E-mail reminder is synced as alarm reminder from aCalendar to Nextcloud

[formwandler]

When I create a calendar item in aCalendar on Android device and add an e-mail reminder to it, the e-mail reminder becomes a regular alarm reminder in Nextcloud Calendar after syncing with DAVx5. So, e-mail is not sent.

All other sync options work so far.

If I add both, e-mail and alarm reminder, in aCalendar both become just alarm reminders in Nextcloud Calendar.

The opposite way works: If I add an item in Nextcloud Calendar with e-mail reminder, it is transferred to aCalendar successfully as e-mail reminder. But once I edit this item in aCalendar, the sync back fails to keep it as e-mail reminder.

Well, it could also be problem of aCalendar, but that app is almost know as stable.

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a new calendar item in aCalendar on Android
2. Add an e-mail reminder
3. Sync with Nextcloud
4. Check reminders in Nextcloud calendar item: It will be an alarm reminder (not e-mail reminder).

Expected behaviour

An e-mail reminder will be synced to Nextcloud as e-mail reminder.

Actual behaviour

An e-mail reminder is synced to Nextcloud as alarm reminder.

Calendar app

Calendar app version: 2.2.2

CalDAV-clients used: DAVx5

Client configuration

Browser: Firefox

Operating system: openSUSE Tumbleweed (Nextcloud), Android 11 on smartphone

Server configuration

Operating system: openSUSE Tumbleweed

Web server: Apache

Database: MariaDB

PHP version: 7.4.19

Nextcloud Version: 21.0.2 and 22.0.0 beta 3

Updated from an older installed version or fresh install: Updated

[tcitworld]

Does aCalendar allows you to export the event as ICS directly? Please anonymize and post the file so we can have a look at it.

Regular android calendar + DAVx⁵ doesn't have the issue, so I'm inclined to think it's an aCalendar issue.

[formwandler]

Thanks for the quick response.

Yes, aCalendar allows to export as ICS, via CalShare and as some debug data. See export below.

Regarding ICS and CalShare export: There is no VALARM item in the ICS file at all. So I am wondering how Nextcloud can add an alarm here. Or aCalendar does not export the alarm info. The debug file contains hasAlarm = 1. And both, aCalendar and Nextcloud shows the alarm.

When export a new item from Nextcloud, it contains ACTION:EMAIL properly. And I can re-import it, the e-mail reminder remains. So, from regular ex- and import, Nextcloud is fine.

Well, if you have no other idea, it seems in deed an aCalendar problem.

ICS file after sync:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:aCalendar CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Test DTSTART:20210605T160000Z DTEND:20210605T170000Z UID:813fcc9c-6972-43db-9096-db043c0bd23a.ics DTSTAMP:20210605T144400Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR

Debug info after sync:

Device: Google Pixel 4a (5G) OS: R App: aCalendar+ 2.5.2 _id = 1106 _sync_id = 813fcc9c-6972-43db-9096-db043c0bd23a.ics accessLevel = 0 account_name = name@example.org (Nextcloud) account_type = bitfire.at.davdroid allDay = 0 allowedAttendeeTypes = 0,2,1,3 allowedAvailability = 0,1 allowedReminders = 0,1,2 availability = 0 cal_sync1 = {"type":"SYNC_TOKEN","value":"http:\/\/sabre.io\/ns\/sync\/192"} cal_sync10 = isNull cal_sync2 = isNull cal_sync3 = isNull cal_sync4 = isNull cal_sync5 = isNull cal_sync6 = isNull cal_sync7 = isNull cal_sync8 = isNull cal_sync9 = isNull calendar_access_level = 700 calendar_color = -2514176 calendar_color_index = isNull calendar_displayName = Kalender Name calendar_id = 11 calendar_timezone = isNull canModifyTimeZone = 1 canOrganizerRespond = 1 customAppPackage = isNull customAppUri = isNull deleted = 0 description = dirty = 0 displayColor = -2514176 dtend = 1622912400000 dtstart = 1622908800000 duration = isNull eventColor = isNull eventColor_index = isNull eventEndTimezone = isNull eventLocation = eventStatus = 1 eventTimezone = Europe/Berlin exdate = isNull exrule = isNull guestsCanInviteOthers = 1 guestsCanModify = 0 guestsCanSeeGuests = 1 hasAlarm = 1 hasAttendeeData = 0 hasExtendedProperties = 0 isOrganizer = 1 isPrimary = 1 lastDate = 1622912400000 lastSynced = 0 maxReminders = 5 mutators = isNull organizer = name@example.org (Nextcloud) original_id = isNull original_sync_id = isNull originalAllDay = isNull originalInstanceTime = isNull ownerAccount = name@example.org (Nextcloud) rdate = isNull rrule = isNull selfAttendeeStatus = 0 sync_data1 = 8698bcec9b179defd0a88796d47dce07 sync_data10 = isNull sync_data2 = 1 sync_data3 = 0 sync_data4 = isNull sync_data5 = isNull sync_data6 = isNull sync_data7 = isNull sync_data8 = isNull sync_data9 = isNull title = Test uid2445 = 813fcc9c-6972-43db-9096-db043c0bd23a visible = 1 EXTENDED PROPERTIES 0 NO ATTENDEES

[tcitworld]

Yeah, there's not much more that we can do here. Nextcloud doesn't add reminders automatically, so they're probably sent (but not correctly) even though they're not exported.

Thanks for having an in-depth look anyway!

[formwandler]

Hi @tcitworld , I contacted aCalendar Support. I asked them to check whether they set the right ACTION value.

But I think Nextcloud is not out here yet. Since I made another test. When I create an calendar item with the regular Google calendar app, e-mail reminders are also not synced to Nextcloud as such. Same issue than with aCalendar. But when I add item with Google app towards Google cal server, the e-mail reminder works. So,from my perspective the problem is not the calendar app.

That means, I cannot verify that

Regular android calendar + DAVx⁵ doesn't have the issue

From my perspective you should please check if Nextcloud really works with that respect. Or alternatively DAVx5 has a problem.

Thanks, Ralf.

[tcitworld]

I just successfully tested that synching a new event containing an email reminder from the Google Calendar app, through DAVx⁵ correctly syncs to Nextcloud with the reminder.

I have DAVx⁵ 3.3.11, if it helps. Try inspecting DAVx⁵'s debug logs as well?

Just to be sure it's not Nextcloud's calendar UI that hides the email reminders I would also export the file on Nextcloud's side and check for VALARMs.

[formwandler]

Strange, I also have DAVx⁵ 3.3.11 installed. When opening the item in Google Calendar app, it shows "alarm as e-mail".

But export from Nextcloud is following (reflecting display in UI):

BEGIN:VALARM TRIGGER:-PT10M ACTION:DISPLAY DESCRIPTION:Test 3 END:VALARM

I will check to get info from DAVx⁵ debug log.

[formwandler]

Well, DAVx⁵ debug log shows for both apps (aCalendar and Google) ACTION:DISPLAY.

But damn, I found the problem: Account name is not an email address; changing EMAIL reminder to DISPLAY. So, the DAVx⁵ account is bad. Maybe since I added a description as (Nextcloud) to the account name to differ DAV servers.

Item added with aCalendar:

[AndroidEvent] Read event reminder from calender provider PARAMETER #0 = method=2 minutes=5 title=Test 4 hasAlarm=1 [AndroidEvent] Read event reminder from calender provider [AndroidEvent] Account name is not an email address; changing EMAIL reminder to DISPLAY BEGIN:VALARM TRIGGER:-PT5M ACTION:DISPLAY DESCRIPTION:Test 4 END:VALARM

Item added with Google App:

[AndroidEvent] Read event reminder from calender provider PARAMETER #0 = method=2 minutes=10 title=Test Google App hasAlarm=1 [AndroidEvent] Account name is not an email address; changing EMAIL reminder to DISPLAY BEGIN:VALARM TRIGGER:-PT10M ACTION:DISPLAY DESCRIPTION:Test Google App END:VALARM

Thanks for your help so far.

[tcitworld]

So, the DAVx⁵ account is bad. Maybe since I added a description as (Nextcloud) to the account name to differ DAV servers.

Yup, it should be your Nextcloud email address.

Would be nice for DAVx⁵ to provide a setting for this instead of using the account name.

[formwandler]

Yeah, after renaming the DAVx⁵ account name to a pure e-mail address, it works! Yes, it should either be configurable in DAVx⁵ or it should at least warn about it when defining the account name.

Thanks for your support and help.

[formwandler]

I sent an improvement suggestion to DAVx⁵ team.