ics file not understood by google calendar

ics file not understood by google calendar

[Vagn Johansen]

Some time ago I could export to an ics file via C-c C-e i, store the
file on a web server and point google calendar to it. This way I could
easily see my upcoming tasks on my personalized google page
(http://www.google.com/ig) which I use as my browser "home" page.

This does not work anymore (Org-mode version 6.33f). The calendar is
imported without error but there are no entries in the google
calendars.

Here is a small sample (that shows the problem)

http://ozymandias.dk/test/test9365.org

http://ozymandias.dk/test/test9365.ics

From my custom file
  ..
  '(org-icalendar-include-todo (quote all) t)
  '(org-icalendar-timezone "Europe/Berlin")
  ..


Note: I have also tried to import the ics file in the iCal program on
a macbook (10.4). the todo items are shown on the list of entries at
the right side of the screen, but none of the entries are shown in
week/month/etc view in the middle.

-- 
Vagn Johansen

Re: ics file not understood by google calendar

[Vagn Johansen]

I just discovered some entries in google calendar which comes from an
org export to ics that was done half a year ago. They use VEVENT (as
opposed to VTODO).

This works

BEGIN:VEVENT
UID: TS-9164991C-7E1A-4D65-8A44-3674B236A836
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20090621
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20090622
SUMMARY:leg press
DESCRIPTION: <2009-06-21 Sun>\nfik tips fra Martin om l...
CATEGORIES:privat
END:VEVENT

Does not work (test9365.ics)

BEGIN:VTODO
UID: TODO-34C3192F-21FE-48C1-BFD7-7934B51D03A3
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20100201
SUMMARY:feb1
CATEGORIES:test9365
SEQUENCE:1
PRIORITY:5
STATUS:NEEDS-ACTION
END:VTODO

If i change the first todo in test9365.ics to use VEVENT and save it
at http://ozymandias.dk/test/test9365c.ics then the event shows up in
google calendar.

-- 
Vagn Johansen

Re: ics file not understood by google calendar

[Carsten Dominik]

Hi Vagn,

you are saying that this used to work out of the box and no longer does?
Could you please git bisect to identify the offending commit?

Thanks.

- Carsten

On Jan 31, 2010, at 10:47 AM, Vagn Johansen wrote:

>
> Some time ago I could export to an ics file via C-c C-e i, store the
> file on a web server and point google calendar to it. This way I could
> easily see my upcoming tasks on my personalized google page
> (http://www.google.com/ig) which I use as my browser "home" page.
>
> This does not work anymore (Org-mode version 6.33f). The calendar is
> imported without error but there are no entries in the google
> calendars.
>
> Here is a small sample (that shows the problem)
>
> http://ozymandias.dk/test/test9365.org
>
> http://ozymandias.dk/test/test9365.ics
>
> From my custom file
>  ..
>  '(org-icalendar-include-todo (quote all) t)
>  '(org-icalendar-timezone "Europe/Berlin")
>  ..
>
>
> Note: I have also tried to import the ics file in the iCal program on
> a macbook (10.4). the todo items are shown on the list of entries at
> the right side of the screen, but none of the entries are shown in
> week/month/etc view in the middle.
>
> -- 
> Vagn Johansen
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode

- Carsten

Re: ics file not understood by google calendar

[Vagn Johansen]

Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi Vagn,
>
> you are saying that this used to work out of the box and no longer does?
> Could you please git bisect to identify the offending commit?

Hi Carsten

Did you see my follow-up email? (reproduced below)

The problem appears to be caused by a change from VEVENT to VTODO in
org-icalendar.el. Of course, the change may be correct and google
calendar just does not support VTODO.




I just discovered some entries in google calendar which comes from an
org export to ics that was done half a year ago. They use VEVENT (as
opposed to VTODO).

This works

BEGIN:VEVENT
UID: TS-9164991C-7E1A-4D65-8A44-3674B236A836
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20090621
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20090622
SUMMARY:leg press
DESCRIPTION: <2009-06-21 Sun>\nfik tips fra Martin om l...
CATEGORIES:privat
END:VEVENT

Does not work (test9365.ics)

BEGIN:VTODO
UID: TODO-34C3192F-21FE-48C1-BFD7-7934B51D03A3
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20100201
SUMMARY:feb1
CATEGORIES:test9365
SEQUENCE:1
PRIORITY:5
STATUS:NEEDS-ACTION
END:VTODO

If i change the first todo in test9365.ics to use VEVENT and save it
at http://ozymandias.dk/test/test9365c.ics then the event shows up in
google calendar.

-- 
Vagn Johansen

Re: Re: ics file not understood by google calendar

[Carsten Dominik]

Hi Vagn

On Feb 1, 2010, at 8:47 PM, Vagn Johansen wrote:

> Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Hi Vagn,
>>
>> you are saying that this used to work out of the box and no longer  
>> does?
>> Could you please git bisect to identify the offending commit?
>
> Hi Carsten
>
> Did you see my follow-up email? (reproduced below)

Yes, I did see you followup - however, i still sounds to me that you
are saying that something changed in Org (VEVENT to VTODO).  It would  
still
be useful to identify when exactly this happened.

- Carsten

>
> The problem appears to be caused by a change from VEVENT to VTODO in
> org-icalendar.el. Of course, the change may be correct and google
> calendar just does not support VTODO.
>
>
>
>
> I just discovered some entries in google calendar which comes from an
> org export to ics that was done half a year ago. They use VEVENT (as
> opposed to VTODO).
>
> This works
>
> BEGIN:VEVENT
> UID: TS-9164991C-7E1A-4D65-8A44-3674B236A836
> DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20090621
> DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20090622
> SUMMARY:leg press
> DESCRIPTION: <2009-06-21 Sun>\nfik tips fra Martin om l...
> CATEGORIES:privat
> END:VEVENT
>
> Does not work (test9365.ics)
>
> BEGIN:VTODO
> UID: TODO-34C3192F-21FE-48C1-BFD7-7934B51D03A3
> DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20100201
> SUMMARY:feb1
> CATEGORIES:test9365
> SEQUENCE:1
> PRIORITY:5
> STATUS:NEEDS-ACTION
> END:VTODO
>
> If i change the first todo in test9365.ics to use VEVENT and save it
> at http://ozymandias.dk/test/test9365c.ics then the event shows up in
> google calendar.
>
> -- 
> Vagn Johansen
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode

- Carsten

Re: ics file not understood by google calendar

[Vagn Johansen]

Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi Vagn
>
> On Feb 1, 2010, at 8:47 PM, Vagn Johansen wrote:
>
>> Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> Hi Vagn,
>>>
>>> you are saying that this used to work out of the box and no longer
>>> does?
>>> Could you please git bisect to identify the offending commit?

I tried git bisect with "grep -R VTODO .". It seems that org-mode has
always used VTODO so it is not a regression in org-mode.  I think the
problem is caused by a change in google calendar. They no longer
support VTODO.

-- 
Vagn Johansen

Re: Re: ics file not understood by google calendar

[Carsten Dominik]

On Feb 2, 2010, at 9:18 PM, Vagn Johansen wrote:

> Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Hi Vagn
>>
>> On Feb 1, 2010, at 8:47 PM, Vagn Johansen wrote:
>>
>>> Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:
>>>
>>>> Hi Vagn,
>>>>
>>>> you are saying that this used to work out of the box and no longer
>>>> does?
>>>> Could you please git bisect to identify the offending commit?
>
> I tried git bisect with "grep -R VTODO .". It seems that org-mode has
> always used VTODO so it is not a regression in org-mode.  I think the
> problem is caused by a change in google calendar. They no longer
> support VTODO.

In this case, you just need to export to ical files without TODO  
stuff, i.e.

(setq org-icalendar-include-todo nil)   ; this is already the default,  
actually

So I guess this case is closed?

- Carsten

Re: ics file not understood by google calendar

[Vagn Johansen]

Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:

> On Feb 2, 2010, at 9:18 PM, Vagn Johansen wrote:

>> I tried git bisect with "grep -R VTODO .". It seems that org-mode has
>> always used VTODO so it is not a regression in org-mode.  I think the
>> problem is caused by a change in google calendar. They no longer
>> support VTODO.
>
> In this case, you just need to export to ical files without TODO
> stuff, i.e.
>
> (setq org-icalendar-include-todo nil)   ; this is already the default,
> actually

This just gives me an empty ics file!

For example

    #+STARTUP: content hidestars

    * TODO feb7-todo
      SCHEDULED: <2010-02-07 Sun>
    * TODO feb8-todo
      SCHEDULED: <2010-02-08 Mon>
    * feb9-event
      SCHEDULED: <2010-02-09 Tue>
    * feb10-event
      SCHEDULED: <2010-02-10 Wed>
    * EOF

(http://ozymandias.dk/test/test6275.org)

With my custom setting 

  '(org-icalendar-include-todo (quote all))

I have feb7-todo and feb8-todo in my ics file after a C-C C-e i
export. The other two are nowhere to be seen.
(http://ozymandias.dk/test/test6275.ics)

Your suggestion

  '(org-icalendar-include-todo nil)

gives me an ics-file with no entries.

Are you saying there is a way to get non-TODO entries into the ics
file?

By the way, org-print-icalendar-entries is really difficult to
understand. Maybe you could split it up. The function appears to
generate VTODOs when org-icalendar-include-todo is non-nil and VEVENTs
when the timestamp begins with <%%. Is the latter related to the diary
time-format?

>
> So I guess this case is closed?

Maybe. If org-mode works as documented then perhaps all is good.

I can work around my problem by changing org-icalendar.el to use
VEVENT where it now uses VTODO and only use TODOs in org-files. This
will generate an ics-file with the TODO entries when
org-icalendar-include-todo is non-nil.

I do not know much about the ics format so I cannot tell you what is
the correct thing to do here. It would be useful if other people could
tell about their experience in importing ics-files into various tools
to gauge the VTODO support. Maybe only VEVENT should be used.

-- 
Vagn Johansen

Re: Re: ics file not understood by google calendar

[Carsten Dominik]

On Feb 3, 2010, at 10:33 PM, Vagn Johansen wrote:

> Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On Feb 2, 2010, at 9:18 PM, Vagn Johansen wrote:
>
>>> I tried git bisect with "grep -R VTODO .". It seems that org-mode  
>>> has
>>> always used VTODO so it is not a regression in org-mode.  I think  
>>> the
>>> problem is caused by a change in google calendar. They no longer
>>> support VTODO.
>>
>> In this case, you just need to export to ical files without TODO
>> stuff, i.e.
>>
>> (setq org-icalendar-include-todo nil)   ; this is already the  
>> default,
>> actually
>
> This just gives me an empty ics file!
>
> For example
>
>    #+STARTUP: content hidestars
>
>    * TODO feb7-todo
>      SCHEDULED: <2010-02-07 Sun>
>    * TODO feb8-todo
>      SCHEDULED: <2010-02-08 Mon>
>    * feb9-event
>      SCHEDULED: <2010-02-09 Tue>
>    * feb10-event
>      SCHEDULED: <2010-02-10 Wed>
>    * EOF
>
> (http://ozymandias.dk/test/test6275.org)
>
> With my custom setting
>
>  '(org-icalendar-include-todo (quote all))
>
> I have feb7-todo and feb8-todo in my ics file after a C-C C-e i
> export. The other two are nowhere to be seen.
> (http://ozymandias.dk/test/test6275.ics)
>
> Your suggestion
>
>  '(org-icalendar-include-todo nil)
>
> gives me an ics-file with no entries.
>
> Are you saying there is a way to get non-TODO entries into the ics
> file?

Yes.

Any entries that have a plain time stamp like

* meeting with Peter
   <2010-02-07 Sun>

will create a VEVENT

Also, you can configure the variables org-icalendar-use-deadlines
and org-icalendar-use-scheduled to make these timestamps become
VEVENT as well.  By default they are set up to use these special
time stamps as start date and due date in TODO entries, but you
can use them for more.  Take a look at the entire customization group
org-export-icalendar, there might be more stuff you'd find useful.

>
> By the way, org-print-icalendar-entries is really difficult to
> understand.

Yes. This function was grown, in the absence of predators.  No
intelligent design here... :-)

> Maybe you could split it up.

It works, and I do not want to break it.  Feel free to break it up,  
test it extensively (!) and send me a patch.

> The function appears to
> generate VTODOs when org-icalendar-include-todo is non-nil and VEVENTs
> when the timestamp begins with <%%. Is the latter related to the diary
> time-format?

Yes, you can use diary-like sexp functions to create complicated dates.

Hope this helps

- Carsten