REMINDERfox for Thunderbird

[papaya74]

Hi folks,

i just found a little tool called "reminderfox", which is an addon-on to Thunderbird and/or Firefox. It let's remind you with popups to calendar entries in Zimbra.

Checkout: http://reminderfox.mozdev.org/

What's working and not:
=====================
+ I can subscribe to a ZIMBRA-calendar with making an entry in the settingsfield:

http://ZIMBRA-SERVERNAME/service/hom...lendar?fmt=ics
Using the username & password of the user.

==> Everything seems to be okay...

+ I can ADD a NEW entry in 'reminderfox' which will (and that's surprises me) synchronize in realtime to Zimbra.

- BUT: I cannot see calendar entries which are made with the ZIMBRA-UI.

How can that be ? I can PUT entries, but cannot fetch entries to / from Zimbra.

Anybody any idea, how to fix this ?!

Because 'reminderfox' will be a really nice tool, to compensate for the missing reminder functionality in Zimbra, which is, that's putting it mildly, not really state of the art.

It could be an important and convenient enhancement for users which are using Zimbra in combination with Thunderbird.

I hope, that there will be some folks out there which have the same problems as i have to implement Zimbra without having the basic function of reminding people to their appointments, WITHOUT switching their windows to the browsers' one...aka overlapping the reminder-popup.

Best regards,

/harry

[redhat]

Can't fix it for you, but I can confirm the actions as you described. This is a very nice plugin/feature for anyone working with Zimbra.

I installed the plugin on my Thunderbird 1.5.0.5 (Windows XP Pro).

On the ReminderFox options page I entered the normal URL for my shared calendar (seen when right clicking on the calendar name - then Share Calendar). Then I entered my user name / password, checked the Synchronization box and pressed the Import button. Nothing was imported.

When I create a new 'reminder' in ReminderFox it immediately gets pushed to the shared calendar in Zimbra (very cool). But anything I enter in Zimbra isn't visible in ReminderFox.

Creating a ToDo item in ReminderFox does nothing in Zimbra.

[papaya74]

thanks for the confirmation, 100% ack. So we can now start working to fix this

ReminderFox has two possibilities to import a calendar:

1. Select a LOCAL .ics - file to work with or to import
2. Select a REMOTE .ics - file to work with or to import

As we now know, the 2nd possibilty isn't working, but will be our intended goal !

Let's try the 1st way:

- I point my BROWSER to http://zimbra-servername/service/home/ACCOUNTNAME/calendar?fmt=ics
- Now i can download the .ics file, and select to save it anywhere on my computer locally
- Next, i start 'ReminderFox' and choose the file to import from locally....

==> Aha...i think i found one problem !

I recognized while downloading & saving the 'calendar' - file, that the filename extension '.ics' is MISSING !! That avoids 'ReminderFox' importing the calender file locally......also maybe remotely ?

==> Changing 'calendar' to 'calendar.ics' let's me import the ZIMBRA-Calendar LOCALLY !

But what's up with our intended goal to synchronize ALL REMOTELY?!
If the '.ics' isn't transferred correctly than i will force this manually by pointing the 'Remote File' in 'ReminderFox' to: http://zimbra-servername/service/home/ACCOUNTNAME/calendar.ics

==> And that`s surprises me, THIS WILL NOT WORK !
I can neither fetch nor even push appointments to Zimbra, i get an '404 error'...

WHERE is the difference here between pointing the REST-URL to:

'calendar?fmt=ics' <======> 'calendar.ics'

I don't understand that, but maybe someone has an explanation
I'am really excited to work this out !

Kindly regards,

/harry

[KevinH]

'calendar?fmt=ics' <======> 'calendar.ics'


They should be the same (but the extension may like the .ics better)

Did you try 'calendar.ics?fmt=ics'

[papaya74]

'Did you try 'calendar.ics?fmt=ics''

NO, this isn't working either !
I get an 404-error in Reminderfox while uploading and can't still fetch appointments.

BUT i found out another behaviour:

- as mentioned before, appointments made in the Reminderfox-GUI directly appear in ZIMBRA's calendar. (that's really cool !)

- AND: this 'home-made' appointment will be fetched again by Reminderfox.

- BUT: if i change the appointment in Zimbra's UI (e.g. date or time) Reminderfox overwrites it within the next synchonisation with the settings made by its own GUI, before.

- there are NO doublets...

- It seems that Reminderfox wants to be the master, and does not accept or fetch changes, respectively isn't very well synchronizing....

I also found this on the mailinglist:
http://mozdev.org/pipermail/reminder...il/000368.html

Always good to know, not to be alone, but how can we solve that problem ?
Maybe we should address this to Reminderfox developers OR should we keep on examining on Zimbra's side ?

/harry

[papaya74]

Sometimes searching is useful

http://mozdev.org/pipermail/reminder...st/000529.html

'I'll get this bug fixed for the next version...' --> that sounds promising !

/harry

[Bingo]

papaya74, have you checked the latest version of reminderfox ?
I just installed it in thunderbird.
Importing my calendar went fine, but I cannot add a reminder.
I get an error : "Unexpected error! (500)" message.
Quite strange that everything is working the other way round now... Importing works but not exporting...

I subscribed to the ReminderFox list, I'll post there to see if they can help !

[papaya74]

It looks like with the new Version 0.9.9.1 everything is working fine now !

I can:
======
- import !!
- and export to Zimbra

Synchronisation is working also...it looks like the concept is "first come, first serve", so always the newest item will overwrite the older one.

Can anyone confirm this ?!
Other plattforms and versions would be interesting

My specs are:
===========
- Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper
- Thunderbird Version 1.5.0.5 (20060728)
- ReminderFox Version 0.9.9.1
- Zimbra Version 3.1.4_GA_518.DEBIAN3.1 26.06.2006

Best regards,

/harry

[Bingo]

With Zimbra 4.0, I can't export anything.
I use http (not https), what about you ?
Thunderbird 1.5.0.5 also...

[StefanD]

It looks like with the new Version 0.9.9.1 everything is working fine now !
I can:
======
- import !!
- and export to Zimbra

You have import from network working?

If I try
http://SERVER/service/home/NAME/calendar.ics
or
http://SERVER/service/home/NAME/calendar.ics?fmt=ics
I get this error: "TypeError: eventDate has no properties" and nothing happens.

Whats your secret papaya74