1389014 - Cannot open attachment of type text/calendar - abnormal MIME structure, first attachment disappears when event added to calendar

Status: VERIFIED DUPLICATE of bug 357480

(Calendar :: General, defect)

Description

[Boris 'pi' Piwinger]

If an e-mail message has an attachment of type text/calendar and you want to open it, Thunderbird does not know how to handle (which application to use). If you choose Thunderbird it does not open the calendar entry, yet attaches it to a new e-mail message.

Expected behavior: Show calendar entry, allow to save in calendar, accept the meeting or decline.

Really strange: The message shows that there is a calendar entry which could be handled there. When going to the attachment directly, the same should work. If there are multiple calendar entries this way you cannot access more than one (I'll file a separate bug for this).

Comment 1

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Please attach a sample message. Drag message to desktop or folder or use "File > Save As" and then use "Attach File" above. Change any personal information.

Note: text/calendar is not usually an attachment but a message part recognised by Lightning. The attachments are .ICS files.

Usually the MIME structure is:
multipart/mixed
  multipart/alternative
    text/plain
    text/html
    text/calendar
  attachment1 [details] [diff] [review]
  attachment2 [details] [diff] [review]

Comment 2

[Boris 'pi' Piwinger]

Attachment: Test.eml

Here is an original message stripped for personal information, but the exact MIME structure.

Comment 3

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Thanks for the sample. I assume you have Lightning installed?

What I am seeing is a very weird MIME structure:

multipart/mixed
  multipart/alternative
    text/plain (and now other alternative part!!)
  multipart/mixed
    ICS attach1
    ICS attach2

A correct MIME structure is shown in comment #1.

When I view the message, the first attachment event is processed and then hidden. That looks like bug 1360155.

So I'm moving this to the Calendar queue.

BTW, with Lightning disabled, the attachments inline and in the attachment area. When opened, it asks what application should be used, so that works as expected.

Comment 5

[Boris 'pi' Piwinger]

Yes, I have Lightning installed. 

The MIME structure might be strange, but it is what it is. It does not look illegal, though. Actually, the calendar entries are not alternatives to the text of the message which contains other information.

Typical travel confirmation mail with calendar entries for flights.

When opening the attachment I also get the question for the application. Yet Thunderbird is not able to handle it. Which is not as you what expect.

Comment 6

[[:MakeMyDay]]

Regardless of the mime structure, Lightning currently cannot handle multiple events in one imip message in a way to offer separate processing of each item.

Comment 7

[Boris 'pi' Piwinger]

I have just tested with only one calendar attachment (actually, I used Thunderbird/Lightning to send invite). If you go to the attachment and click on open, there is no way this is properly handled.

So not a dupe of bug 547754.

Comment 8

[[:MakeMyDay]]

(In reply to Boris 'pi' Piwinger from comment #0)
 
> Expected behavior: Show calendar entry, allow to save in calendar, accept
> the meeting or decline.

Based on your intention mentioned in the report, to be able to add the event to your calendar, this boils down to bug 547754. Openeing/showing an event in the event dialog without adding it to a calendar before is and probably will not be supported, as it would open another can of worms involving also bug 357480 in a way.

Comment 9

[Boris 'pi' Piwinger]

No, my intention was to report two different problems (which happened to show in one message). That's why I have opened two bugs. The one is clearly a dupe of bug 547754. But the other thing is to open an attachment. Since many people use Outlook they will expect similar behavior. In Outlook you can simply open a calendar attachment.

Comment 10

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Well, the double-click onto the .ics attachment *is* bug 357480.