Calendar:GDATA Provider
Disclaimer
This provider enables write support to Google Calendar. Although unlikely, it is possible that you could lose (parts of) your data here. Neither the author nor Mozilla can be held responsible for that.
Getting the Provider
Downloading
The provider is not yet available from addons.mozilla.org. It probably will be though.
Building from CVS
If you want to build your own copy of the provider from a CVS tree, you currently need to add the gdata directory to /mozilla/calendar/providers/Makefile.in. Once you have compiled, the resulting extension should be at obj-dir/dist/xpi-stage/gdata-provider.xpi
Accessing your Calendar
To access your calendar data, you need to retrieve your private XML URL from the Google Calendar UI. If you are not sure how, follow these steps:
- Open your Google Calendar
- Click on the Calendar you would like to use in Sunbird or Lightning
- Select Calendar Settings
- Click on either of the two XML buttons and copy the link that is shown.
Note that the provider does not directly use your private url. The Calendar is still accessible when you reset your private url.
You may now use this url as the Location in the new remote calendar wizard.
Bugs and Limitations
Before reporting a bug, carefully check this list to see if the issue you are having is not a known limitation. The list is in FAQ format to make it easier to find your issue. If your question was not answer here, please add it to this page's discussion page. If you believe you have found a bug, please file it in bugzilla
Can I create or view comments made within the Google Calendar Interface?
Not currently. Progress on this is being tracked in bug 362653
I want to modify an Event but nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?
Is the event by chance a recurring event? If so, single instances of recurring events cannot be modified yet, they can only be viewed. Progress on this is being tracked in bug 362650.
The other possibility is that you tried to set the event status to Canceled. Google uses this event status to mark deleted events. If the provider were to allow this, you would be losing your events at least every week.
Next check if you or somebody else is modifying the event from another client (which may also be the Google Calendar UI). The error mentioned below will contain something about Status Code: 409 Conflict. This is a known issue. For now, try switching to a different view (that also contains the event you want to modify) and then retry editing the event. See bug 362645 for details.
You should be getting an error in the error console Severe error in internal transaction code! Please report this to the developers. You can safely ignore this error for now.
I want to create a recurring event, but after it is created the event dosen't repeat. Why?
Creating recurring events is not supported yet. You will be able to view recurring events created via the Google Calendar API, but you will not be able to change them or create new ones. Progress on this is being tracked in bug 362650.
I tried to set an alarm on an event but the alarm doesn't show
Alarms have not been implemented yet. Progress is being tracked in bug 362648.
Also, Google doesn't currently support alarms for non-default calendars. Progress on this issue is being tracked on Google's bug 20.
I want to invite someone to my event, but he is never notified
The provider dosen't currently support attendees. See bug 355226 for details.
Why do all events I create or edit through Sunbird/Lightning have wrong times?
Is your local timezone set up correctly in Sunbird/Lightning preferences? If not, all events you edit will have the first timezone with the same offset as the original timezone it was set in. Also, created events will use the timezone that was originally set in your timezones preference.
All events I edit seem to dissappear from the public view of my calendar. How can I make them show for everyone?
The provider cannot see which is the default setting for event visibility. It defaults to private, which means that all events are only visible to you.
To change this behavior, set the (string) preference calendar.defaultprivacy to either private or public.
Why can't I create tasks on a Google Calendar?
Google dosen't support Tasks, so there is no way the provider can support them.