Some questions after playing with the new 7.0.2 iCal import features

HCL Domino Domino Forum
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I have tried the new iCal (.ics) File|Import and drag-to-import features in my mail file, and have a few questions/comments on the feature.

  1. If the PRODID field is missing from the .ics file (though I know it is a requirement), no error is reported, but the import fails in two different ways. First, with drag-and-drop absolutely nothing happens, but if the same data is imported using File|Import then the import succeeds but no Imported Calendar document is created.

  2. When I drag-and-drop a test URL onto the calendar, the Imported Calendar document that is created doesn’t contain the Source URL, and the Source URL can’t be edited later (to add it in).

  3. Are there plans (and if so, is there a timeline) to allow automatic polling of the URL for a published .ics file, so that updates can be made to the entries automatically?

  4. The UID property is not imported from each of the calender entries in my .ics file. Is there a certain format Notes expects for this property?

  5. Some of the entries in my test .ics file span several consecutive days, but the DTEND field seems to be ignored as they import only for the first day.

I am not sure if these issues are by design, or if perhaps, as in the first case, my test .ics file is mal-formed.

Thank you for any insights you can provide,

Todd Harris

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Subject: Some questions after playing with the new 7.0.2 iCal import features

I don’t know if this will help:

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Subject: Some answers

It seems that using time zone references in iCalendar files such as DTSTART;TZID=US-Eastern: causes problems.

Removing all references to TZID, now solves the previous problems with repeating events not importing(though their start times are still wrong), multi-day events importing only for the first day and UID data is now saved to all imported events.

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Subject: Your answers are correct

The time zone indicator is the problem - a technote will hit the public airwaves soon - it was written already, being published along with others.

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Subject: Re: Your answers are correct

How about the problem with repeating entry start times (from my posting above “Details on a repeating event iCalendar import issue”).

It doesn’t seem to be related to the TZID issue, but does it have a technote (and a workaround) coming too?

Thanks,

Todd

6

Subject: well…

The Time Zone issue is fixed, but was found and fixed too late for 7.0.2. I’ll look into the repeating issue.

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Subject: Details on a repeating event iCalendar import issue

In trying to get my repeating events to import properly, I have noticed the following odd behaviour:

If I try to import the following, the entries are created properly in every way except that the start time is made 8:40am instead of 12:40pm.

BEGIN:VCALENDAR

VERSION:2.0

PRODID::-//my company//my product 2.0//EN

CALSCALE:GREGORIAN

METHOD:PUBLISH

BEGIN:VEVENT

DTSTART:20060914T124000

DTEND:20060914T132000

RDATE;VALUE=DATE:20060914,20060921,20060928,20061005,20061012,20061019,20061026,20061102,20061116,20061123,20061207,20061214,20070111,20070118,20070208,20070215,20070222,20070301,20070329,20070412,20070426,20070503,20070510,20070524,20070531

SUMMARY:Fun Weekly Meeting

DTSTAMP:20061004T111553

UID:F1F5C97D241EFAF7852571FD0053DA67

END:VEVENT

END:VCALENDAR

If I change DTEND:20060914T132000 to DURATION:PT0H40M0S then the events are still imported with the incorrect start time, which is even more odd in this case because the final result is a meeting lasting 4 hours and 40 minutes with the correct end time.

It seems the issue must be related to time zones and daylight savings, as my servers are in GMT-5 and the meetings from 2 Nov 2006 through 29 Mar 2007 change their start times to 7:40am making the meetings 5 hours and 40 minutes long.

Also, the events in Notes have the “Specify a different time zone” checked, though both listed time zones just say “Local time.”

The same exact events without the RDATE field, import fine.