Google Calendar

[Bob Henson]

Apologies if this is an "old chestnut" (I guess it might be). I've just
spent some considerable time trying to work out why Lightning wouldn't
reset reminders from my Google Calendars. I realised that unticking
"read only" in the preferences was not sticking, and that that was the
problem - but it took me a while to work out that I needed to add the
"Provider for Google Calendar" extension to get it to work.

Is there not some way that a reminder could be added to Lightning to
prevent this being a problem (I can't be the only one who's that dim)? I
guess that it would require different code for each remote calendar
set-up - but could support for the common ones not be built in to Lighting?

Regards,

Bob

[Stefan Sitter]

Bob Henson wrote:
> Apologies if this is an "old chestnut" (I guess it might be). I've
> just spent some considerable time trying to work out why Lightning
> wouldn't reset reminders from my Google Calendars. I realised that
> unticking "read only" in the preferences was not sticking, and that
> that was the problem - but it took me a while to work out that I
> needed to add the "Provider for Google Calendar" extension to get it
> to work.

Maybe you subscribed to the read-only iCalendar feed provided by Google
Calendar.

> Is there not some way that a reminder could be added to Lightning to
> prevent this being a problem (I can't be the only one who's that
> dim)? I guess that it would require different code for each remote
> calendar set-up - but could support for the common ones not be built
> in to Lighting?

It is possible to get write access to your Google Calendar using only
Lightning. Just follow the steps from
https://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=99358#sunbird

[Jeff Grossman]

The "read only" setting will not stick when using CalDAV. I created a
bug for this a while ago, but there has been no activity on it.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=700004

Jeff

[Bob Henson]

On 01/03/12 21:47, Stefan Sitter wrote:
> Bob Henson wrote:
>> Apologies if this is an "old chestnut" (I guess it might be). I've
>> just spent some considerable time trying to work out why Lightning
>> wouldn't reset reminders from my Google Calendars. I realised that
>> unticking "read only" in the preferences was not sticking, and that
>> that was the problem - but it took me a while to work out that I
>> needed to add the "Provider for Google Calendar" extension to get it
>> to work.
>
> Maybe you subscribed to the read-only iCalendar feed provided by Google
> Calendar.

I used iCal to connect.

>
>> Is there not some way that a reminder could be added to Lightning to
>> prevent this being a problem (I can't be the only one who's that
>> dim)? I guess that it would require different code for each remote
>> calendar set-up - but could support for the common ones not be built
>> in to Lighting?
>
> It is possible to get write access to your Google Calendar using only
> Lightning. Just follow the steps from
> https://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=99358#sunbird
>

I presume CalDav automatically gives write access then? I've never tried
it before.

Even if that is so, my point is still valid - how does a new user of
Lightening know that using iCal, they need the extension. The assumption
is that it will just work - not that it will need extensive research to
make it work. Somewhere in the process of adding Lightening the new user
needs to be alerted to the fact that it will be read only.

Thanks for the tip.

--
In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count
that votes.

Bob
Tetbury, Gloucestershire, UK

[Peter Lairo]

On Do. 01.03.2012 22:47, Stefan Sitter wrote:
> Just follow the steps from
> https://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=99358#sunbird

It's kind of sad that, for configuring Lightning, we need to rely on the
instructions of an external web site. That way, we are stuck with having
our users being required to know that the instructions for the
discontinued(!) Sunbird are (luckily still) the same as for Lightning.
Lightning should have its own instructions page for setting Lightning up
with a Google calender via CalDAV. That could also be used to explain
the confusion about CalDAV vs. iCal and what role the Add-on plays (if any).

Ideally, Lightning should just ask for the Google calendar ID and
configure Lightning automatically. It's just a matter of inserting the
ID into a static and known URL[1]. Strangely, there doesn't even seem to
be a bug on this important issue[2].

[1] https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/[CalendarID]/events

[2]
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?list_id=2513279;short_desc=caldav%20google;query_format=advanced;bug_status=UNCONFIRMED;bug_status=NEW;bug_status=ASSIGNED;bug_status=REOPENED;bug_status=RESOLVED;bug_status=VERIFIED;bug_status=CLOSED;short_desc_type=allwords;product=Calendar
--
Regards,
Peter Lairo

Bugs I think are important:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=250539
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=391057
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=436259
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=446444

Islam: http://www.jihadwatch.org/islam101/
Israel: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths2/
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster: http://www.venganza.org/
Anthropogenic Global Warming skepsis: http://tinyurl.com/AGW-Skepsis

[Stefan Sitter]

Bob Henson wrote:
> Even if that is so, my point is still valid - how does a new user of
> Lightening know that using iCal, they need the extension. The
> assumption is that it will just work - not that it will need
> extensive research to make it work. Somewhere in the process of
> adding Lightening the new user needs to be alerted to the fact that
> it will be read only.

Usually it does work. The server can allow read access or write access
or both depending on its configuration. Ask Google why they forbid
changes using the iCalendar subscriptions.

Stefan

[Stefan Sitter]

Peter Lairo wrote:
> It's kind of sad that, for configuring Lightning, we need to rely on
> the instructions of an external web site. That way, we are stuck with
> having our users being required to know that the instructions for the
> discontinued(!) Sunbird are (luckily still) the same as for
> Lightning. Lightning should have its own instructions page for
> setting Lightning up with a Google calender via CalDAV. That could
> also be used to explain the confusion about CalDAV vs. iCal and what
> role the Add-on plays (if any).

I can understand your concerns but in my opinion it is not a Lightning
problem. It is not an external site. It is the online help that belongs
to Google Calendar. If I have a question regarding a certain website I
expect to get information in its help/support page and not in the help
for my web browser. Contact Google if you think the information should
be more visible in Google Calendar. I don't think that Lightning - as a
client application - can provide setup instructions for all the
different possible CalDAV server types and CalDAV server installations.

Stefan

[Peter Lairo]

That's the kind of answer I would expect from a Linux advocate (who then
complains that people are too stupid to realize how awesome Linus is).

The site *is* external to the program that people are currently trying
to configure: Lightning.

The analogy to a website vs. browser is wrong. If the user is trying to
configure Lightning, he will try to find the information on the
Lightning web site.

Nobody is asking Lightning to provide setup instructions for *all* the
different possible CalDAV servers. That's a silly strawman fallacy
argument. It might be wise to provide setup instructions for a few of
the largest CalDav providers. Google being an *obvious* choice (it is
huge and has an excellent track record of openness).