This ruby script + cron job allows you to text message expense reports to be posted (via curl) to the google spread sheet that calculates the shared expenses.

Twitter Format:

d <twitter account> <cost><delimiter><item name><delimiter><item description>

Example yaml:

:delimiter: ! :account: mytwixpenser :pass: mypass :url: http://spreadsheets.google.com/formResponse?formkey=mykey

Based on the above information, tweeting: ==d mytwixpenser 25.15!myitem!This is the item I bought==

…will produce…

Time Stamp	Item	Description	Amount	Who Paid?	Original Tweet
(Time of Tweet)	myitem	This is the item I bought	25.15		d mytwixpenser 25.15This is the item I bought

Step by step:

• Create a new twitter account @ http://www.twitter.com

• Follow your new twitter account, and have your new twitter account follow you.

• Do the following
  • git clone git://github.com/bluepojo/twixpenser.git
  • cd twixpenser
  • mv example.twix.conf.yml twix.conf.yml
  • emacs twix.conf.yml # or which ever your favorite text editor is

• Enter your new twitter account information in the fields provided in twix.conf.yml

• Here you have the option of selecting a different delimiter for your text messages. Default is “!”. Note the format above to see how the delimiter is used.

• Create your google spreadsheet that will contain the data. Here is an example of the spreadsheet I use: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p9Gin1JloQVNsHvy3Twj3HQ&hl=en . Feel free to copy it. Here is the accompanying form: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=cDlHaW4xSmxvUVZOc0h2eTNUd2ozSFE6MA.... which is just the auto generated form, with no edits.
  **Note that this is the url that you need to place in your twixpenser.conf.yml file on the :url line.
• Find your google form’s key. This is that random string of characters on the end of the link that you use to access the form. Paste it exactly after the = in the url.

• Todo: how to set up the google form. (with example?)