Re: [Evolution] Extract a list of names and birthdays & anniversaries out of Evolution

[theapplepie differentmail com]

-----Original Message-----
From: Milan Crha <mcrha redhat com>
> the CSV format is worse than the vCard format, because the vCard format
> holds any detail, while the CSV is only that what the developers think
> is important. The vCard is a standardized format, while CSV is just
> about plain text lines of some data. You will not get the same if you
> export your address book from one evolution into a CSV and import it to
> a different evolution, while you get the same if you use vCard. It's
> not only about evolution, any vCard-capable address book can read the
> vCard-s, just because the format is standardized.

From:   Andre Klapper <ak-47 gmx net>
> Because CSV is a horrible unstructured (random field names, random
> field delimiters) error-prone (random field delimiters, no charset
> encoding information) "format" that nobody should ever use when vCard
> or ical/ics is available.

Hi Milan and Andre
Thanks a lot for the background information I did not know before. This helps to understand the situation 
better. I agree that the csv is not ideal and especially if you would like to transfer all data vCard is 
superior. And I think Evolution should continue to support vCard-export, but what I asked is whether 
csv-export could be added to the GUI of evolution as a choice when exporting the addressbook. This would make 
it easier for people e.g. who are afraid of the command line. Sometimes you need a csv-file, e.g. for a 
certain application or to have a addressbook chart rather than a list like in the vCard-format. The tools I 
have used so far were not helpful to convert vCard-data in a usable csv-format. As the tool 
evolution-addressbook-export is already there, why not add it to the GUI so newbies can find and use it 
easily?
Thanks for considering it!