Calendar Appointment Edited on BB Does not Stick

HCL Domino Domino Forum
1

Having issue with appointment calendar entries that are attempted to be edited on the blackberry, but the changes do not stick. (This is an active case for a VIP open with IBM and RIM, hoping someone here may have seen this and can help us understand and expedite hopefully.)

The VIP’s assistant, via delegation to the VIP mailfile, through the Notes client (8.01.6x template) creates calendar appointment entries for the VIP. VIP edits those entry descriptions (only) on the blackberry so he can user a specific (agenda) view on the blackberry. Intermittently, when he makes those edits, they do not stick, aka the change never stays the way he does that, on his device, and never propogates to Domino.

This is intermittent, and might be related to location at which the event is edited (in/out of coverage perhaps), but that is only a theory at this point we’re chasing with the cell provider, and can not yet rule out.

The $revisisons field in the problematic event properties, on the domino, is showing multiple revisions occuring “simultaneously”, ie like below:

Field Name: $Revisions

Data Type: Time/Date List or Range

Data Length: 132 bytes

Seq Num: 17

Dup Item ID: 0

Field Flags: SUMMARY

12/10/2009 10:20:30 AM EST

12/15/2009 01:58:12 PM EST

12/15/2009 01:58:12 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:13:15 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:13:15 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:14:05 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:14:05 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:16:44 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:16:44 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:24:51 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:24:51 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:31:29 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:31:29 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:31:29 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:31:29 PM EST

12/15/2009 02:31:54 PM EST

The $updated field in the doc properties is showing the assistant’s edits, and at least one update being performed by the BES server.

We are going through a testing matrix and cannot reliably reproduce, except on the user’s device, in certain locations, we believe. The VIP has had this issue on 2 different devices, so it appears to be HW device-independent at this point.

Questions:

  1. Is it normal to see multiple $revisions entries occurring at the same time as shown above?

  2. It seems to possibly suggest the update to/from the BES and Device and then to the user’s mail server may be occurring in an abnormal fashion, perhaps. Has anyone seen coverage issues (or any others) present that kind situation?

Thx in advance

2

Subject: Answers

  1. Is it normal to see multiple $revisions entries occurring at the same time as shown above?

Yes, if repeated note updates are made. Typically this would be due to some code doing several updates in a row in rapid succession. Given the choice between your AA and BES, Id vote BES unless you overcaffinate your AAs.

Well behaved code should not do this (its a performance hit to the server in many ways and not very efficient when having to go “over the wire” every time).

You should check your BES logs and see if they show anything unusual or any problems updating the entry from the device. Allow for some time difference between the BES server and the Domino server when matching up the times.

  1. It seems to possibly suggest the update to/from the BES and Device and then to the user’s mail server may be occurring in an abnormal fashion, perhaps. Has anyone seen coverage issues (or any others) present that kind situation?

We have heard that device connectivity issues can be a source for problems but no specifics come to mind.

You should remind your VIP and AA that if they make conflicting changes they can cause problems w/the entry so they should be careful doing what they are doing. There are many reports of a Blackberry “mangling” entries, especially repeating ones. (We have a tool to find and possibly fix said bad entries. Contact Technical Support if you think you need it.)

You did not state your BES version but I suggest you also consider upgrading your BES server to the latest release to get the benefit of RIM’s improvements to Calendaring interop.

Bruce

IBM