rhul-attendance-bot 1.1.53

RHUL attendance automation bot

RHUL Attendance Bot

中文

The RHUL Attendance Bot automates attendance marking for Royal Holloway students by using web automation. The script checks your calendar events, triggers attendance based on specified conditions, and provides real-time logging using Rich library for better visualization.

Features

• Automated Attendance: Automatically opens the attendance page and marks your attendance based on your calendar events.
• Manual Trigger: Allows manual attendance marking via keyboard shortcuts.
• Real-Time Logging: Displays logs using Rich library for a better visual experience.
• Environment and Dependency Checks: Ensures the script is run in the proper environment and all dependencies are installed.
• System Time Synchronization Check: Checks if the system time is synchronized with the NTP server.
• Auto-Update Feature: Detects script updates and prompts the user to update.
• Auto Login with 2FA: Handles Microsoft login, switches to verification code, and auto-fills TOTP from your saved secret.
• Automatic Timetable Download: On first run, automatically fetches your ICS timetable into the ics/ folder—no manual download needed.
• Discord Webhook Notifications (optional): Sends start/stop, login success, and attendance success messages with your profile name when a webhook URL is configured.

Prerequisites

1. Python 3.9 or above: Ensure that Python is installed. If not, download and install it from python.org.
2. Google Chrome Browser: The script uses Chrome for web automation. Make sure it is installed.
3. Virtual Environment (Recommended): Run the script inside a Python virtual environment to avoid dependency conflicts.

Installation

Install Google Chrome if you don't have it yet: download page (macOS users can also brew install --cask google-chrome).

Choose one of the two modes below:

1. Recommended: Install via pip
2. Run from source

Mode 1: Install via pip (recommended)

pip install rhul-attendance-bot

Mode 2: Run from source

Step 1: Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/PandaQuQ/RHUL_attendance_bot.git

Step 2: Navigate to the Project Directory (source install only)

cd RHUL_attendance_bot

Step 3: Set Up a Virtual Environment (Recommended)

On Windows:

python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate

On macOS/Linux:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

Step 4: Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

Step 5: (Optional) Prepare ICS Manually

The bot now auto-downloads your timetable on first run and stores it in ics/. You only need manual prep if the auto download fails:

• Go to Royal Holloway Timetable and log in.
• Choose Calendar Download, click View Timetable, then Android™ and others to get the .ics link.
• Download the .ics and place it into the ics folder at the project root (create it if missing).

Usage

1. Navigate to the Script Directory:

   cd RHUL_attendance_bot
   

2. Activate the Virtual Environment:

   On Windows:

   venv\Scripts\activate
   

   On macOS/Linux:

   source venv/bin/activate
   

3. Run the Script:

   From PyPI install:

   rhul-attendance-bot
   

   From source:

   python RHUL_attendance_bot.py
   

   ✅ Auto Login + 2FA

   The bot now handles Microsoft login and the verification-code MFA flow automatically using your stored credentials and local TOTP secret. On first run, complete onboarding (credentials/secret); the timetable is downloaded automatically.

4. Profile Selection:

   • Use -user <profile_name> to pick a specific profile, e.g.:

     rhul-attendance-bot -user Alice
     

     • If -user is not provided and profiles exist, the app will list them and ask you to choose.
     • If no profiles exist, it starts onboarding automatically and then renames the profile folder to your Profile Nickname.

5. Cleanup (delete local data):

   • Use -clean to remove all local app data under ~/.rhul_attendance_bot:

     rhul-attendance-bot -clean
     

6. Keyboard Shortcuts:

   • Manually Trigger the Next Event: Press [, then ]
   • Refresh Calendar (re-fetch ICS): Press [, then c
   • Exit the Script: Press [, then q

Important Notes

• Dependencies: Make sure all required dependencies are installed by following the instructions in the requirements.txt file.
• Virtual Environment: Using a virtual environment is highly recommended to avoid conflicts with global packages.
• System Time: If the system time is not synchronized with the NTP server, the script will prompt you to synchronize your system clock.
• Supported Platforms: The script supports Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Multi-Profile Usage

Profiles are stored under ~/.rhul_attendance_bot/profiles/<profile_name>. Each profile has its own:

• credentials.json
• 2fa_config.json
• ics/
• chrome_user_data/
• automation.log

Use -user to switch profiles at runtime.

🔐 Security Note - Login Session Duration

A session typically lasts about one week; you may need to manually re-login after it expires. The bot now auto-renews login with stored credentials + TOTP. Sessions are refreshed automatically; monitor occasionally in case the institution changes its 2FA policy.

Configuration

To configure the script, modify the relevant parameters inside the code or create a configuration file (not provided in this version). Future versions may include more flexible configuration options.

Updating

If an update is detected, the script will prompt you to update. You can choose to update by typing y or skip it by typing n.

Troubleshooting

1. Chrome WebDriver Issues: Make sure that the correct version of the ChromeDriver is being used. The script uses webdriver-manager to automatically manage ChromeDriver versions.
2. Dependency Issues: If you encounter errors related to missing modules, reinstall via pip install rhul-attendance-bot or use pip install -r requirements.txt from source.
3. Virtual Environment Issues: If you face issues while running the script, try setting up a fresh virtual environment and reinstalling the dependencies.

TODO

Current focus / future ideas:

• ✅ 2FA Integration: Microsoft verification-code path with TOTP auto-fill is implemented.
• ✅ Automatic Login: Stored credentials + TOTP drive a fully automatic login flow.
• ✅ 2FA Code Reading: OTP is generated locally from your saved secret.
• ✅ Discord Webhook Bot: Discord webhook notifications for attendance status, login, and lifecycle (optional; disable by leaving webhook URL empty)
• ✅ PyPI Release: Package published and installable via pip install rhul-attendance-bot

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Thanks to the developers of Rich, Selenium, and ics.py for their amazing libraries.

Contact

For questions or suggestions, please feel free to reach out via the GitHub repository. Feedback and contributions are welcome!