How to View a Shared CommuniGate Pro Calendar in ... - JAARS

How to View a Shared CommuniGate Pro Calendar in
Thunderbird (ver. 7.0.1) with Lightning 1.0b7
As of the writing of this document, the Lightning extension described here has not provided reliable
performance either in Windows XP or Windows 7. Attempts to share a calendar using this method
have been successful on some computers but not others. Please read the notes at the end of this
document before installing.
Installation
If you want to use calendars in Thunderbird, the first thing you have to do is install the Lightning
calendar extension. The new Thunderbird 7 Add-ons Manager provides a convenient way to install the
extension. As an alternative, it can be downloaded from
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/
download.html.
1. Start Thunderbird
2. Click Tools
3. Click Add-ons
The Add-ons Manager tab will appear.
4. Click the
Lightning extension
thumbnail.

The Lightning extension Add to
Thunderbird loader will appear.
5. Click the green + Add to
Thunderbird button.
The Software Installation dialog box will
appear with the Lightning extension listed.
6. Click the Install Now button.
The Add-ons Manager will display a small banner just below the tab with the words “Lightning will be
installed after you restart Thunderbird.”
7. Click the Restart Now button.
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Methods to Address a Shared Calendar
There are two addressing methods that can be used to open a CommuniGate calendar using the
Thunderbird Lightning extension. The recommended method is CalDAV. The other option is to use
iCalendar (ICS). To use the CalDAV method you must first set up an alias for calendars that others have
given you permission to share. This might be for a calendar for a supervisor, a department, or one of
your coworkers. You do not need an alias for your own calendars. Here’s an example of each format:
https://mail.jaars.org/CalDAV/Calendar
https://mail.jaars.org/CalendarDataDel/~joe_user/Calendar.ics
Your CalDAV calendar address is simply https://mail.jaars.org/CalDAV/Calendar
To set up your aliases for CalDAV.
1. Log in to your e-mail account using the WebMail interface at
https://mail.jaars.org/.
2. Click Settings.
3. Click Subscription.
4. Type a name in the Alias Name box. This first example uses
Engineering.
5. Type the address owner/calendar name in the Folder Name
box. Here it would be ~IT_Services_jaars/Engineering.
6. Click Update.
7. Click Log Out.
Everything in the address is Case Sensitive.
The address would be https://mail.jaars.org/CalDAV/Engineering.
You could now use this address as described on page 5.
iCalendar (ICS) Differences
The main address difference between using CalDAV and ICS is that CalDAV is replaced with
CalendarDataDel in the address and you do not need to set up an alias for the ~user/calendar name
part of the address using the WebMail interface for your e-mail account. For example,
https://mail.jaars.org/CalDAV/Calendar becomes
https://mail.jaars.org/CalendarDataDel/~joe_user/Calendar.ics
Please read the Notes section at the end of this document before creating a new calendar.
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Opening a Shared Calendar
1. Start Thunderbird.
2. Click Events and Tasks in the top menu, and
then click Calendar.
3. Right click in the white area just below the default Calendar
“Home”. This will cause a small popup dialog box to appear.
4. Click New Calendar…
(You may add a new calendar in either of two formats. The recommended
format is CalDAV. If you want to use iCalendar (ICS) review iCalendar (ICS)
Differences on the previous page.)
The Create New Calendar dialog box will
appear.
5. Click On the Network.
6. Click Next.
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The contents of the Create New Calendar
dialog box will change to prompt for a location.
The radio button for iCalendar (ICS) is selected
by default. Change this to use CalDav.
7. In the Location entry area, type the
address for the calendar you want to
open. In this example the address is
https://mail.jaars.org/CalDAV/
Calendar, Joe User’s own calendar.
The location must be to a calendar you
have permission to share. Calendar
names are case sensitive.
https://mail.jaars.org/CalDAV/Engineering is not the same as
https://mail.jaars.org/Caldav/engineering.
8. Click Next.
9. In the Name entry box type a name of
your own choosing.
10. Click on the Color block to change color
(optional).
The Show Alarms check box is selected by
default. If you do not have permission to
write to this calendar you should clear the
check box. Your email address should
appear in the E-mail selection area.
11. Click Next.
If this is the first time you have connected to a CommuniGate shared calendar, the Authentication
Required dialog box will appear.
12. Type your full e-mail address in the
User Name entry box.
13. Type your password in the Password
entry box.
14. Select the check box for “Use Password
Manager to remember these values.”
15. Click OK.
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16. Click Finish.
The calendar you added will now appear in your
list of calendars. You can select or clear the
check box beside the calendar name to show or
hide items in the display area to the right.
Specifying Busy or Free in New Events.
To show your time as Free or Busy when creating events
for your calendar, select Options, Show Time as, and
make your selection. Again, this is one of the drawbacks
associated with this program. By default all events are
created as Busy. Even if you select Free, the selection
may not appear that way in your CommuniGate calendar
on the server.
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Notes
Your e-mail account may be set up as POP or IMAP in Thunderbird in order to use calendar sharing.
Try to be absolutely certain that you have the correct address before trying to add a shared calendar.
Thunderbird Lightning is still a beta release and has bugs. One of these unfortunately is that if you
delete a calendar and try to recreate it, your Thunderbird profile will be corrupted and you will not be
able to add that calendar again. The only solution so far has been to create a new profile, reinstall
Lightning, and recreate the calendars. This is true whether you use CalDAV or ICS. It is unlikely that you
will lose the information since it is stored on the server but it is time consuming to go through this
process.
Certain variations in the location specification are apparently unacceptable as in earlier versions. For
example for ICS calendars the location,
https://mail.jaars.org/CalendarDataDel/~joe_user/Calendar.ics, could not be
https://mail.jaars.org/CalendarDataDel/~joe_user/Calendar, or
https://mail.jaars.org/CalendarDataDel/~joe_user@jaars.org/Calendar.
You can view your own calendar by replacing “joe_user” in the above examples with your username/email
address. For example, if your e-mail address is john_smith@jaars.org your calendar location would
be https://mail.jaars.org/CalendarDataDel/~john_smith@jaars.org/Calendar.ics. You do not have to
grant yourself any additional permission to do so.
The Lightning extension for Thunderbird 7 is available as a beta release now and appears to function
better than the old Lightning extension for Thunderbird 2. If you choose to install the beta version you
will have to first uninstall version 2 and delete your profile folder for Thunderbird in order for the
lightning extension to work properly. See the following web site for more information:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird.
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