[CalendarServer-dev] [sussex.ac.uk #6041] multiple -vs- single calendars in the real world, and my plea re: categories

Graham Perrin G.J.Perrin at bton.ac.uk
Thu Nov 23 08:04:11 PST 2006


Thanks to Cyrus for his response, that's good news :-)

I originally wrote:

> If calendar events can be categorised (in our HEFCE-related
> example, only three are required: 'Teaching', 'Research' and
> 'Other')

The other obvious answer to my own question would be: three calendars  
(one for each category).

Realistically, however, some users won't (or can't) get beyond a  
single-calendar way of working. That said, they probably *will*  
happily categorise events within a single calendar.

In the real world, for one such user I'm currently figuring out how  
to have his new Windows Mobile 5 device (not my choice) synced  
primarily with an online service such as ZYB, secondarily with his  
Microsoft Entourage (again, not my choice). This is potentially  
tricky enough with a single calendar,* with multiple calendars the  
equation/limitations would probably be even more complex!

I will definitely steer users towards Darwin Calendar server etc. in  
due course -- as a group, we're already using multiple calendars, my  
SchoolTool URL below as an example -- but I'm throwing the Windows  
Mobile 5 example into the melting pot to highlight the occasional  
single-calendar limitation.

So, I guess that my plea is for developers (not necessarily on this  
list) to make best use of the iCalendar 'CATEGORIES' property.

Feel free to forward my comments to any developers who are working in  
this area.

> then applications could be designed to gather the
> required survey data. (Maybe such applications already exist?)

... more specifically, an application to gather and effectively *sum*  
the data, i.e. produce a time sheet (or whatever) totalling 37 hours  
(a typical working week) from calendar entries spanning multiple  
calendars, multiple categories. I can at least dream...

Keep up the great work :-)

Now: I'll quietly make my way back to the users list, figure out how  
to have Darwin Calendar Server kept running (I'm experimenting with  
Lingon), and leave y'all on the developer list alone...

Graham Perrin, Projects Media Development Officer
CENTRIM - <http://www.brighton.ac.uk/centrim/>
<sip:17476059854 at proxy01.sipphone.com>
+44-1273-877922
<http://schooltool.freeman-centre.ac.uk/persons/gjp22/calendar/ 
yearly.html>

* <http://fuzzy.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/wm5-syncml/>


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