How to use a shared calendar with Thunderbird/Lightning?

[jakev383]

I need to be able to share a calendar between Outlook and Thunderbird. I've created a Premium user in the server, and then logged in as that user and created a public folder with calendar data in it.
Where do I go from there? Any help/links are appreciated!

[jakev383]

Is this not possible with the system?

[Valerion]

I've had some issues with Lightning and public folder calendars, so I stopped testing that. For a normal user it works correctly for his own calendar, you can see it in both TB and Outlook.

[nvehommes]

Hi Valerion (and all other readers, of course ),

I've had some issues with Lightning and public folder calendars, so I stopped testing that. For a normal user it works correctly for his own calendar, you can see it in both TB and Outlook.

Can you be more specific on the "some issues" you had? I'm seeing erratic behavior with public folder calendars and Thunderbird/Lightning: every now and then, all entries (created in Lightning) suddenly disappear, but some (or all) may reappear some time later. Opening and closing an entry in SWA (without changing anything) makes most entries visible again. When an entry is invisible, an error entry is written on the internal error log in Thunderbird; accessing that particular entry using a browser, via api/dav/Calendars/Users/etc. often works, but sometimes gives a 500 error.
omscan doesn't report any problems. All entries, including the .ics attachments, are accessible in their folders via IMAP.

The personal calendar works fine for the owner. However, granting access to others is even less reliable (didn't even work reliably in SWA). Public folders at least work there, but of course, the boss wants to use Thunderbird/Lightning.

Installation: Scalix 11.3 community edition running on openSUSE 10.3, x86_64 system.

[Valerion]

Well, I've had my public folders refusing to update, disappearing from Lightning and even got a message that the DREF I used was incorrect. I was going to wait for 11.4 to see what's changed there, since I only did it for testing.

You may be more lucky than me, though.

[nvehommes]

I can add some weirdness:

1. Start Thunderbird, switch to Lightning: the private calendar is visible, no entries at all from the public folder calendars.
2. Open http://server.etc/api/dav/Calendars and go to the public folders. Open and close each public calendar in your web browser.
3. Go back to Thunderbird and reload the calendars: all or almost all entries are visible now.
The boss now has a bookmark for step 2 and is significantly more happy.

Nevertheless, it is not a complete solution. My latest test had one entry that refused to appear. It gave a message on the Error Console in Thunderbird: "empty or non-existent <calendar-data> element returned by CalDAV server for URI ....; ignoring". This particular calendar entry was inaccessible in the web browser. Instead, it gave the error shown below. Interestingly, I can access this entry using the SWA or via IMAP without problems.

Code: Select all

500 InternalServerError
Unspecified Error encountered
com.scalix.api.dav.caldav.CalDAVModule.getContent(CalDAVModule.java:419)
com.scalix.api.dav.store.MailboxStore.getContent(MailboxStore.java:528)
com.scalix.api.dav.repository.ResourceHandle.getContent(ResourceHandle.java:108)
com.scalix.api.dav.HtmlRenderer.doRender(HtmlRenderer.java:62)
com.scalix.api.dav.repository.GetMethod.process(GetMethod.java:72)
com.scalix.api.dav.DavController.processRequest(DavController.java:90)
com.scalix.api.dav.DavController.handleRequest(DavController.java:114)
org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.SimpleControllerHandlerAdapter.handle(SimpleControllerHandlerAdapter.java:48)
org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:839)
org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:774)
org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:460)
com.scalix.api.PlatformDispatcherServlet.service(PlatformDispatcherServlet.java:74)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:803)
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:269)
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:188)

Any "official" comment from Scalix? After all, it appears to be not just a problem of our installation.

[lb]

The bug is confirmed in Bugzilla:
https://bugzilla.scalix.com/show_bug.cgi?id=16742

[nvehommes]

The bug is confirmed in Bugzilla:
https://bugzilla.scalix.com/show_bug.cgi?id=16742

It's not completely the same: bugzilla entry 16742 reports corruption of entries. We don't see that. The entry that produces the 500 InternalServerError displays correctly in the SWA and it appears in Thuderbird/Lightning, which I just configured on our secretary's PC. On my machine, it is invisible in Lightning and still gives the 500 error.
Both are premium accounts, the only difference being that the secretary has delegate-access (editor for mail, notes and calendar) to the account of the boss, but that shouldn't matter for public folders.

[Edit] Additional info: version 0.8 of the Lightning plugin still suffers from disappearance of the calendar entries, but it happens significantly less frequently that before with version 0.7.

[Jumo]

The bug is confirmed in Bugzilla:
https://bugzilla.scalix.com/show_bug.cgi?id=16742

It's not completely the same: bugzilla entry 16742 reports corruption of entries. We don't see that. The entry that produces the 500 InternalServerError displays correctly in the SWA and it appears in Thuderbird/Lightning, which I just configured on our secretary's PC. On my machine, it is invisible in Lightning and still gives the 500 error.
Both are premium accounts, the only difference being that the secretary has delegate-access (editor for mail, notes and calendar) to the account of the boss, but that shouldn't matter for public folders.

[Edit] Additional info: version 0.8 of the Lightning plugin still suffers from disappearance of the calendar entries, but it happens significantly less frequently that before with version 0.7.

Hi!

I'm not sure if I'm right here...

My Scalix 11.3 works fine, Outlook Connector (only 2003) works fine
(Outllok 2007 on XP + Vista hang up) and Thunderbird Lightning works
fine....BUT:
If I plan a meeting with Lightning, I don't have access to the Scalix'
addressbook. Hm, ok, I know the email address and I sent/save this
appointment (the scheduletable don't show me any information about the
guests free time).
The guest don't get an email and don't know about the planned date.

What I have to do, that
- I can choose the guest (adressbook? LDAP? What Bind- and Basis-DN
from the scalix-server?)
- I can see the timetable
- the guest get this email / appointment ??

Thanks,
Jumo

[Eugene]

Hi Jumo

I did the following in order to use the Scalix address book in my Lightning/Thunderbird:

Go to Tools > Options > Composition > Addressing tab and set up a directory server with the details as set out below:

Name: Whatever you want to call the directory
Hostname: your-email-server.fully.qualified.name
Base DN: o=Scalix
Port Number: 389 (this is the default but I guess it can be different on your setup)

I'm still struggling with the free busy information in Lightning though...

Best of luck
Eugene

[Valerion]

Maybe just confirm in the Release Notes as I don't have them in front of me, but I remember it stating that Free/Busy support in CalDAV is not yet implemented.

[Eugene]

Hi Valerion

The release notes states that Free/Busy will work for iCal and then just under it they mention that "initial support" has been included for Lightning 0.8.

You're also right that in the release notes they mention that Free/Busy does not work for CalDAV yet and there is a bug listed for it (bug#16976).

Thanks for your help.

Eugene

[Eugene]

The 11.4.1u1 release notes say the following:

"Support for Lightning/Sunbird with initial support for Lightning 0.8"

Does this mean that Scalix calendaring is completely supported in Lightning/Sunbird as well as providing initial support for Lightning 0.8?

Also, has anyone had any success with Chandler?

Thanks,
Eugene