Re: evolution-data-server and non Evolution data

[Mark McLoughlin <mark skynet ie>]

Hi JP,

On Mon, 2004-01-12 at 14:37, JP Rosevear wrote:
> On Sun, 2004-01-11 at 05:42, Kjartan Maraas wrote:
> > Hi.
> > 
> > I was asked to bring up an issue about evolution-data-server non-
> > evolution data (calendars at least)
> > 
> > There's a possibility that people could use e-d-s with standalone files
> > (.ics) downloaded from iCalshare or any other source, or exported from
> > other apps that use the same format for storing calendar data. This
> > could make e-d-s a candidate for inclusion in the desktop/platform even
> > if evolution doesn't make it in this time.
> > 
> > Any thoughts?
> 
> Well, we'd still like evolution in GNOME 2.6. The e-d-s only this time
> proposal was already floated a while back in the "Proposed: Evolution
> (and associated libs)" thread.

	Kjartan's comment came up basically as a rebuttal to my "e-d-s doesn't
make sense without evo, because without evo, there is no data".

	e-d-s provides an API to access and modify different calendars sources,
but (IMHO) in order for this to be useful there needs to be some
desktop-wide concept of "This is my Calendar", or more precisely, "My
Calendar is the aggregation of calendar sources X, Y and Z".

	Let me put it more concretely - it makes no sense for the clock applet
to have a dialog so you can configure what calendar sources the clock
applet should view. You've already decided what calendar sources you
want in Evo, you shouldn't have to do it again.

	So, the clock applet will just re-use the calendar source selection
you've already made in Evolution and display them. And in the absence of
evolution ... there will be no calendar source selection.

	i.e. to make e-d-s useful in the absence of Evolution, I think you need
to be able choose your calendars somewhere other than Evolution and I
don't think it makes sense for everything using e-d-s to have its own
calendar selection dialog. It'd also be nice if e-d-s had an API for
accessing that desktop-wide central calendar source selection.

Cheers,
Mark.