Got sick of manually updating my vehicle's petrol usage (litres refuelled, cost per litre, total cost etc.) in Google Sheets, and haphazardly hacked together some code to automatically update my spreadsheet whenever Caltex emails me the receipt with all these details. Now I only need to enter my mileage (the only variable which cannot be automated) whenver my Telegram bot prompts me to after each refuel.
Uses the following py packages:
| Uses | Version | Info |
|---|---|---|
| beautifulsoup4 | 4.9.1 | HTML parser |
| gspread | 3.6.0 | Python API for Google Sheets API v4 |
| inbox.py | 0.0.6 | Simple SMTP server (with hotfix here) |
| oauth2client | 4.1.3 | Google's OAuth2 |
| requests | 2.24.0 | GET reqs to Telegram API |
Also uses Google Sheets API and Telegram Bot API.
- CaltexGO sends a receipt email to my email address (e.g. eater@ieatcaltexgoreceipts.com)
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My SMTP server (e.g. hosted in ieatcaltexgoreceipts.com; you can get free dynamic ip here) eats the receipt email and parses it (petrol-logger.py).
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petrol-logger.py parses and extracts my vehicle's petrol usage information.
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petrol-logger.py sends a Telegram message through my bot, prompting input of current mileage.
- Once petrol-logger.py has the required information, it updates my spreadsheet via Google Sheets API.
The entire setup requires enabling Google Sheets API on your spreadsheet (easy step-by-step guide here), setting up a Telegram Bot (easy step-by-step guide here), and ensuring that your SMTP server is accessible through the web (e.g. port-forward your computer, or use some hosting services).
Install python3 and pip3, in the system hosting the script (I used a Raspberry Pi Zero):
sudo apt-get install python3
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
Clone to your local directory:
git clone https://github.com/ohsyln/petrol-usage-logger
cd petrol-usage-logger
Create virtual environment, and activate:
python3 -m venv pyenv
. pyenv/bin/activate
Install the required packages using pip3 into your virtual environment:
pip3 install gspread oauth2client requests inbox.py beautifulsoup4
Edit API_KEY and API_CHAT_ID in petrol-logger.py with a text editor:
API_KEY = "<YOUR TELEGRAM BOT API KEY HERE>"
API_CHAT_ID = "<YOUR TELEGRAM BOT CHAT ID HERE>"
Add your account_key.json (Google Sheets API credentials) in the same folder as petrol-logger.py.
Save changes and run script, which is an SMTP server listener that waits for receipts from CaltexGO
python3 petrol-logger.py
MIT