[RCD] Roundcube should include CalDAV / CardDav client in its core functionality

[André Rodier]

Hello all,

I know there are many calendar and contact plugins for Roundcube, some
of them offering CalDAV and CardDAV client or server functionalities.

However, they not stable, not integrate well with mail functionalities
or with the interface. Lets say presenting options to accept or refuse
an invitation sent by email. I don't even mention support for the
advanced features that some CalDAV and CardDAV servers are providing,
for instance the excellent Davical.

Moreover, some of them are coming with their own CalDAV or CardDav
server, which I think is non-sense. Roundcube is a webmail client. It
does do only one thing, but does it well. It does not come with a mail
server feature...

Is there any planning to add a nice and well integrated calendar feature
on Roundcube? What about adding a CardDAV client for the address book as
well. Using the LDAP address book in Roundcube is already great, it
would be nice to have CardDAV integrated as well.

Thanks to consider this! I have plenty of users who are concerned with
Google Mail lack of privacy, and don't even like its web interface.

Kind regards,
André

[A.L.E.C]

Post by André Rodier
Is there any planning to add a nice and well integrated calendar feature
on Roundcube? What about adding a CardDAV client for the address book as
well. Using the LDAP address book in Roundcube is already great, it
would be nice to have CardDAV integrated as well.

I don't have such plans. I think it will be better if I focus on
supporting core features that we already have. Maybe multi-account
support in the future, things like that, things that cannot really be
implemented as plugins.

Calendaring, CardDAV, such features are not simple and require a lot of
effort in implementation and support. We don't have resources to do
this. And they can be implemented as plugins.

[André Rodier]

Post by A.L.E.C

Post by André Rodier
Is there any planning to add a nice and well integrated calendar feature
on Roundcube? What about adding a CardDAV client for the address book as
well. Using the LDAP address book in Roundcube is already great, it
would be nice to have CardDAV integrated as well.

I don't have such plans. I think it will be better if I focus on
supporting core features that we already have. Maybe multi-account
support in the future, things like that, things that cannot really be
implemented as plugins.
Calendaring, CardDAV, such features are not simple and require a lot of
effort in implementation and support. We don't have resources to do
this. And they can be implemented as plugins.

Thank you for your answer, and thanks for your huge work in involvement
in this.

1 - Is everything ready in RoundCube, to allow a smooth and well
integrated calendar and contact plugins using CalDAV and CardDAV ?
2 - Is there enough plug-in hooks and documentation and flexibility to
allow this? For instance, is it possible to make sure a calendar
invitation is displayed correctly, that the entry will be added in the
calendar and a confirmation email sent, when I press "accept"?
3 - Is there a way to get free/busy times from the address books when
organising an event?

More generally, is there any organised collaboration with the current
plug-in developers to make this happen? Why I have the feeling that a
lot of calendar plugins are regularly out-of-sync with the roundcube
core?

If I want to add a calendar to my Debian server, I will end up using
Sogo, which I don't find as convenient as RoundCube.

Kind regards,
André

[A.L.E.C]

1 - Is everything ready in RoundCube, to allow a smooth and well integrated calendar and
contact plugins using CalDAV and CardDAV ?
2 - Is there enough plug-in hooks and documentation and flexibility to allow this? For
instance, is it possible to make sure a calendar invitation is displayed correctly, that
the entry will be added in the calendar and a confirmation email sent, when I press "accept"?
3 - Is there a way to get free/busy times from the address books when organising an event?

I think there's everything what is needed. The fact that there are quite good existing
plugins (like Kolab's Calendar) confirm that. If there's something missing we're open to
add such functionality.

More generally, is there any organised collaboration with the current plug-in developers
to make this happen? Why I have the feeling that a lot of calendar plugins are regularly
out-of-sync with the roundcube core?

It's probably not caused by missing functionality of core but rather by some not backward
compatible changes, or new features and lack of time to catch up with these on plugins'
side. As for the collaboration, there's nothing really organized, other than the fact I
and Thomas are also working on some external plugins and we're open to any plugin API
extensions.

[André Rodier]

Post by A.L.E.C

1 - Is everything ready in RoundCube, to allow a smooth and well integrated calendar and
contact plugins using CalDAV and CardDAV ?
2 - Is there enough plug-in hooks and documentation and flexibility to allow this? For
instance, is it possible to make sure a calendar invitation is displayed correctly, that
the entry will be added in the calendar and a confirmation email sent,
when I press "accept"?
3 - Is there a way to get free/busy times from the address books when
organising an event?

I think there's everything what is needed. The fact that there are quite good existing
plugins (like Kolab's Calendar) confirm that. If there's something missing we're open to
add such functionality.

Thank you, Kolab is the perfect example of wasted resources: It only
works with Kolab groupware,
where it could have been built in cooperation with other CalDAV /
CardDAV providers.

Post by A.L.E.C

More generally, is there any organised collaboration with the current plug-in developers
to make this happen? Why I have the feeling that a lot of calendar plugins are regularly
out-of-sync with the roundcube core?

It's probably not caused by missing functionality of core but rather by some not backward
compatible changes, or new features and lack of time to catch up with these on plugins'
side. As for the collaboration, there's nothing really organized, other than the fact I
and Thomas are also working on some external plugins and we're open to any plugin API
extensions.

Thank you,
André

[Thomas Bruederli]

Post by André Rodier

Post by A.L.E.C
I think there's everything what is needed. The fact that there are quite good existing
plugins (like Kolab's Calendar) confirm that. If there's something
missing we're open to
add such functionality.

Thank you, Kolab is the perfect example of wasted resources: It only
works with Kolab groupware,
where it could have been built in cooperation with other CalDAV /
CardDAV providers.

FWIW: Kolab’s calendar plugin is built with an abstraction layer for the
storage backend. This would perfectly allow for a CalDAV connector. I think
there even are some forks around for that.

Certainly a better option than starting a new calendar plugin from scratch
as you and alec have already pointed out: it’s not trivial.

Cheers,
Thomas