Qownnotes: Feature request: Support CalDAV tasks from non-ownCloud servers

[Letterus]

Even though I stopped using OwnCloud (we just could not become friends) I proceed using QOwnNotes because it just does nicely what I need. And it works well combined with the Seafile wiki function and the Seafile mobile app.

There's just one drawback: I can't use the tasks feature of QOwnNotes even though I often like to take notes in my tasks which I sync using CalDAV. Currently I'm managing all my tasks stuff in "2Do", but it would be nice if I could do task notes in QOwnNotes as well.

As ownCloud supports CalDAV as well: Would it be possible to use CalDAV as interface for the tasks feature? This standard interface would open this feature of QOwnNotes to a even wider range of users and backends.

[pbek]

The tasks are using CalDAV, but the paths are hardcoded to ownCloud's need and the user credentials and host name are taken from the ownCloud settings.

[Letterus]

Uh, that sounds great. So it would be easily possible to make this work with other platforms? ;-)

[pbek]

Easily? No, not very. :)

[pbek]

Providing an account on the CalDAV server to test certainly would help... I don't even know if every server works the same...

[pbek]

If you want to PGP encrypt me something, here's my key: https://keybase.io/pbek ;)

[Letterus]

If it's okay for you it's probably the easiest way to register an account at fruux. It's free and they are the maintainers of the sabre/dav library, aiming very high standards compatibility. If QOwnNotes works with fruux it's highly probable it works with all proper implementations of sabre/dav (including OwnCloud).

[pbek]

I'm currently working on that. There are some bumps I have to smooth out...

[Letterus]

Great to hear! Have a successful coding session! :)

[pbek]

16.09.4

• you can now also manage todo lists from a custom CalDAV server
  
  
  
  • this should already work
  
  
  • listing of all calendars in the settings dialog
  
  
  • listing of all tasks of a calendar in the todo dialog
  
  
  • creating new tasks
  
  
  • removing tasks
  
  
  • setting tasks to completed / uncompleted
  
  
  • work in progress
  
  
  • showing the calendar names instead of the hashes from the server
  
  
  • not showing an error message when switching to CalDAV in the
    
    settings if no server url is entered
  
  
  • storing additional information to a task, such as description,
    
    priority and reminder date
  
  
  • showing a better warning dialog if CalDAV username / password
    
    are wrong, currently there only is a warning in the log dialog
  
  

There now is a new release, could you please test it and report if the new features work for you?

[Maboroshy]

I've started to have some ownCloud CalDAV error pop-up every time I open app settings, with CalDAV off.

[pbek]

Oh, I "love" such regressions. Thanks a lot for reporting! Are you using ownCloud in QOwnNotes and if yes does the connection work?

[pbek]

Will be fixed in 16.09.5.

[pbek]

16.09.5

• more todo list features
  
  
  
  • storing of additional information to a task, such as description,
    
    priority and reminder date for custom CalDAV servers (this was
    
    tested with Fruux)
  
  
  • the display name of the calendar will now be shown instead of the
    
    hash of the calendar
  
  
  • there now is a button to clear your calendar item cache in the
    
    todo settings, so that all todo list items will be reloaded from
    
    your server the next time you open your todo dialog
  
  
  • fixed a problem where an error message is shown every time you
    
    open your settings dialog when you don't have entered a ownCloud
    
    server name or when you switch to a the custom CalDAV server
    
    and have no server name entered yet in the todo settings
  
  

There now is a new release, could you please test it and report if the new features work for you?

[Maboroshy]

I don't use any in-app sync features.

[Letterus]

Really nice! Works great so far. Absolutely a feature very nice to have! Tested 16.09.5 with Fruux.
I'll test it "in production" and report if I experience any issues.

Just two hints for improvement:

1. It took me some moments to get which address I have to enter in the settings form. So maybe the description of this field could be more precise like "Kalender Basis URL" (or what else would be accurate in German) instead of "Server URL"?
2. The list of calendars in the settings window shows event lists as well task lists. I know they are technically the same, but Fruux has an attribute or something to distinguish them (either "events" or "tasks" or "events & tasks"). For me it would be nice if only those calendars marked as "tasks" or "tasks & events" (at Fruux) would be listed in the window.

One more thing:
When you are at the point to mark this feature stable it would be absolutely sensible to tell Fruux about it. Usually they add a setup instruction for every reasonable CalDAV client.

[pbek]

@Maboroshy, does it work now (is the error message gone)?
@Letterus, thank you for reporting back! 1) yes, I was already searching for a better name, but I haven't found any so far, maybe ´Calendar base url` is a good choice
2) that's already on my todo list ;)

[Letterus]

Great! :)

Now I found something like a bug: I added the task list "Eingang" which contains a lot of "done" tasks but only 6 or so which are not marked as done. QOwnNotes shows all of these tasks even if the check box for "done" tasks is unchecked. If I check it 6 additional tasks are displayed but I don't know why. They are by far not the only ones which are "done" (the tasks shown then are not those which are "not done". So it is not an inversion bug.).

[Maboroshy]

No errors on 16.09.5

[pbek]

@Letterus so Fruux outputs done tasks differently than ownCloud?
@Maboroshy, thank you!

[Letterus]

Yep, basically that's it. :-)

[pbek]

@Letterus, I can't reproduce your "done problem".

this is what I did:

• I created a new task in Fruux
• I set this task to done in Fruux
• I synced my tasks in QOwnNotes
  
  
  
  • the task was shown as "done" in QOwnNotes
  
  

[Letterus]

Thank you for investigating. This is correct, it works for me the same.

But: When I add a task in my tasks app "2Do" and mark it as done it is shown as "done" in the Fruux webinterface but not in QOwnNotes. Conclusion: There must be an additional attribute which should be checked to see if a task is marked as "done".

So I compared two tasks - one marked as done in Fruux, one in 2Do: Both show "STATUS:COMPLETED" and "COMPLETED:20160912T084618Z". But the Fruux task is also showing "PERCENT-COMPLETE:100". Maybe QOwnNotes is only checking PERCENT-COMPLETE?

I'm attaching both items for your own comparison.
Eingang.ics.txt

[pbek]

Or with other words, 2Do only sets the completed status, but not the "percent-complete"...
Thank you for your sample file, I will take that into account in v16.09.6. Although I can't test it, because it already worked in all CalDAV clients I have at hand.

[pbek]

16.09.6

• fixed a possible crash if the option to use a custom CalDAV server was
  selected in the todo settings, but no server url was entered
• only calendars that can hold todo items will now be shown in the
  calendar list in the todo settings
• the completed status of ical items will now also be taken into account
  then checking for completed todo items on your CalDAV server
• because of the changes made to the viewing of calendar names you now
  have to select them again in the todo settings
• now an error message is shown if the username or password to your
  CalDAV server is incorrect

There now is a new release, could you please test it and report if the new features work for you?

[Letterus]

Works. Thank you very much for implementing and fixing this so quickly.

[pbek]

Great to hear! It was even more work than I imagined and introduced a lot of side effects. ;)

[pbek]

@Letterus, if you want to translate the new texts for it you can do so at: https://crowdin.com/translate/qownnotes/1/en-de