Invitations sent by Outlook not well processed in Lotus Notes

HCL Domino Domino Forum
1

Hi all:

When I send an recurrent invitation from Outlook 2010 to Lotus 9, some times it gives errors like:

Error

An error occurred while saving: Error creating repeat instances

OK

In this example, the invitation sent was recurrent for weekdays only.

Other errors are when a cancellation is sent for a specific occurrence (but keeping the rest of the recurring meeting)

I could not capture the error, but I remember it was something like “there is no reference of the recurring meeting”.

Thanks

2

Subject: Some questions

Does this actually show as an invitation (with an accept button), but the problem happens when you hit accept? Or, does it happen when you view the invitation?

What is the exact recurrence pattern (and was it an “infinite” recurring pattern)? It might be helpful to simply copy and paste the value from the $ICAL_ORIG_STREAM property on the note and I can try to reproduce. What is the version of the Domino server?

My best guess at this point is that its some pattern like “repeats every M,T,W,T,F,S,S forever”… Since Domino does not have infinite repeat rules, we will truncate such meetings to some finite end date. I know that there was a bug at one point that we were not always truncating at a short enough point which caused problems similar to what you are describing, and I wonder if that is what is happening here?

3

Subject: Please provide more information

Hi Walter ,

Could you please give a little more detail :

  • Is the issue happening only while you try and send invite to Lotus Notes. What if you try and send to another Outlook user / or Gmail etc.
  • Did you ever encounter the issue while sending single events ?
  • As I understand the issue is before the invite is actually sent to Lotus Notes user, i.e. in Outlook itself. Would it be possible for you o please send across the logs for further investigation.
  • Other scenario is when you Cancel, does it work correctly when you reschedule an instance or counter the timings.

Appreciate your time and support here to help us help you better .

Hina
Note Calendar QE

4

Subject: Reply to Nathan and Hina

Hi Nathan:

1 - The error is after you press Accept, and it start processing the invitations

2 - In this case, the pattern was a weekly meeting, but it also can happen when you schedule for week days only (in Outlook)

3 - How can I get that info?

4 - I don’t know the exact version but I believe it is 8

Hi Hina

1 - Yes. Only with Lotus

2 - No

3 - No. The error happens when I click on Accept in Lotus Notes

Also, for all, the error that I receive when I cancel a single instance of a recurring invitation, is

IBM Notes

The repeating instance document corresponding to this notice cannot be located.

OK

5

Subject: We need a copy of that invitation to continue investigating

Hello Walter,

Nate, Hina and I all work on the same development team (which explains why we’re all responding to you).

We’d like to take a look at the data for that calendar invitation you’re having issues with.

The best way for you to provide the data is to make a selective replica of your mail database and email it to me.
You should be able to send directly to me at the following email address: Frank_Pavelski@notesdev.ibm.com

We don’t need or want everything in your mail database, just the documents that are related to that specific invitation (there may in face be multiple documents related to it)

Please see the following technote with directions on how to create such a selective replica.
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21423316 http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21423316

Thanks in advance.

Frank Pavelski
Technical Leader - IBM Notes Calendaring and Scheduling
IBM Software Group

6

Subject: Thanks…

Hi Nathan:

I assume then that the fix will happen when my company decides to upgrade the server to 8.5.4 or higher, right?

Thanks

7

Subject: Analysis of the data points to SPR IFAY8JKGGK

This iCal was converted by a server running 8.5.2FP4 HF187
This was a repeating meeting that had its recurrence pattern changed by Exchange. In this case Exchange essentially starts with a brand new meeting (they even tell the organizer that any exceptions will be deleted). Domino has a different model here, and to make things consistent for organizer and invitee we literally do that… we delete the meeting and create a new one (with the same identifier).

Unfortunately, there was a defect that caused this deletion and re-creation (of a doc with the same ID) to not replicate well… so issues like you see would happen on say a local replica. That appears to be the cause here.
The fix went into 8.5.4 and can be backported into a server hotfix. The SPR is: IFAY8JKGGK

If you are interested in recovering this single meeting rather than getting a server fix…
You can probably accept it from your home server replica. There still might be ongoing issues with this meeting - so you can try to delete the rep conflict from your local replica… you can see it if you find this meeting in your calendar’s grouped entries view (sorted by date, this would appear as 6/26/2013).

8

Subject: Fix went into 8.5.4? Really?

I am at a client who has a number of customers running Outlook. According to this thread, the fix went into 8.5.4, which does not exist according to http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=463&uid=swg21611954 http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=463&uid=swg21611954

We are currently running 8.5.3FP3 on W64

I really need a resolution to this. Is there a Hotfix?

Please advise.

Thanks

Walt

9

Subject: You’ll have to contact IBM Support for a hotfix

The fix is actually in the 9.0 release (as you have already mentioned, there was no 8.5.4 release)

With respect to obtaining a hotfix for your client, you’ll have to contact the IBM support organization directly.