CalDav Server: Make calendars' event/task functionality configurable

[daCaPo]

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a calendar
2. Sync with OSX/macOS/iOS calendar

Expected behaviour

Calendars (especially those intended for sharing) don't neccessarily require a corrsponding TODO/task list. And there are use cases where users want just a task list, without a corresponding calendar being visible anywhere.

In the NC "calendars" table, a calendar's functionality is controlled via the values "VEVENT" and/or "VTODO". This setting should be made accessible.

Actual behaviour

For every calendar synced with iOS/macOS calendar app, a corresponding task list is made available.

Server configuration

Nextcloud version: (see Nextcloud admin page)
13.0.0

[blizzz]

@georgehrke

[georgehrke]

cc @nextcloud/designers Usability question: Should a new calendar be both a calendar and a task list or simply a calendar?

https://github.com/nextcloud/calendar/blob/master/js/app/service/calendarService.js#L289
https://github.com/nextcloud/server/blob/master/apps/dav/lib/CalDAV/CalDavBackend.php#L665

[pixelipo]

I don't know how to answer the question, but let's try with some use cases and a lot of questions:

• let's say you want to share a task list with a team member: if the attached calendar is shared, the list is also automatically shared, if I'm not mistaken
• apart from that, there is no way to share a Task list, right? That means New calendar must be a task list as well
• at this moment, there is no real integration between Tasks and Calendar; in the future, if you set a date on a task, it should appear in the Calendar, should it not? If so, each task list must have a related Calendar, right? Same goes for future integration with Deck app

[georgehrke]

let's say you want to share a task list with a team member: if the attached calendar is shared, the list is also automatically shared, if I'm not mistaken

Yes, if you share a calendar in the calendar app, it will also share all tasks in that calendar

apart from that, there is no way to share a Task list, right? That means New calendar must be a task list as well

Ah, yes. I just double checked and the task app doesnt offer sharing as of now. The only way to share is via the calendar app. cc @raimund-schluessler

at this moment, there is no real integration between Tasks and Calendar; in the future, if you set a date on a task, it should appear in the Calendar, should it not? If so, each task list must have a related Calendar, right?

Both are storing their data on the CalDAV server. And yes, that's planned :)
nextcloud/calendar#28

[daCaPo]

Apple's designers decided to create calendars and reminders seperately via their respective apps. As a Mac user, I would prefer to see NC behaving accordingly.

Many users will come educated accordingly, especially as Apple decided to remove their "Darvin Calendar and Contacts Server" from macOS server, leaving users looking for alternatives.

[pixelipo]

The way I see it, until Tasks is able to share we must keep current status.

As soon as that obstacle is solved, we could migrate to separated calendars for each. Right now, such a weird thing can happen in the Tasks app (one of these is imported and the other one a web calendar):

However, I would still like us to retain the possibility to have a single collection fo both.

Calendar is used for time-dependant tasks that must be done at a certain determined time. Tasks is for more flexible tasks that should be done some time in the future. But as soon as you decide to commit to a certain task - you add a time/date to it - it becomes a time-dependant task.
You should be able to go the other way, too - if you fail to perform a time-dependant task at a predetermined time, you can remove date from it. This means task is not visible in the Calendar, but is still in Tasks, without time.

[daCaPo]

Right now, the difference are just the values in the "component" column of the "calendars" table. Wouldn't it at least be a feasible quick-fix to let the user switch the task list functionality on and off via an option button in the calendar's configuration dialogue?

[georgehrke]

Wouldn't it at least be a feasible quick-fix to let the user switch the task list functionality on and off via an option button in the calendar's configuration dialogue?

The caldav standard doesnt allow changing that property after the calendar was created. So changing it will lead to unexpected behavior (possibly even) breaking clients.

[jancborchardt]

One thing we definitely need to catch is the problem that due to the current connection, people removing a calendar don't necessarily know that it means removing the tasks too (or vice versa). So we need to:

• Have a notice about that when removing (little work but also still dangerous)
• Check when removing the calendar if there are tasks – if so block removal, or make sure it's double-checked
• Have a "trashbin" equivalent as has been discussed (lots of work though)

[terenc3]

Just to seperate the issues here. What @jancborchardt mentioned is right, but what @daCaPo wants is a configuration to enable/disable tasks. If the standard doesn't allow to change this after the creation, the easiest solution whould be asking the user on the creation of the calendar if he also wants to enable the tasklist too.

[nextcloud-bot]

Hey, this issue has been closed because the label stale is set and there were no updates for 14 days. Feel free to reopen this issue if you deem it appropriate.

(This is an automated comment from GitMate.io.)

[skjnldsv]

Still on @georgehrke ?

[georgehrke]

Back then we only kept this behavior, because the Task app could not share tasks lists yet. So you needed to share the corresponding calendar to share the tasks.

@raimund-schluessler Does the task app support sharing tasks lists already?

In that case we can close and the calendar should only create calendar with supported component type VEVENT.

[raimund-schluessler]

@georgehrke The next version v0.11.0 of the Tasks app will support sharing lists, PR was nextcloud/tasks#410.

As long as the next release of Calendar comes after the next release of Tasks (ETA approx. 3 weeks), we can go for VEVENT only 😉

[georgehrke]

Closing in favour of nextcloud/calendar#1316 then

[Thaodan]

Closing in favour of nextcloud/calendar#1316 then

The PR doesn't address the underlying issue just but only works around which leaves users expecting to use a calendar for todos and event stranded. Should this bug be reopened or be recreated?