Calendar invite email

[maximilian]

Hi,
this is not a bug report. I’m looking for a hint to understand my problem.
I’m using Android 5.1.1 with the stock calendar app and Davdroid (latest appstore version 0.9.0.4). My account runs on an owncloud (8.2.0) instance of mine.
Here is the debug info: error-report.txt
Whenever I create a new calendar entry and invite someone (from my address book or directly by typing the email) the calendar behaves as I expect it to behave in case an invite has been send (the person appears under “not responded”). However the invite isn’t sent.
The owncloud logs look fine and the “email guest” function in the calendar app (on android) works fine.
Can you please help me narrow down the problem:

1. Is sending the invite davdroid’s job, or is it the job of my owncloud installation? Or should the android calendar send it???
2. I turned Davdroid into debug mode and searched through the log but there was nothing suspicious to me. What should I look for?
   Thanks for your time and any hint that helps me debug this annoying problem.

[rfc2822]

Hello,

At first: Inviting and managing attendee per-event status information across users is beyond the scope of “plain CalDAV”. It’s defined in RFC 6638: Scheduling Extensions to CalDAV.

To use these features, both server and client have to support these extensions. The “scheduling agent” may either be the server (default, server manages attendees, sends invitations etc), the client, or none.

When you add an attendee to an event, DAVdroid uploads this attendee with RSVP=TRUE. This requests that the server (!) sends invitations. Then the server manages attendee status and updates it (together with increasing SEQ), when necessary. DAVdroid and other clients receive these updates and save them accordingly.

RFC 6638 support in DAVdroid may not be perfect, but the basic operations should work (tested with various servers).

[maximilian]

Thanks for this great reply!
I just created a test event on my android. Querying the server database after syncing shows the event (as expected) and here is the relevant part from the calendardata column:

ORGANIZER:mailto:me@myserver.de\r
ATTENDEE;CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;RSVP=TRUE;PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED\r
:mailto:me@myserver.de\r
ATTENDEE;CN=guest@myserver.de;CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;ROLE=NON-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEE\r
DS-ACTION:mailto:guest@myserver.de\r

This does not show RSVP=TRUE for the guest - only for myself (which explains why the server doesn’t sent invites).
Looking at the code you referenced I can understand that the RSVP=TRUE isn’t set (only set for RELATIONSHIP_SPEAKER).
I googled for a while but I couldn’t find any documentation on when RELATIONSHIP_SPEAKER is set - it doesn’t seem to be set for normal guests. My next question now is: why is RSVP=TRUE only set for the organizer (which obviously gets RELATIONSHIP_SPEAKER) and not for guests (who doesn’t seem to get RELATIONSHIP_SPEAKER)?

[rfc2822]

@maximilian said:

Thanks for this great reply!
I just created a test event on my android. Querying the server database after syncing shows the event (as expected) and here is the relevant part from the calendardata column: […]

This is only what OwnCloud stores after processing the iCalendar. To see what DAVdroid sends, please use “verbose logging” in DAVdroid.

This does not show RSVP=TRUE for the guest - only for myself (which explains why the server doesn’t sent invites).

The server may have removed RSVP=TRUE for the guest already. You can’t know that when you only check the iCalendar that is stored on the server.

Looking at the code you referenced I can understand that the RSVP=TRUE isn’t set (only set for RELATIONSHIP_SPEAKER).

Don’t let the syntax of Java’s switch statement fool you: Rsvp is set when relationship is either RELATIONSHIP_ORGANIZER, Attendees.RELATIONSHIP_ATTENDEE, Attendees.RELATIONSHIP_PERFORMER, or Attendees.RELATIONSHIP_SPEAKER.

[maximilian]

This is only what OwnCloud stores after processing the iCalendar. To see what DAVdroid sends, please use “verbose logging” in DAVdroid.

That’s not so easy, beacuse the logs are overwritten after each sync so I ended up with the “Contact birthdays” log all the time. Using ADB didn’t help either because it doesn’t contain the the calendar entry. I set up a new account to check and here is the result (same observation as before with querying the server):

[trace] ORGANIZER:mailto:test@myserver.de
[trace] ATTENDEE;CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;RSVP=TRUE;PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED
[trace]  :mailto:test@myserver.de
[trace] ATTENDEE;CN=guest@myserver.de;CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;ROLE=NON-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEE
[trace]  DS-ACTION:mailto:guest@myserver.de

So the RSVP=TRUE isn’t set for the guest…

Don’t let the syntax of Java’s switch statement fool you: Rsvp is set when relationship is either RELATIONSHIP_ORGANIZER, Attendees.RELATIONSHIP_ATTENDEE, Attendees.RELATIONSHIP_PERFORMER, or Attendees.RELATIONSHIP_SPEAKER.

That’s embarrassing. Sorry for wasting your time.

[maximilian]

Do you agree that the RSVP=TRUE should be set for the guest and that it isn’t set?

Is this a problem with the Google Calendar App or with DAVdroid? Con you give me any hints on how to further investigate this?
Thank you

[rfc2822]

@maximilian said:

Do you agree that the RSVP=TRUE should be set for the guest and that it isn’t set?

No:

1. According to the code, RSVP=TRUE will be added for the relationships listed above.
2. I have just tried it out here, and RSVP=TRUE was set when I have added a guest.

However, I think I found the cause of the problem. Your line from the trace is:

ATTENDEE;CN=guest@myserver.de;CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;ROLE=NON-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION:mailto:guest@myserver.de

while mine is:

ATTENDEE;CN=guest@xxxx.tld;CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;ROLE=OPT-PARTICIPANT;RSVP=TRUE:mailto:guest@xxxx.tld

If you have a look at the ROLE, your guest is a NON-PARTICIPANT. For non-participants (for instance, persons who just want to know about the event), it makes no sense to send RSVP (they won’t attend anyway).

This means that your calendar app has sent Attendees.ATTENDEE_RELATIONSHIP to Attendees.RELATIONSHIP_NONE. Can you select a guest role in your calendar app?

My observations:

• Samsung S Planner doesn’t set Attendees.ATTENDEE_TYPE to Attendees.TYPE_REQUIRED, while
• Etar (materialized AOSP calendar) sets Attendees.TYPE_REQUIRED.

Could you try what happens with Etar?

[maximilian]

@rfc2822

This means that your calendar app has sent Attendees.ATTENDEE_RELATIONSHIP to Attendees.RELATIONSHIP_NONE. Can you select a guest role in your calendar app?

I’m using the stock calendar app that comes with android (Google calendar version 5.2.5-106395923-release). I can’t select the guest role (at least I’m not aware of how to do this and I searched for it).

Could you try what happens with Etar?

I just tested with Etar and I get similar output you get (taken from the owncloud server database):

ATTENDEE;CN=guest@myserver.de;CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;RSVP=TRUE:\r+
mailto:guest@myserver.de\r

So it looks good (RSVP=TRUE). The ROLE differs but this shouldn’t be a problem (correct?). I’ll test with the DAVdroid debug log asap but the database entry puts the blame on the Google Calendar app.
Do you have any idea why Google would set guests to NON-PARTICIPANT and more importantly on how to fix it (open bug report?)?

Owncloud still doesn’t sent emails (and yes, the “email test function” works just fine) but I’ll try to investigate further on the owncloud side now. The logs look good in the sense that there are no errors and bad in the sense that there is no mention at all about the invite email.

Do you know anyone who has this future working with onwcloud (+ DAVdroid)?

Thanks for this great support!

[rfc2822]

@maximilian said:

I’m using the stock calendar app that comes with android (Google calendar version 5.2.5-106395923-release). I can’t select the guest role (at least I’m not aware of how to do this and I searched for it).

As far as I know, there’s no plain “Android”. Which brand of Android do you use? CyanogenMod? Firmware of a specific manufacturer? Manufacturers often patch around in such things.

So it looks good (RSVP=TRUE). The ROLE differs but this shouldn’t be a problem (correct?). I’ll test with the DAVdroid debug log asap but the database entry puts the blame on the Google Calendar app.

The strange thing is that Etar is the AOSP calendar, just with Material look. So maybe you’re really using a manufacturer-patched version of Google Calendar?

Do you have any idea why Google would set guests to NON-PARTICIPANT and more importantly on how to fix it (open bug report?)?

You could have a look into the source code of AOSP calendar to find more information.

Owncloud still doesn’t sent emails (and yes, the “email test function” works just fine) but I’ll try to investigate further on the owncloud side now. The logs look good in the sense that there are no errors and bad in the sense that there is no mention at all about the invite email.

I don’t know, but I guess that OwnCloud doesn’t support CalDAV Scheduling.

[maximilian]

@rfc2822
Sorry for replying this late.

As far as I know, there’s no plain “Android”. Which brand of Android do you use? CyanogenMod? Firmware of a specific manufacturer? Manufacturers often patch around in such things.

I’m using a Oneplus 2 with OxygenOS 2.1.1 (Android 5.1.1). The calendar app is installed (not sure) and updated (sure) through the Play Store.
I just got the debug log from DAVdroid (event created using Etar):

[trace] ATTENDEE;CN=Guest;CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;RSVP=TR
[trace]  UE:mailto:guest@myserver.de

The ROLE is still different from yours, but that shouldn’t make a difference, right?

You could have a look into the source code of AOSP calendar to find more information.

I cloned the repository and grepd for it (grep -Ri role .) but I got no hits…

I don’t know, but I guess that OwnCloud doesn’t support CalDAV Scheduling.

If I understand it correctly, then owncloud uses sabre for the calendar - and they say on their website they support scheduling. I have verified that my owncloud installation has the required settings…

From my point of view the issue is now resolved at the DAVdroid end: I know that I can’t use the Google Calendar App (=> use Etar) and I need to fix my owncloud / switch to something else (do you have recommendations?).

I tried to edit the first post to add the solved tag but I’m not allowed to do that. Can you please mark it solved?

Thank you very much for all the help! I really appreciate it!

[rfc2822]

@maximilian said:

The ROLE is still different from yours, but that shouldn’t make a difference, right?

Right, as long it’s a role where RSVP makes sense.

You could have a look into the source code of AOSP calendar to find more information.
I cloned the repository and grepd for it (grep -Ri role .) but I got no hits…

In Android terms, it’s called ATTENDEE_TYPE (see SDK docs).

I don’t know, but I guess that OwnCloud doesn’t support CalDAV Scheduling.

If I understand it correctly, then owncloud uses sabre for the calendar - and they say on their website they support scheduling. I have verified that my owncloud installation has the required settings…

As far as I know, OwnCloud is based on SabreDAV, but it has a special way for many things. Maybe CalDAV Scheduling is just not enabled in OwnCloud for some reasons?

From my point of view the issue is now resolved at the DAVdroid end: I know that I can’t use the Google Calendar App (=> use Etar) and I need to fix my owncloud / switch to something else (do you have recommendations?).

I still didn’t find anything that’s matching all my needs https://davdroid.bitfire.at/configuration may be a good starting point. If it’s about feature completeness, I think Contacts & Calendar Server may be interesting, but I don’t have experience with it.