Problem with WebCal Calendar

[Herb]

I just to be subscribed to the "Week numbers" calendar - see
<http://www.webcal.fi/xx_en/webcals.php>

Recently Lightning started displaying a "Too many updates" warning for
this calendar, with a suggestion to reduce the update frequency.

The warning message said unsubscribing and resubsribing usually solves
the problem.

I therefore removed the calendar but I have trouble resubscribing.

When I click on the "Subscribe Week numbers (EU)" link at
<http://www.webcal.fi/xx_en/webcals.php> a "Launch Application" window
appears.

Am I supposed to chose Thunderbird as the application?

Thank you.

--
Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

[Stefan Sitter]

Copy the link to the calendar and replace webcal:// with http://
Open the link. This should prompt to download the *.ics calendar file.
Import this file into an existing calendar or create a new one using
menu File > Open > Calendar File.

[Herb]

Thanks for your reply, but if I open
<webcal://www.webcal.fi/xx_en/webcals.php> in Firefox I again get the
"Launch Application" window which asks me to chose an application.

I don't get an option to download an ics file.

Am I missing something?

--
Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

[Marcel Stör]

On 07.12.2011 12:06, Herb wrote:
> When I click on the "Subscribe Week numbers (EU)" link at
> <http://www.webcal.fi/xx_en/webcals.php> a "Launch Application" window
> appears.
>
> Am I supposed to chose Thunderbird as the application?

Due to a 5+ years old feature request[1] (yes, you may vote for it ;-))
Lightning is not listed in that window. It won't work if you select
Thunderbird.

In general the procedure is always the same:
- open Lightning
- in the calendars list: right-mouse click -> new calendar
- select 'on the network'
- select 'iCalendar'
- then paste the URL to your .ics

In this case things are a little more tricky or confusing for two reasons:
- the webcal.fi URL you need doesn't point to a static .ics file but to
a PHP script that generates this file on-the-fly
- webcal.fi doesn't make it easy for you (and anyone else) to obtain the
URL (I do this with Firefox and the Firebug add-on)
° select the settings for the week numbers calendar on webcal.fi
° right-mouse click on the 'Subscribe Week numbers (EU)' label
° Firebug shows you the HTML source code of the page
° a few lines above the <button> element there's a <form>
° copy the URL from the 'action' attribute

HTH,
Marcel

[1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=352566

--
Marcel Stör, http://www.frightanic.com
O< ascii ribbon campaign - stop html mail - www.asciiribbon.org
-> I kill Google posts: http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/

[Aapo]

Actually, there is a MUCH easier way to see the URL. I made it just
because the subscription links do not work with some applications and
with web calendars (such as Google calendar). Note that in desktop
applications Lightning is about the only one where webcal links do not
work. They did work for some time, but after an update they stopped
working again.

I did not add this link in the main navigation because in most cases
it is easier and better to use the subscription buttons. Also, there
are problems with using http links for calendars. Browsers will
download the calendar file instead of making a subscription.

Anyway, at page

http://www.webcal.fi/xx_en/webcals.php

clicking on the "Help" link reveals a link to page

http://www.webcal.fi/xx_en/calendar_addresses.php

In this page the user can easily see the links to any calendars and
copy&paste them whereever he wishes.

In Lightning the user must still change the webcal:// protocol to http://


- Aapo Puskala
author of webcal.fi

[Christian Riechers]

Sometimes it helps reading the manual.
http://webcal.fi/xx_en/help.php#thunderbird

--
Christian

[Herb]

Splendid, thanks for your helpful reply.

I note that, in order to apply the "Show events only on Mondays" setting
one has to select the setting and then generate a new URL via the "Show
URL" button for copying into Lightning. Perhaps this could be made a
little clearer?

--
Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

[Herb]

Thanks for your reply.

Phew, lots of comments at
<https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=352566>, and I'm not
really sure what exactly I would be voting for to be honest.

However, if a vote might help to address the issue I reported I would be
happy to vote :-)

The original but report by Michiel van Leeuwen refers to Sunbird. I
can't see any evidence that a vote for this issue would add weight to
its resolution in Lighthning. Can you give some reassurance in this regard?

[Stefan Sitter]

Herb wrote:

>> Copy the link to the calendar and replace webcal:// with http://
>> Open the link. This should prompt to download the *.ics calendar
>> file. Import this file into an existing calendar or create a new
>> one using menu File > Open > Calendar File.
>
> Thanks for your reply, but if I open
> <webcal://www.webcal.fi/xx_en/webcals.php> in Firefox I again get the
> "Launch Application" window which asks me to chose an application.
>
> I don't get an option to download an ics file.
>
> Am I missing something?

You are missing the part from my instructions about changing the link
from "webcal:/"/ to "http://" ;)

[Herb]

Ooops, sorry.

Anyway, I followed Aapo's instructions, and all is well now 8-)

--
Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

[Herb]

I spoke too soon - I'm afraid the "Too many updates" error message is
back again.

It tells me to set the update interval to Weekly, but it doesn't say
where/how.

It says revoming the calendar and resubscribing usually resolves the
problem, but it clearly didn't for me.

Any suggestions?

--
Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk

[Herb]

> Sure.
>
> I think the message is from the calendar server because Lightning
> doesn't contain this kind of message. A calendar like the given one is
> very static and therefore you don't need to update it e.g. every 30
> minutes.
>
> In Lightning you can configure the update interval by selecting the
> calendar in the left pane and selecting "Properties..." from context
> menu. Setting the interval to manually should be OK for this calendar,
> i.e. it will only be loaded during Thunderbird startup.
>
> Or you could download the calendar file and use it locally as described
> before. In that case the server problems won't bother you anymore :)

Splendid, thank you.

--
Herbert Eppel
www.HETranslation.co.uk