone, I have been using a workaround for a couple days, which is working almost better. After many hours searching for a technical work-around, I realized we just need a client browser that could disable or disregard X-FRAME-OPTIONS. An earlier version of Opera Browser Portable/Usb v10 doesn’t recognize or enforce Google’s new header limitation. The feature set and behavior is similar to Chrome to giving more control over the UI of toolbars & features, you can do full-screen, and zoom in/out with the mouse.
    I created a shortcut to this additional browser, and set the Home Page (https://justinh.org/gtasker/#1,5) . I have multiple columns of GTasker task-lists on the left with the Task Canvas view in pop-out pane on the right. While this Opera version is slightly older, it doesn?t interfere with your main current browser, and the portal version allows my settings to sync to other PCs via dropbox. Other versions work as well. Justin or anyone, if you email me I can send snapshots at napman9999 AT gmail.

    Opera portable /Usb v10 (must be < 10.5) Version 10.10 Build 1893 opera-portable-personal-10.10-test.exe 9mb http://www.kejut.com/take/88608160875942284101/opera-portable-personal-10.10-test.exe
    *Portable Version allows you to save all settings, and sync/copy to other PCs. I put mine in my dropbox (10mb)

    Browser Support – The following browsers support X-FRAME-OPTIONS headers.
    Browser Lowest version
    Internet Explorer 8.0
    Opera 10.50
    Safari 4.0
    Chrome 4.1.249.1042
    Firefox (Gecko) 3.6.9 (1.9.2.9); Firefox 3.6.9 (or earlier with NoScript)

    Reply
  12. Jon Avatar
    Jon

    Google Tasks & GTasker are working again in Chrome. Just noticed this so apparently Google removed the SAMEORIGIN Header issue.

    Reply
  13. Polshgiant Avatar
    Polshgiant

    Jon: I wish I could say I’m seeing the same. Been trying for several days but I’m still seeing the SAMEORIGIN header.

    Reply
  14. John Avatar
    John

    The link to GTasker (justinh.org/gtasker/#1,3) is now pointing to your post
    https://justinh.org/2012/03/26/gtasker-reposting-a-great-google-tasks-tool/#1,5

    It was working OK provided Google wasn’t messing with blocking frames. Could you please investigate and try to resolve this new issue?
    thank you,
    John

    Reply
  15. gtasker – reposting a great Google Tasks tool – Justin Haaheim

    […] I am no longer hosting or maintaining this project. See this post for […]

    Reply

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