[Under consideration] Improve the calendar

[RevdKathy]

Brainstorm: http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improving_the_calendar_in_n900/

Sorry for the 'new category', but I don't want to start anything elsewehere without canvassing support. Brainstorm Mods, please edit and correct to what you feel is appropriate.

I've seen a number of people complain that the built-in calendar is feature-weak. Since we have a thread collating all the suggestions for phone use improvement, I thought I'd do the same for calendar.

I'll start with this lot:


Calendar
Nothing new here, still very limited
-No copy/paste of events
-No possibility to remove single event from repeated events.
-No advanced settings of eg. repeat monthly: day/date?
-What's with the lines showing your events in the monthly view? They don't even show if the event is at morning or evening! Finding an open space for an event/appointment from monthly view is way too slow and frustrating!
-Try to create an event and select that the event is ending next weeks Wednesday ... you'll get the timescroller (or how do you call it?). Now what's the date for that day? Hell, I don't know! I need to cancel the event creation and go see the monthly view to see the date! >:(


The ones that aggravate me mildly are:

Not being able to set an event fortnightly.

Not being able to change the default setting for calendar alarms so I always have to change it.

Not being able in 'month' view to see whether an event is am/pm/evening.

Is this a brainstorm? A collection of bugs? Please advise.

[ruskie]

Hmm I'll add my own stuff as well:

remote calendars(ics subscription, groupdav, caldav)

Hmm for calendar alarms it just sticks to no alarm for me once I've set it there.

a GTD todo style addition to it or as a separate but integrated app.

[RevdKathy]

Hmm I'll add my own stuff as well:

Hmm for calendar alarms it just sticks to no alarm for me once I've set it there.


It sticks on each entry. But I'd like to be able to set 'no alarm' on default and forget about it. I can't find a way - if you have, please share!

[chemist]

Just fine to concentrate it in one ;).

Please create a brainstorm item as soon as the website is back up.

This Storm is related:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=38723

is in some way related:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=36866

[qwazix]

I would like to see another view as outlooks daily view (and like the old S60 v1 calendar), so that I can check with a glance where I got free time without having to check the times of appointments in agenda view.
________
Vaporizer Wiki (http://vaporizerwiki.com)

[sil]

i would like to see additional repeat options for events ... for example not only every day, every week, etc but every 3 or 4 or whatever days, weeks ... (i know it's a completely different OS, but it works on my old nokia 6300)

now i do a workaround with outlook calender and synchronising via PC suite, but that's not that comfortable

[fraaaaanka]

I would agree with the following ones as high urgency that need to be sorted asap:

No possibility to remove single event from repeated events.
What's with the lines showing your events in the monthly view? Try to create an event and select that the event is ending next weeks Wednesday ... you'll get the timescroller (or how do you call it?). Now what's the date for that day? Hell, I don't know! I need to cancel the event creation and go see the monthly view to see the date!
Not being able to change the default setting for calendar alarms so I always have to change it.



Ones that I would add to this list is:

A new setting where you can choose what view the calender opens up in (either Agenda, Week or Month) as currently it only opens in agenda view
When creating a new event you should be-able to select it as 'smart calender' so that childrens birthdays can be added into calender with the birthday cake symbol appearing without having to add the child to your contacts. (see this post i created http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=40084&page=2 which ended up showing an enhancement report in bugzilla


cheers all

[sennyk]

One thing that I really find annoying is the fact that I can't create an event to reoccur every other week, or the x monday of the month. Support for this should be really easy.

[ashes]

One cannot create a recurring event that happens two days a week, e.g. Tuesday and Thursday.

[RevdKathy]

Ok, Brainstorm is now started here. (http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improving_the_calendar_in_n900/)
Please add your suggestions there as well as here. Looks like between us we could generate the idea to make a really strong, feature-rich calendar.

Then we just need people to make it happen. :)

[les_garten]

i would like to see additional repeat options for events ... for example not only every day, every week, etc but every 3 or 4 or whatever days, weeks ... (i know it's a completely different OS, but it works on my old nokia 6300)

now i do a workaround with outlook calender and synchronising via PC suite, but that's not that comfortable

Also Weekdays only, weekends only, MWF and T, TR as options

[RevdKathy]

Great - add those suggestions to the brainstorm. And vote, please. :)

[mikhmv]

Calendar without Tasks will be not full solution.
Fill free to look, vote and add comments to Brainstorm for Tasks: http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improve_the_task_management_support_to_calendar/

Edit: Discussion thread for tasks: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=38567

[RevdKathy]

Excellent! yes, calendar and tasks belong together.The whole thing needs a workover.

[VRe]

I've seen a number of people complain that the built-in calendar is feature-weak. Since we have a thread collating all the suggestions for phone use improvement, I thought I'd do the same for calendar.


You might want to check http://wiki.maemo.org/Task:PIM as most of the things people could want from a calendar are already listed there. It's already old page.. feel free to source it to your brainstrom.

I would say that GPE Calendar is closes to good functional calendar (in extras-testing), it has some usability quirks - but in all it is better than bundled one, plus it's sources are available. With a bit of coding & usability love it would kick *ss! Maybe someday (tm) I'll have time so I'll look if I can make anything of it.. maybe..

P.S. making good calendar is hard and most of tries fail with repeating events :)

[RevdKathy]

Ok, we made ten votes, which by the general standards means there are some people interested.

The next question is 'what now?'

As I see it, there are two possible solutions:

1) Bundle up all the proposals, pick the most workable and adapt the maemo5 integral calendar appropriately.

2) Set the integral calendar on one side and make a new one (Vre has already suggested the GPE Calendar in testing)

And this is where my ignorance shows big time.

If we want to go with option 1, is fiddling with the calendar something the community can do? Or is it something that requires Nokia to take it on? And how fiddly is it?

If we want to go with option 2, is GPE the best starting place? Who's baby is that? Might they be willing to work with some of these ideas? And if not, might they be willing to hand the project to someone who will?

(And finally, how do we get VRe more free time, since that's the best offer we've had so far... I'm probably too far away to come and do your laundry. :p)

[qgil]

Hi, I have given thumbs down to http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improving_the_calendar_in_n900/ not because I'm against discussing improvements to the Calendar but because I don't think that generic brainstorm proposals compiling all kinds of slightly related solutions are the most efficient way to discuss.

It would be more useful to create specific proposals for specific problems. Each problem might have alternative solutions and staying focused in each discussion will help find the right solutions better and faster.

If you look at some of the current "hot" brainstrm proposals at http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/ you will see that they have become a cul-de-sac for diverse proposals, too difficult to manage further.

[RevdKathy]

That's interesting, Quim, because when I asked how to go about this I was specifically told by one of the braimstorm moderators to do it this way. Now I'm even more at sea.

Just fine to concentrate it in one ;).

Please create a brainstorm item as soon as the website is back up.

This Storm is related:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=38723

is in some way related:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=36866

[qgil]

True, there is not a single opinion and an agreed policy. See http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=477806#post477806

All you can help discussing and deciding what to do in such cases. We are still bootstrapping this brainstorm as we move forward and new situations arise. Thank you for your understanding!

[RevdKathy]

It just seems a little unfair to down vote the proposal content because it is using a procedure you disagree with but which is currently still being promoted by the mods. I entirely accept your position on how braimstorm works (or doesn't) but would prefer you not to make MY point using MY brainstorm.

[etuoyo]

I agree there should be a way to add birthdays without adding a contact.

I would also like to be able to set a different alarm for birthdays than for other calendar events.

[qgil]

The rating of proposals while they are in Sandbox is precisely to se whether a proposal should move to Under Considersation or shouldn't leave the Sandbox. I think it's fair to rate thumbs down to a proposal if you honestly believe that in its current form it shouldn't leave the Sandbox...

[les_garten]

Following with interest...

How about Holiday Plugins or templates?

The idea of adding MLK day, or Lincoln's Birthday, Guy Fawkes, etc

Calendar and Contacts are, for me at least, THE power app on these devices. I liked the old Symbian Calendars. I didn't like the Contact/Calendar stuff on the iPhone. Thus I'm here hoping we can make this the power app it deserves to be.

Nokia should take serious Interest in this. For a business phone, you need to be strong in this area.

I use my Contacts area for a lot more than contacts.
There is something screwy about the notes area when you use it.

For instance, I have entries for various Cisco Routers and switches that I use to hack into them to recover passwords and upgrade firmware.

I hve another area called Networks with various network parameters. On my Palm, when I looked at a contact, all my notes were right there and well formatted. Here you have to open notes to view it and when you edit it, it may screw it up.

[EmmaGx]

... definitely agree about the birthday calendar/contacts problem ... it would also be nice to be able to add anniversaries to that calendar ...

... the default alarm setting is quite frankly awful as it is ... would be nice to be able to set a different default for each type of calendar ...

... would also be nice to have a couple more calendars ...

... and I'm all for increasing the number of ways to enter repeat events ...

... and I'd love to be able to open the calendar in a default month view ...

... can't wait for some improvements to be made to the calendar!

[Texrat]

It just seems a little unfair to down vote the proposal content because it is using a procedure you disagree with but which is currently still being promoted by the mods. I entirely accept your position on how braimstorm works (or doesn't) but would prefer you not to make MY point using MY brainstorm.

I apologize Kathy. I had the wrong impression of the process.

[jjx]

I would like three things:

1. Ability to set the alarm three-quarters of an hour before the event. If that's a "wontfix" :rolleyes: then ability to just enter the alarm time.

2. Received calendar entries over SMS to not disappear into nowhere. Even showing the raw vcal text in Conversations would be an improvement over /dev/null.

3. Swiping left and right in week view to scroll rather then just drawing the new week on top of the old. It'd be ok if it scrolled like the desktops, moving to the nearest full week when you stop touching. What it does now makes it hard to visualise one's diary over a series of days spanning the week transition. Same would be good vertically in month view.

[nicorumiz]

I agree with you guys..

and how about:
-search button
-delete button for notes on selected day
-decent colors for different activity


Do you have any bug in the caendar or not? because in some days I can see the line as something is saved on that day(month view) but I don't have anything if I access day view or week view.

Thanks

[bgrigor]

i'd like to see Categories introduced across the board, including the Calendar app.

Tasks, while related, should be accessible without going through the Calendar.

If a new app is developed, and it creates a new database, there has to be a way to sync that database with Outlook on a PC in lieu of the stock database..

[RevdKathy]

We have a huge bundle of ideas about how the calendar can be improved. It looks like the ideas are still in 'downpour' stage.

At some point, I will declare 'ideas generation' over, and we'll need to look at the 'how to' with the 'what's feasible' and 'what resources' elements of enacting some change. If anyone has ideas, suggestions or would be willing to volunteer some skill on those areas, please speak up. :)

Otherwise all we will generate is a bundle of small feature requests. If that's the case, I assume I can submit them as UI bugs, but I'd rather we did something a bit more creative.

[Dinho]

i seem to be unable to register for maemo.org, so i can't vote. also, i don't know if anyone has already requested this or not, there are too many posts to read through to find out, so could someone add this to the requested functions of the calendar app?
when selecting the date and time from the scrollable selection, i would like the selections to be loopable, i.e. when choosing a month i can scroll 12 -> 1 -> 2, instead of having to scroll all the way back. same thing with dates and times.
the second thing is i would like to be able to set the alarms for events any day, any time prior, and not just the day before.

[OVK]

I would like to have two things in the calendar:

1. Ability to set a calendar item as "private" so that when I sync the calendar with Outlook the item would be visible to others that see my shared calendar (so that they know I am busy) but they could not see the details of the item. If I remember correctly, in the long MFE thread it was stated that this could be technically possible but the feature was not implemented because of the "design decision" or something like that.

2. A "work week" view in addition to "week" view. This means that only days from mon to fri would be visible and hours from 8 am to 17 pm. This would make it easy to check the free and recerved hours of the work week in one glance without the need to scroll the calendar. I think that there should be enough screen real estate for this kind of view.

[j.s]

i seem to be unable to register for maemo.org, so i can't vote.

when selecting the date and time from the scrollable selection, i would like the selections to be loopable, i.e. when choosing a month i can scroll 12 -> 1 -> 2, instead of having to scroll all the way back. same thing with dates and times.


I would like to see this as well. I suspect that this is a general UI issue and not specific to the calendar.

[ndi]

Added my solution to have HAL9000 integrated into Calendar.

Also, +1.

[RevdKathy]

Added my solution to have HAL9000 integrated into Calendar.

Also, +1.

I'm afraid I con't do that Dave. ;)

As long as it doesn't mutate into ORAC, it's good. It's certainly another feature to look for down the road.

(Though I worry about people who want to send an automated greeting: if you send me a birthday card I want to think you at least thought about me, rather than set your computer to do it. ;) )

[qwazix]

two things for the notes view
1. way to go to notes directly
2. sort notes newest to oldest not the other way around
________
Medical Marijuna Dispenceries (http://www.dispensaries.org/)

[fezboy]

one feature that i'd love to see and seems to be glaring by its omission is the ability to send/forward on calendar items via sms, this is something i'm sure i've had on my last few nokia phones

[lardman]

Would we be better to collate the improvement ideas in a wiki page and point the calendar team at it (I note that calendar bugs, and I've added a couple, don't get delivered to anyone in particular but rather to the generic maemo bug address)?

[OVK]

I noticed (from here: http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=549012&postcount=8) that the calendar backend seems to be open source. Is this something that could be beneficial for some of the improvements suggested in this thread? Or do we always have to make changes to calendar itself, not just to the backend?

[Hrw]

Calendar backend is capable of things which calendar is not capable to set (or even show properly).

[OVK]

Calendar backend is capable of things which calendar is not capable to set (or even show properly).

Could you give some examples? I am not sure that I fully understand which tasks belong to calendar and which to the backend.

[les_garten]

Is there any way to delete a single occurrence of a repeating event?

I had this on the Palm OS. Let's say I have a weekly meeting and this weeks meeting is canceled. I want to cancel that single occurrence of a repeating event, without repeating the whole series.

This would be handy to have.

[RevdKathy]

Blomin' 'eck! If Nokia take note of votes, this must surely be a brainstorm they must take on board!

Should I pop the top couple down as 'enhancement requests' in the bugzilla and see what happens?

[les_garten]

Blomin' 'eck! If Nokia take note of votes, this must surely be a brainstorm they must take on board!

Should I pop the top couple down as 'enhancement requests' in the bugzilla and see what happens?


LOL, any possibility you could translate this to North American?

[RevdKathy]

LOL, any possibility you could translate this to North American?


I'm sorry, I don't speak North American - is there a common language we might use? Esperanto, anyone?

Bloomin' 'eck
is an exclamation of surprise using mild expletives: I'm sure you can find a equivalent.

If Nokia take note of votes, this must surely be a brainstorm they must take on board!
is intended to imply that the number of votes accrued to this brainstorm means it should merit the attention of Nokia developers

Should I pop the top couple down as 'enhancement requests' in the bugzilla and see what happens?
Is an offer to enter the two highest voted entries as enhancement requests.
;)

[Helmuth]

Should I pop the top couple down as 'enhancement requests' in the bugzilla and see what happens?

I already know what will happen:

The scope of bugs.maemo.org are bugs and only very specific and no-brainer
enhancement requests. This report contains a feature request that is too
generic for bugs.maemo.org. Please post this problem and propose your
solution in Maemo Brainstorm instead:
http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/

More information: http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo_brainstorm


But I'll vote for it if you give it a try. :)

[OVK]

Is this Brainstorm still open for additional suggestions?

Or would it be better to create new brainstorms for new calendar improvement ideas?

[hOrZa]

anything happening with this, something like Epocware's Handy Calendar would be great [they have no plans to develop Maemo software :( ]

[npsimons]

Just want to bump this: I love the polish on the default calendar app of Maemo/N900; the only thing I really want is for it to be able to subscribe to iCalendars online (*not* just Google calendar; ANY iCal/vCal given a URL). I've looked at gpe-calendar, but it's just not as polished; the buttons for new appointments are way to small for fingers, it doesn't get birthdays from contacts, and the desktop widget is obnoxiously huge compared to the default calendar desktop widget. It's either modify the default calendar to subscribe or modify gpe-calendar to be more polished; I'm game for either . . .

[scoobied]

I wondered if it would be possible to improve the customisable events on the calendar. I do shift work and only have a certain number of shift times (ie 0700 to 1900, 0730 to 1930, 1930 to 0730). I would like to have a method to alter the customisable events to include these shift times so I can add them directly to the day I'm working rather than having to enter it all manually.

However if this is already possible could someone take pity on me and explain how....:confused:

[edgar2]

Just want to bump this: I love the polish on the default calendar app of Maemo/N900; the only thing I really want is for it to be able to subscribe to iCalendars online (*not* just Google calendar; ANY iCal/vCal given a URL).

see CalDAV support for Maemo calendar (http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/caldav_support_for_maemo_calendar/); add solutions and/or cast a vote on existing ones.

[TomJ]

I wondered if it would be possible to improve the customisable events on the calendar. I do shift work and only have a certain number of shift times (ie 0700 to 1900, 0730 to 1930, 1930 to 0730). I would like to have a method to alter the customisable events to include these shift times so I can add them directly to the day I'm working rather than having to enter it all manually.

However if this is already possible could someone take pity on me and explain how....:confused:

For arbritarily reoccuring event types you could try creating one of each type in Outlook (or other calendar app capable of) saving them as iCal files and emailing them to your n900. Save the email in a new folder called something like calendar templates. Each time you want to put one of these events in, goto the email and open the relevant iCal attachment. This will be imported into the Calendar, albeit for the date for which it was originally created. All you then have to do is find it and change the date.

I have set up repeating events for my shift pattern in Outlook, saved as iCal and emailled them to my n900. Despite the fact they are on a 4 weekly repeating pattern rather than one supported for entry by the calendar app, they have imported fine. I have also set up a calendar called days and a calendar called nights, given each a suitable colour and put the shift events into the relevant calendar for ease of viewing.

[les_garten]

For arbritarily reoccuring event types you could try creating one of each type in Outlook (or other calendar app capable of) saving them as iCal files and emailing them to your n900. Save the email in a new folder called something like calendar templates. Each time you want to put one of these events in, goto the email and open the relevant iCal attachment. This will be imported into the Calendar, albeit for the date for which it was originally created. All you then have to do is find it and change the date.

I have set up repeating events for my shift pattern in Outlook, saved as iCal and emailled them to my n900. Despite the fact they are on a 4 weekly repeating pattern rather than one supported for entry by the calendar app, they have imported fine. I have also set up a calendar called days and a calendar called nights, given each a suitable colour and put the shift events into the relevant calendar for ease of viewing.

Well done! Didn't Palm do that 10 years ago, LOL!

[npsimons]

see CalDAV support for Maemo calendar (http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/caldav_support_for_maemo_calendar/); add solutions and/or cast a vote on existing ones.

Awesome! Thanks! BTW, this might seem like a stupid noob question, but where could I get the source for the N900 calendar? I wouldn't mind taking a whack at this problem myself.

[OVK]

Awesome! Thanks! BTW, this might seem like a stupid noob question, but where could I get the source for the N900 calendar? I wouldn't mind taking a whack at this problem myself.

To my understanding N900 calendar is not open source.

Calendar backend is but apparently that does not help.
http://maemo.gitorious.org/calendar-backend/calendar-backend

[scoobied]

For arbritarily reoccuring event types you could try creating one of each type in Outlook (or other calendar app capable of) saving them as iCal files and emailing them to your n900. Save the email in a new folder called something like calendar templates. Each time you want to put one of these events in, goto the email and open the relevant iCal attachment. This will be imported into the Calendar, albeit for the date for which it was originally created. All you then have to do is find it and change the date.

I have set up repeating events for my shift pattern in Outlook, saved as iCal and emailled them to my n900. Despite the fact they are on a 4 weekly repeating pattern rather than one supported for entry by the calendar app, they have imported fine. I have also set up a calendar called days and a calendar called nights, given each a suitable colour and put the shift events into the relevant calendar for ease of viewing.

Thanks for that - I'll shall have a go later!

[Hrw]

Could you give some examples? I am not sure that I fully understand which tasks belong to calendar and which to the backend.

https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6933 is good example ;D

[RevdKathy]

To my understanding N900 calendar is not open source.

Calendar backend is but apparently that does not help.
http://maemo.gitorious.org/calendar-backend/calendar-backend

That's as far as I got in trying to find someone willing to tackle this. Unfortunately, our options are pretty limited unless Nokia can be persuaded to incorporate a few of these bits. :(

[npsimons]

To my understanding N900 calendar is not open source.

Calendar backend is but apparently that does not help.
http://maemo.gitorious.org/calendar-backend/calendar-backend
Hmm, might be time for me to grab the gpe-calendar source and start hacking . . .

[neilhwatson]

I'm just swooping in here so please take my comments with a grain of salt. Why reinvent the wheel? Meamo is Linux. Why not use one of the many existing Calendar/TODO apps? To name a few:
Remind (including tk and wx and wyrd)
Kalendar
Event and Task Manager
Taskwarrior.

[oneFinn]

This brainstorm seems to be quiet..any progress happening?

Since PR 1.2 brings no relevant improvement to calendar and Nokia pushed Maemo5 to side track (hard to believe that Nokia would much improve closed solutions like Calendar and Modest any longer, all intrest is moving to MeeGo), the only real solution must come from community. I'm missing age display in birthdays, search in calendar and adjustable day view (start/end hours) and sync to gmail/thunderbird lightning.

[les_garten]

It would be nice if they would release the source code for the Calendar so that it could be mod'd by the Community.

Pet Peeve of mine is that I can delete one instance of a repeating event. I have to delete all occurrences. My Palm could do that 10 years ago!

[OVK]

This brainstorm seems to be quiet..any progress happening?

Since PR 1.2 brings no relevant improvement to calendar and Nokia pushed Maemo5 to side track (hard to believe that Nokia would much improve closed solutions like Calendar and Modest any longer, all intrest is moving to MeeGo), the only real solution must come from community. I'm missing age display in birthdays, search in calendar and adjustable day view (start/end hours) and sync to gmail/thunderbird lightning.

Well, since the calendar is closed source the community can't help much. There is a thread somewhere that deals with the efforts of creating separete search aplication but it has also been quiet for some time. Sync to gmail should work with erminig-ng, don't know about thunderbird. http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=40408

I think that it is not possible for anyone outside Nokia to help with age display or adjustable day view.