[Tickets #11172] Re: ICS/ICAL import in Traditional view needs more verbose errors

[bugs at horde.org]

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. THIS EMAIL ADDRESS IS NOT MONITORED.

Ticket URL: http://bugs.horde.org/ticket/11172
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Ticket             | 11172
  Updated By         | shop at open-t.co.uk
  Summary            | ICS/ICAL import in Traditional view needs more verbose
                     | errors
  Queue              | Kronolith
  Version            | Git master
  Type               | Enhancement
  State              | New
  Priority           | 1. Low
  Milestone          |
  Patch              |
  Owners             |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


shop at open-t.co.uk (2012-05-01 13:59) wrote:

When trying to import an ical/ics file through the traditional  
interface, the import fails most of the time with the message:

"You have specified an invalid calendar"

This is not much information to go on when troubleshooting an import.  
Considering that there is so much variation for iCal support from one  
calendar software to another, it seems that iCal imports are much more  
likely to fail than succeed. Adding to the error message something  
like the line number in the source ics file where the parsing has  
failed, or the field/value pair which caused the problem would really  
represent a huge benefit in finding the problem.

As an example, I've spent two days troubleshooting the import of a  
single ics calendar exported from Thunderbird/Lightning. After some  
tweaking, the ics file passed all the tests at this online iCal  
validator: http://icalvalid.cloudapp.net/ but it would still not  
import in Kronolith. I ended up chopping a 8200 appointments file in  
smaller pieces, and importing one at a time until I found the syntax  
that needed changing. The fault might as well lie with the Lightning  
export routine - I don't know - but when Kronolith doesn't give any  
clue as to what it doesn't like in the iCal file - the whole task  
becomes far more time consuming then it should be.

For those reading this and wondering, the Dynamic interface doesn't  
have any sort of error message on Import failure - but that is a  
separate issue and I've already submitted an appropriate bug.