Re: distribution list question

[Jack <ostroffjh sbcglobal net>]

On 2015.02.16 19:28, andré wrote:
> Jack a écrit :
> > I use balsa in a mostly KDE environment, but keep my main contact  
> > list in a vcard file, which Balsa handles just fine.  However, I'm  
> > now trying to add a distribution list.  I can create one in vcard by  
> > simply adding each address as an EMAIL: but the "TO" line has only  
> > the email addresses, not the human readable name as can be included  
> > in a single contact entry.  1) does anyone know if there is a way to  
> > do this in a vcard file?  (I've searched, and not found anything  
> > that looks like it would work.)  2) is there any chance (short of my  
> > coding it from scratch) of getting Balsa to use the KDE internal  
> > contact mechanism? (akonadi?  still KDE4 although if it's easier in  
> > Frameworks 5, I'll wait.) 3) any other suggestions?
> >
> > Thanks for any ideas.
>
> I haven't tested it since I'm not yet on Balsa, but if it works like  
> mozilla (seamonkey/thunderbird), which it should,
>
> if the "name to display" field (at the top) has text different from  
> the "electronic adresse" field (at the bottom)
>
> then it should display in the format
> name_to_display <electronic_adresse>
>
> otherwise it should only display
> electronic_adresse
>
> (my install is in french, so the english names may be a bit different)
Thanks for the response.  What you describe works for a single  
name/email, but for a distribution list it creates "TO: List name:  
adr1 email1, adr2 email2" where I want it to look like I selected each  
name/email from the address book separately - having the "name" field  
for each "electronic address."

What makes is a little different from Thunderbird is that Thunderbird  
manages it's own contact list.  In my case, the vcard file is  
maintained by a KDE program, and Balsa just reads from that file, since  
it's a standard format, to get addresses.  In a vcard file, a  
distribution list has a single name field (or one of each type) and  
multiple EMAIL: lines, but those can only be name host   (I admit, I  
have not tried to put "'Name' <email host>" into a single EMAIL field,  
but I don't think it will work.

If I actually used KMail, it could use Akonadi (a KDE resource manager  
I would actually prefer not to use) which maintains lists of "name" and  
"email" pairs.  Unfortuantely, that info is not stored in a file, but  
in Akonadi's internal database, where Balsa has no idea how to retrieve  
it, as far as I know.  Remember, Balsa is a Gnome application - so I  
would not expect it to be able to use KDE resources.  (Is there any  
chance of a plugin?  Is there any documentation on how to use the  
program address book I see referred to in the configuration page?)

Jack