google-calendar-apiicalendarrfc2445rfc5545

Icalendar ICS update not working in google calendar

I have some trouble with the ICS attachment to Gmail/Google calendar addresses. When I have to edit an event I send an update by mail with an ICS file with the same UID of the original event. However, GCalendar adds a second event. How can I overcome this?

This is first ICS file content:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:REQUEST
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20130425T090000
DTEND:20130425T100000
DTSTAMP:20130206T101100
ORGANIZER;CN=Test test:mailto:test@test.com
ATTENDEE:test@test.eu
UID:CALEVENT_TS090519840000000005
DESCRIPTION:test
SUMMARY:test
LOCATION:Test
SEQUENCE:1
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

And this is the update ICS file content:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:REQUEST
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20130425T100000
DTEND:20130425T110000
DTSTAMP:20130206T101100
ORGANIZER;CN=Test test:mailto:test@test.com
ATTENDEE:test@test.eu
UID:CALEVENT_TS090519840000000005
DESCRIPTION:test
SUMMARY:test
LOCATION:Test
SEQUENCE:2
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

When I receive the update files and I click on "add this event to calendar" I will find two different events.

This is the original raw email:

Delivered-To: test@test.eu
Received: by 10.216.231.19 with SMTP id k19csp190640weq;
        Sat, 9 Feb 2013 08:01:11 -0800 (PST)
X-Received: by 10.194.7.136 with SMTP id j8mr15530679wja.38.1360425671327;
        Sat, 09 Feb 2013 08:01:11 -0800 (PST)
Return-Path: <test@test.eu>
Received: from mxavas8.aruba.it (mxavas8.aruba.it. [62.149.157.18])
        by mx.google.com with SMTP id 45si59706250eeg.83.2013.02.09.08.01.11;
        Sat, 09 Feb 2013 08:01:11 -0800 (PST)
Received-SPF: neutral (google.com: 62.149.157.18 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of test@test.eu) client-ip=62.149.157.18;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
       spf=neutral (google.com: 62.149.157.18 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of test@test.eu) smtp.mail=test@test.eu
Received: (qmail 4991 invoked by uid 89); 9 Feb 2013 16:01:10 -0000
Delivered-To: test.eu-test@test.eu
Received: (qmail 4424 invoked by uid 89); 9 Feb 2013 16:01:04 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO mxcmd03.ad.aruba.it) (10.10.10.67)
  by mxavas8.ad.aruba.it with SMTP; 9 Feb 2013 16:01:04 -0000
Received: from smtpdg11.aruba.it ([62.149.158.229])
    by mxcmd03.ad.aruba.it with bizsmtp
    id yFwi1k01A4xF4Fy01G14N7; Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:01:04 +0100
Received: from localhost ([79.54.181.227])
    by smtpcmd04.ad.aruba.it with bizsmtp
    id yG141k0074umbYX01G140P; Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:01:04 +0100
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2013 17:01:04 +0100
Return-Path: test@test.eu
To: test@test.eu
From: Event notification <test@test.eu>
Reply-To: Event notification <test@test.eu>
Subject: New Event
Message-ID: <238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009@localhost>
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: PHPMailer 5.2.2 (http://code.google.com/a/apache-extras.org/p/phpmailer/)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
    boundary="b1_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009"
X-Spam-Rating: mxavas8.ad.aruba.it 1.6.2 0/1000/N

--b1_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
    boundary="b2_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009"

--b2_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

test

        DateTimeRoom
        02/05/201309.00 - 10.15ROOM1


--b2_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;">
<style type="text/css">
<!--
    td{ background-color: #eee; }
-->
</style>
</head>
<body style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #333;">
<p style="text-align:center;"><img src="images/logo2.png" alt="Logo" /></p>
<hr style="border: 1px solid #ccc; width: 80%;" />
<div style=" width: 80%; margin: 10px auto;">
    <h4></h4>
    <h3>test</h3>
    <table style="width: 400px; table-layout: fixed; border: 1px solid #ccc;">
        <tr><th>Date</th><th>Time</th><th>Room</th></tr>
        <tr><td>02/05/2013</td><td>09.00 - 10.15</td><td>ROOM 1</td></tr>
    </table>
</div>
</body>
</html>



--b2_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009--

--b1_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009
Content-Type: text/calendar; name="event.ics"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="event.ics"

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:tsCalendar
METHOD:REQUEST
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20130502T090000
DTEND:20130502T101500
DTSTAMP:20130209T170100
ORGANIZER:mailto:test@test.eu
ATTENDEE:mailto:test@test.eu
UID:CALEVENT_TS090519840000000013
DESCRIPTION:test
SUMMARY:test
LOCATION:ROOM1 (floor: prova)
SEQUENCE:1
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR


--b1_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009--

Here are the other tests with the ORGANIZER email the same as the Sender email and ATTENDEE email the same as Receiver email.

Creating http://tny.cz/6396ba62 Updating http://tny.cz/08ac81c0

Solution

  • see RFC5546 Update an Event

    The event is moved to a different time. The combination of the "UID" property (unchanged) and the "SEQUENCE" (bumped to 1) properties indicate the update.

    in your case given what you shared you probably need to add a SEQUENCE property in your ical file and increment it for every update you make.

    Update: given the ical file you added, you are missing the organiser and attendee fields with below file the update work

    BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:pyICSParser
METHOD:REQUEST
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20130425T090000
DTEND:20130425T100000
DTSTAMP:20130206T101100
ORGANIZER:mailto:organiser@example.com
ATTENDEE:mailto:attendee@example.com
UID:CALEVENT_TS090519840000000005
DESCRIPTION:test
SUMMARY:test
LOCATION:Test
SEQUENCE:1
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

    Also you need to match the email address of the sender with the one from organiser and same about the attendee, something like below has been validated with google calendar.

    eml_as_string:

    Subject: New Event
Message-ID: <238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009@localhost>
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: PHPMailer 5.2.2 (http://code.google.com/a/apache-extras.org/p/phpmailer/)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="b1_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009"
X-Spam-Rating: mxavas8.ad.aruba.it 1.6.2 0/1000/N

--b1_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="b2_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009"

--b2_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

test

DateTimeRoom
02/05/201309.00 - 10.15ROOM1


--b2_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;">
<style type="text/css">
<!--
td{ background-color: #eee; }
-->
</style>
</head>
<body style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #333;">
<p style="text-align:center;"><img src="images/logo2.png" alt="Logo" /></p>
<hr style="border: 1px solid #ccc; width: 80%;" />
<div style=" width: 80%; margin: 10px auto;">
<h4></h4>
<h3>test</h3>
<table style="width: 400px; table-layout: fixed; border: 1px solid #ccc;">
    <tr><th>Date</th><th>Time</th><th>Room</th></tr>
    <tr><td>02/05/2013</td><td>09.00 - 10.15</td><td>ROOM 1</td></tr>
</table>
</div>
</body>
</html>



--b2_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009--

--b1_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009
Content-Type: text/calendar; name="event.ics"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="event.ics"

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:tsCalendar
METHOD:REQUEST
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20130502T090000
DTEND:20130502T101000
DTSTAMP:20130209T170100
ORGANIZER:mailto:test@test.eu
ATTENDEE:mailto:test@test.eu
UID:CALEVENT_TS090519840000000013
DESCRIPTION:test
SUMMARY:test
LOCATION:ROOM1 (floor: prova)
SEQUENCE:1
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR


--b1_238497c6d05cffae45716486e74a8009--

    on which below script was applied:

    # -*- coding:utf-8 -*-
import smtplib
def sendInvite(fro,to,emlasstring):
    mailServer = smtplib.SMTP('smtp.gmail.com', 587)
    mailServer.ehlo()
    mailServer.starttls()
    mailServer.ehlo()
    mailServer.login(login, password)
    mailServer.sendmail(fro, to, emlasstring)
    mailServer.close()

newUID = "UID:newCALEVENT_TS090519840000000016"
#needed to change UID as once an event was sent its UID is locked and a few attempts were needed to make the script work
eml = open("SO14712929_1.eml",'r').read()
emlhead = "To: "+attendee_eml+CRLF
emlhead += "From:"+fro+CRLF
emlhead += "Reply-To: "+fro+CRLF
eml = emlhead+eml
eml = eml.replace("ORGANIZER:mailto:test@test.eu","ORGANIZER:mailto:"+fro_eml)
eml = eml.replace("ATTENDEE:mailto:test@test.eu","ATTENDEE:mailto:"+attendee_eml)
eml = eml.replace("UID:CALEVENT_TS090519840000000013",newUID)
sendInvite(fro,attendees,eml)
print "invite sent"

eml = open("SO14712929_2.eml",'r').read()
emlhead = "To: "+attendee_eml+CRLF
emlhead += "From:"+fro+CRLF
emlhead += "Reply-To: "+fro+CRLF
eml = emlhead+eml
eml = eml.replace("ORGANIZER:mailto:test@test.eu","ORGANIZER:mailto:"+fro_eml)
eml = eml.replace("ATTENDEE:mailto:test@test.eu","ATTENDEE:mailto:"+attendee_eml)
eml = eml.replace("UID:CALEVENT_TS090519840000000013",newUID)
sendInvite(fro,attendees,eml)
print "updated invite sent"