278703 - iCalendar does not work with Microsoft Outlook

Status: NEW

(Bugzilla :: Bugzilla-General, defect)

Description

[Paul]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Build Identifier: Version 2.19.1+

When I try to use the new iCalendar hyperlink on a search result screen, I get 
an error message from Outlook "Cannot import vCalendar file"

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. do a search
2. click iCalendar
3. See error message

Actual Results:  
Get an error message from Outlook

Expected Results:  
No error message and a working calendar please.

Comment 1

[Patrick]

as far as i know office 2000 doesn't support ics files "out of the box"

maybe 
http://www.scheduleworld.com/outlookInteroperability.html 
is of some use?

Comment 2

[Paul]

Attachment: ICS file that Outlook likes

Yes Outlook supports ics out of the box.  This attached ICS file is a meeting
request that works fine.

Comment 3

[Michael Hamilton]

The ICS support in outlook 2003 is a little different than what is exported with
the export icalendar. A simple format change in the template 'list.ics.tmpl'
allowed me to accept bugs from bugzilla into outlook 2003. Some of these changes
include 
removing CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
changing VTODO to VEVENT
adding the comment summary as a 'DESCRIPTION:' tag.

It would also be nice if the exporter would use a 
METHOD:REQUEST or POST or other supported method by OUTLOOK.
Please see the attached ICS file and compare it to the output of a bugzilla ICS
file and you will immediately see the differences.

Comment 4

[Alex Pavloff]

The error message under Outlook 2003 is the following:

Cannot import vCalendar file

With the extended help telling me:

This error can appear if you have attempted to save a recurring Lunar
appointment in iCalendar format.

To avoid this error, set the appointment option to Gregorian instead of Lunar.

More information about this error message online.  (Which links to a
microsoft.com page saying that there's no information about this error online).

Comment 5

[Marc Schumann [:Wurblzap]]

Before asking for approval, please ask for review of your patch first :)
Please cancel the request for approval from the bug and request review on your
patch.

Comment 6

[Paul]

Doesn't work with Outlook 2003 either.

Comment 7

[matthew-martin]

*** This bug has been confirmed by popular vote. ***

Comment 8

[victory <[e-mail]>]

Attachment: patch for tip, TOOK #3

Comment 9

[victory <[e-mail]>]

Attachment: patch for tip, TOOK #3, vcs link added to buglist

Comment 10

[Teemu Mannermaa (:wicked)]

Comment on attachment 251358 [details] [diff] [review]
patch for tip, TOOK #3, vcs link added to buglist

We can't call this "new" format vCalendar (vCal v1.0) because we still create iCalendar format (vCal v2.0).

If there's something wrong with our iCal output according to RFC2445 standard then we need to fix that. Simply omitting default value setting (CALSCALE) or switching to EVENT instead of TODO doesn't seem right.

Besides this patch doesn't fix the problem. Outlook 2000 still can't import the file.

Comment 11

[victory <[e-mail]>]

(In reply to comment #10)
> Besides this patch doesn't fix the problem. Outlook 2000 still can't import the
> file.

no idea.
i never use such a client :-p
i never use the feature :-p :-p