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-<!doctype linuxdoc system>
-
-<!-- LinuxDoc file was created by LyX 1.0 (C) 1995-1999 by <eric> Wed Jan 5 22:30:06 2000
- -->
- <article>
- <title>
-Using Libical
- </title>
- <author>
-Eric Busboom (eric@softwarestudio.org)
- </author>
- <date>
-January 2000
- </date>
- <sect>
-Introduction
- <p>
-Libical is an Open Source implementation of the iCalendar protocols and
- protocol data units. The iCalendar specification describes how calendar clients
- can communicate with calendar servers for users can store their calendar data
- and arrange meetings with other users.
- </p>
- <p>
-Libical implements the following specifications and protocols
- </p>
- <p>
-iCal Core
-2445
-iTIP
-2446
-iMIP
-2447
-iRIP
-draft
-CAP
-draft
- </p>
- <p>
-(The current version, 0.14, does not implement iRip or CAP. )
- </p>
- <p>
-This code is under active development. If you would like to contribute
- to the project, you can contact me, Eric Busboom, at eric@softwarestudio.org.
- The project has a webpage at
- </p>
- <p>
- <quote>
-http://softwarestudio.org/libical/index.html
- </quote>
-</p> <p>
-and a mailing list that you can join by sending the following mail:
- </p>
- <p>
- <code>
-------------
-To: minimalist@softwarestudio.org
-Subject: subscribe libical
-------------
- </code>
-</p> <p>
-&dollar;Id: UsingLibical.lyx,v 1.3 2000/01/06 06:20:06 eric Exp eric &dollar;
- </p>
- <sect1>
-License
- <p>
-The code and datafiles in this distribution are licensed under the Mozilla
- Public License. See http://www.mozilla.org/NPL/MPL-1.0.html for a copy of the
- license. Alternately, you may use libical under the terms of the GNU Library
- General Public License. See http://www.fsf.org/copyleft/lesser.html for a copy
- of the LGPL.
- </p>
- <p>
-This dual license ensures that the library can be incorporated into both
- proprietary code and GPL'd programs, and will benefit from improvements made
- by programmers in both realms. I will only accept changes into my version of
- the library if they are similarly dual-licensed.
- </p>
- <sect1>
-Purpose &amp; Goals
- <sect>
-Building the Library
- <sect>
-Structure
- <p>
-The iCal calendar model is based on four types of objects: components,
- properties, values and parameters.
- </p>
- <p>
-Components are the fundamental grouping of calendar information
- </p>
- <p>
-Properties are the fundamental unit of information. Each property is composed
- of a type, a value and collection of parameters.
- </p>
- <sect1>
-Components
- <p>
-Components are named clusters of properties
- </p>
- <sect1>
-Properties
- <sect1>
-Values
- <sect1>
-Parameters
- <sect1>
-Storage
- <sect2>
-Cluster
- <sect2>
-Store
- <sect2>
-Calendar
- <sect1>
-Other bits
- <p>
-Restrictions
- </p>
- <p>
-Types
- </p>
- <sect>
-Differences From RFCs
- <p>
-Although libical has been design to follow the standards as closely as
- possible, there are a few areas where the specifications are irregular, and
- following them exactly would result in an unfriendly interface.
- </p>
- <sect1>
-Pseudo Components
- <p>
-Libical defines pseudo components for groups of properties that look and
- act like components, but are not defined as components in the specification.
- XDAYLIGHT and XSTANDARD are notable examples. These pseudo components group
- properties within the VTIMEZONE components. XDAYLIGHT starts with "BEGIN:DAYLIGHT"
- and ends with "END:DAYLIGHT, just like other components, but is not defined
- as a component in RFC2445. ( See RFC2445, page 61 ) In Libical, it is a component.
-
- </p>
- <p>
-There are also pseudo componentsthat are conceptually derived classess
- of VALARM. RFC2446 defines what properties may be included in each component,
- and for VALARM, the set of properties it may have depends on the value of the
- ACTION property.
- </p>
- <p>
-For instance, if a VALARM component has an ACTION property with the value
- of "AUDIO," the component must also have an "ATTACH" property. However, if the
- ACTION value is "DISPLAY," the component must have a DESCRIPTION property.
- </p>
- <p>
-To handle these various, complex restrictions, libical has pseudo components
- for each type of alarm: XAUDIOALARM, XDISPLAYALARM, XEMAILALARM and XPROCEDUREALARM.
-
- </p>
- <sect1>
-Combined Values
- <p>
-Many values can take more than one type. TRIGGER, for instance, can have
- a value type of with DURATION or of DATE-TIME. It is natural to have interfaces
- that would return the value of a property, but it is cumbersone for a single
- routine to return multiple types. So, in libical, properties that can have
- multiple types are given a single type that is the union of their RFC2445 types.
- In libical, the value of the TRIGGER property resolves to
- </p>
- <p>
-struct icaltriggertype
- </p>
- <p>
-This type is a union of a DURATION and a DATE-TIME.
- </p>
- <sect1>
-Multi-Valued Properties
- <p>
-Some properties, such as CATEGORIES, have a single value type, but may
- have multiple values in a single instance. This also results in a cumbersome
- interface -- CATEGORIES accessors would have to return a list which all other
- accessors returned a single value. In libical, all properties have a single
- value, and multi-valued properties are broken down into multiple single valued
- properties during parsing. The is,
- </p>
- <p>
- <code>
-CATEGORIES: work, home
- </code>
-</p> <p>
-becomes in libical's internal representation
- </p>
- <p>
- <code>
-CATEGORIES: work
-CATEGORIES: home
- </code>
-</p> <p>
-Oddly, RFC2445 allows some multi-valued properties ( like FREEBUSY ) to
- exist as both a multi-values property and as multiple single value properties,
- while others ( like CATEGORIES ) can only exist as single multi-valued properties.
- This makes the internal representation for CATEGORIES illegal. However when
- you convert a component to a string, the library will collect all of the CATEGORIES
- properties into one.
- </p>
- <sect>
-Implementation Limitations
- <sect>
-Using libical
- <sect1>
-Creating Components
- <sect2>
-Constructor interfaces
- <sect2>
-vaargs Constructors
- <sect2>
-Parsing Text Files
- <sect1>
-Accessing Components
- <sect2>
-Finding Components
- <sect2>
-Removing Components
- <p>
-Removing an element from a list while iterating through the list can cause
- problems, since you will probably be removing the element that the internal
- iterator points to. This will result in the iteration loop terminating immediately
- after removing the element. To avoid the problem, you will need to step the
- iterator ahead of the element you are going to remove, like this:
- </p>
- <p>
- <code>
-for(c = icalcomponent_get_first_component(s);
- c != 0;
- c = next)
-&lcub;
- next = icalcomponent_get_next_component(s);
- icalcomponent_remove_component(s,c);
-&rcub;
- </code>
-</p> <sect2>
-Finding Properties
- <sect2>
-Removing Properties
- <sect2>
-Getting Values
- <sect2>
-Setting Values
- <sect2>
-Getting Parameters
- <sect2>
-Setting Parameters
- <sect2>
-Removing Parameters
- <sect1>
-Storing Objects
- <p>
-When you store a component to the database with icalstore_add_component,
- you give the library takes the memory, so the caller does not own the component
- anymore. If you want to keep ownership, use clone to make a copy. ( See "Memory
- Management" and "Naming Starndard for more about routines with "add" in the name.
- )
- </p>
- <sect1>
-Memory Management
- <p>
-Here are the memory rules for the C library:
- </p>
- <p>
- <descrip>
- <tag>
-1)</tag>If the function name has &quot;new&quot; in it, the caller gets
- control of the memory. ( such as icalcomponent_new(), or icalproperty_new_clone()
- )
- <tag>
-2)</tag>If you got the memory from a routine with new in it, you must
- call the corresponding *_free routine to free the memory. ( Use icalcomponent_free()
- to free objects created with icalcomponent_new())
- <tag>
-3)</tag>If the function name has &quot;add&quot; in it, the caller is
- transfering control of the memory to the routine. ( icalproperty_add_parameter()
- )
- <tag>
-4)</tag>If the function name has &quot;remove&quot; in it, the caller
- passes in a pointer to an object and after the call returns, the caller owns
- the object. So, before you call icalcomponent_remove_property(comp,foo), you
- do not own &quot;foo&quot; and after the call returns, you do.
- <tag>
-5)</tag>If the routine returns a string, libical owns the memory and will
- put it on a ring buffer to reclaim later. You'd better strdup it if you want
- to keep it, and you don't have to delete it.
- </descrip>
-</p> <sect1>
-Error Handling
- <sect2>
-Return values
- <sect2>
-icalerrno
- <sect2>
-Component errors
- <sect1>
-Naming Standard
- <p>
-Structures that you access with the "struct" keyword, such as "struct icaltimetype"
- are things that you are allowed to see inside and poke at.
- </p>
- <p>
-Structures that you access though a typedef, such as "icalcomponent" are
- things where all of the data is hidden.
- </p>
- <p>
-Component names that start with "V" are part of RFC 2445 or another iCal
- standard. Component names that start with "X" are also part of the spec, but
- they are not actually components in the spec. However, they look and act like
- components, so they are components in libical. Names that start with "XLIC" or
- "X-LIC" are not part of any iCal spec. They are used internally by libical.
- </p>
- <sect>
-Hacks and Bugs
-
-
- </article>