Topic: Horde/Kronolith free/busy url - not compatible with outlook?

[mackayr]

I now have Kronolith running on 7rc2.  Free/busy information is available within Kronolith (Horde calendar), but does not seem to be compatible with Outlook.  When I manually browse to the free/busy url, it downloads an ics file (which is not compatible with outlook).  Any ideas?  Is this functionality not available, or may I have a configuration issue (on my Windows machine perhaps).

Thanks for any insights!

Rob

[mrjhb3]

I now have Kronolith running on 7rc2.  Free/busy information is available within Kronolith (Horde calendar), but does not seem to be compatible with Outlook.  When I manually browse to the free/busy url, it downloads an ics file (which is not compatible with outlook).  Any ideas?  Is this functionality not available, or may I have a configuration issue (on my Windows machine perhaps).

Thanks for any insights!

Rob

AFAIK, this funtion is not compatible with Outlook.  I have always gotten the same that you are seeing.  Maybe I have missed something.  I had trolled though the Kronoilth lists in the past and couldn't find anything as well.

So, if you continue to work on this and can find a resolution, you will probably make quite a few people happy.

JB

[mackayr]

Well ... I have done some research and found this much.  When Firefox attempts to open a free/busy url directly, it downloads an vfb file (which, for the record, is the same file type that Outlook saves it's free/busy info as).  When IE attempts to open one, it downloads an ics file (which it can't open).  I think somewhere in IE, it's recognizing the type as calendar/text or something like that, and saving it as an ics file.  Of course, Outlook is using IE for that functionality.  Perhaps it may just be an IE tweak to fix the problem.

I'll keep looking into the matter.

[mackayr]

OK.  Well, I think I've found a solution to this.  There's a package called Remote Calendars (http://sourceforge.net/projects/remotecalendars/).  Once it's installed on the client machine, it shows the free/busy information for the attendees (for the period of time indicated - 30 days by default).  Following is the description on Sourceforge.

"RemoteCalendars is a COM-.NET Add-in for Outlook 2003, written in C#. After installing this plugin, every Outlook user should be able to subscribe, reload and delete a generic remote iCalendar (RFC 2445) from Outlook 2003."

It's a straightforward install (less than 10 minutes), but it appears that it's limited to Outlook 2003 (which I use, so it works for me).  It requires the .NET framework, so that will need to be installed first (it'll tell you if it's not).

Enjoy!

[jester]

mackayr,

is there any chance you could write a small howto on how you got horde playing with outlook?! I've read the part on free/busy but i mean the stuff before that.

regards,
jester.

[mackayr]

Sure.  I'll take a stab at that tonight.  In the meantime, it really is straightforward.  Virtually all of the configuration is done in Outlook.  Simply install the Remote Calendars package (instructions included), restart Outlook, answer the configuration questions (very straightforward - and I kept all or most of all of the defaults), restart Outlook (may not be necessary, but I needed to do it for it to work for me) and add the free/busy url to the respective attendees' contact information.  When setting up an appointment, add the respective attendees, and click options > update free/busy at the bottom.  Voila!  It displayed the free/busy information for the meeting participants.

I'll do up a good one later with images, but that should give people a start if anyones up to tackling this sooner.

Rob