Later Dan Connolly and others produced the came the RDF Calendar Workspace, started late 2002, which takes a similar approach to this "quick look" with running code, example data, and schemas.
I have put this into the DesignIssues series as now there has been a lot of work around RDF, iCalendar and vCard, and it may be time (2014) to draw common conclusions.I spent a few hours reading 50 pages of the iCalendar RFC2445 with a view to evaluating proposals to put it into XML. My conclusion early on was that the spec should be written in terms of RDF properties, particularly as it has a clear property/value and parameter/value structure.
General points I noticed included
When looking for a natural representation of data in a given lanbguage in RDF, one looks at first for the natural structureo fthe language. iCalndar has a nested set of structures which naturally lend themselves to an RDF graph interpretation. Apart from the noted exceptions, this translatoin leads to a set of fairly logically defined RDF properties which could form iCalendar's contribution to the semantic web.
A "calendar" consists of a set of components, such as events, and to-do list and journal entries. These seem natural RDF types. (There is a choice of whether to introduce special a specific property as the relationship between the containing calendar and a specfic type of component, or whther to use generic inclusion property and then specifythe subtype of the component.)
The components have properties, even known as properties in iCalendar. Now each property is in fact a complex thing which has a "value" (implcitly named) and various "parameters" with names.
The named parameters are clearly easily represented as RDF properties.
The values are generally atomic things suhc as integers and strings, with two exceptions. One is when the valeu if the URI and this implies that the actual value is in a document with that URI. Another is that the value datatype "rcecur"is a string which itself has a substructure. This recurrence substructure takes the form of (guess what!) a set of attribute value pairs.
If this were XML this would be done for you, with Unicode and the various encodings etc.
x-name and iana-token are extensions which XML would give for free using namespaces.
"Each property defines the specific ABNF for the parameters allowed on the property"
This makes general parsing impossible, direct conversion into XML difficult. The only hope is that in fact that it not true and there is more consistency than this line leads you to believe! This sounds like a remake of the RFC822 problem which HTTP has in spades: One parser per page of the spec.
Here in the example
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/basic;ENCODING=BASE64;VALUE=BINARY: MIICajCCAdOgAwIBAgICBEUwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEEBQAwdzELMAkGA1U EBhMCVVMxLDAqBgNVBAoTI05ldHNjYXBlIENvbW11bmljYXRpb25zIE <...remainder of "BASE64" encoded binary data...>
represents the encoding as though it were a property of the value. It isn't: it is a relationship between the value and thestring expressed here. Nicer to write that.
<attach> <fmttype>image/basic</fmttype> <base64>MIICajCCAdOgAwIBAgICBEUwDQYJKoZIhvcN [...] </base64> </attach>
which would mean (in XML or RDF nonstriped strawman syntax) "Something is attached which has content type image/basic and has base64 encoding MMICCblablahblah".
Note that making base64 a first class relationship (subclass of encoding) makes for brevity and extensibility: with a namespace I can introduce a new one.
Value=binary has all these problems and is unnecessary. It is assumed in base64. The earlier example with the URI
ATTACH:http://xyz.com/public/quarterly-report.doc
has an implicit dereferencing operation which it would be best to expose:
<attach> <uri>http://xyz.com/public/quarterly-report.doc </uri> </attach>
which means, consistently with the previous example, "something is attached which is identified by URI http://...."
Property parameter values MUST NOT contain a double quote. So I guess that if i want to represent something which does... I attach it?
4.2.1
ALTREP and many of the following parameters can be represented obviously as RDF properties. There needs to be an explicit property between the introduced thing and any "value".
<description> <altrep>cid:asdfsadf@sdfsdaf.com</altrep> <text>Proext XYZ review meeting</text> <description>
This becomes more obvious when you look at things like ATTENDEE.
4.2.2.
There seems to be an embryonic notion of type here ("properties with the CAL-ADDRESS value type". I assume this can be formalized. it would be so much simpler if this were tabulated.
4.2.3 Calendar User Type.
"mailto:" is usually in lower case. I thought it was in fact mandatory that it be in lower case.
It is very confusing who ends up being the attendee notionally when both delegates-to and -from are specified. Changing this to RDF, or contemplating doing logical operations on this make one queasy about the solidity here.
ATTENDEE;DELEGATED-TO="mailto:a@y.com";DELEGATED-FROM="mailto:b@y.com":c@y.com
What is that equivalent to? I assume a@y.com goes to the meeting.
make relationships first class
FREEBUSY=FREE: would be better as FREE: to reduce unnecessary complication and allow extension.
If that section of the spec (4.2.9) seems to be self-referential and difficult to read, that is also because it is describing an unnatural part of a clumsy syntax. You don't say "I am free or busy as follows: 12-1pm and we are talking about free here"! because RDF makes these things first class objects and allow you to group FREE and BUSY and REALLYBUSY as subclases of FREEBUSYTYPE life is easier.
xml:lang of course is what one would get for free with XML.
"RELATED-TO:RELTYPE=SIBLING" is a classic wanton reification. Just say SIBLING:
Unfortunately the specification defined how calendars can be put into a hierarchical relationship but doesn't say what that relationship *means*. Maybe it does later in the spec.
This is a relationship between a mailbox and another mailbox. It is that the owner of one mailbox is being represented by the owner of another. Yes, the message which asserted this data was probably sent by the agent, but the term is misleading when it crops up in the data. This will cause confusion. This is an example of the clarification which arises when you try to represent the meaning of each rdf:property (icalendar:parameter) independently.
Note that the "URI" data type does not just constrain the value string to be a valid URI, but indicated that the value string is the document you get when you dereference the URI. Big difference, particularly when you automate the base 64 decoding of something.
In general, note XML data types are defined by XML schema working group. See draft @@. A comparison would be a useful exercise.
"If the LANGUAGE property parameter is specified, the identified language applies to the CN parameter"
That is a terrible bit of design - a typical bit of interference between different headers which is so temping for designers in these flat specs which can't use nesting. How many other clauses like this are there?
LANGUAGE is, I must admit, a problem RDF has a bug with in general. It is difficult to specify that a string has a language without making an intermediate node that you don't want. This is, I realize the same as the intermediate packaging problem: how to let a system know that what it asked for is inside, but in the mean time, here is some useful information about it. Here is a number and by the way it is prime. here is a GIF and by ht way it is copyright. Here is a common name and by the way it is in English. It is interesting to see the way iCalendar has the same problem
There is linking between components of calendars which uses "UIDs" which are mid URIs with the prefix removed. This is a bug
This is not in fact a property of an event, but is a property of a given expression of the state of an event. the rule is that it must be incremented by the organizer if the event changes significantly. In a peer-peer world, it is not obvious what to do.
I skipped most of the rest of the spec but a few very similar concerns arose with some other parts I glanced at.
It seems that RDF nodes for the calendar, for each event etc, and for each icalendar:property is a fairly straightforward mapping.
A spinoff would be a vocabulary which would include useful reusable models of time.The timezone work could be factored out if it is definitive.
Where RDF mapping was not obvious this sometimes coincided with unclear aspects of the specification.
There are three levels at which the RDF mapping could be made
party | implicit node in all properties with a CAL-ADDRESS value type. (person or group: anything which can have a mailbox) | |
cal-address | A mailbox - normally mailto:... | URI |
CU | Calendar user defined in CUTYPE | |
INDIVIDUAL, GROUP, RESOURCE, ROOM | CU | |
ldap-directory | starts "ldap:" (is this a standard?) | URI |
mime-type | string | |
participation status | needs-action, accepted, declines, tentative, delegated, ... (an enum type- could do better. Constraints in the spec.) | string |
component | of a calendar | |
EVENT, TODO, etc | component | |
TimeProperty | DTSTART, DTEND, DUE, EXDATE, RDATE | |
Timezone | see TZID | string |
icalobject | ||
recur | defined by recurrence properties | -Really complex datatype could be broken down into RDF! Contains its own nested attr/value structure. |
iCalendar name | domain | range | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
ALTREP | anything iCal property? | URI | altervative to body |
CN | party | string | |
: (mailbox) | party | cal-address | Implicit node between a party and that part's mailbox. Represted by "value" of property |
CUTYPE - type | |||
DELEGATED-FROM | party | cal-address | |
DELEGATED-TO | party | cal-address | |
DIR | party | URI | |
eightbit, base64 | bits | text | text encodes bits accordingto RFC2045. Was value of encoding "property"which was faulty model. Now, subclass of generic ëncoding"property |
ENCODING | bits | text | Only in schema, as superclass of eightbit and base64 See notes |
FMTTYPE | document | mime-type | Why not call it content-type?! Applies to a document. Expect the implit uri proprerty to tell you which object. |
FBTYPE | Supertype of the following | ||
FREE, BUSY, BUSY-UNAVAILABLE, BUSY-TENTATIVE | ? | time-interval | enum became subclasses FBTYPE property |
LANGUAGE | string-or-doc | iso-language | Equivalent xml:lang |
MEMBER | party | cal-address | group membership |
PARTSTAT | party | enum | A status: part of some protocol? |
RANGE | component | superclass only of ... | |
THIS-AND-PRIOR, THISANDFUTURE | component | date-time | subclass of RANGE (was qualifier) |
RELATED | component | period@@ | superclass of TRIGGER-FROM-START and TRIGGER-FROM-END? |
RELTYPE | component | component | Superclass only, of |
PARENT, CHILD, SIBLING | component | component | Subclases of RELTYPE. Hierarchical constraints. Semantics unclear@@. |
ROLE | party | enum roleparam | Attendee; role=chair could it be better "chair?". Wait and see wether it is a separate dimension. |
RSVP | party | boolean | |
SENT-BY | party | cal-address | Misleading. "Represented by" would be better. Some message was sent. |
TZID | anything taking time or D | timezone | Yuk. should be part of the time string. Makes time complictaed |
VALUE | string-or-doc | string | Superclass of the following |
BINARY, BOOLEAN, CAL-ADDRESS, DATE, DATE-TIME DURATION, FLOAT, INTEGER, PERIOD, RECUR TEXT, TIME, URI, UTC-OFFSET" | string | string | Specifies the datatype of an associated string |
URI | document | URI | Subclass of VALUE but indicates the vale is the content of the resouce identified. |
calprop | icalobject | superclass for the following | |
VERSION | icalobject | string | subclass of calprop. unique. |
PRODID | icalobject | string | subclass of calprop
semantics? unique. |
CALSCALE | icalbobject | string | subclass of calprop |
METHOD | icalobject | string | This is a hook for a protocol definition |
VEVENT | icalobject | event | Property VENVENT of calendar implies component is of type event. See spec for properties including this in their domain |
VTODO | icalobject | todo | similar |
VJOURNAL | icalobject | journal | similar |
VFREEBUSY | icalobject | freebusy | similar |
VTIMEZONE | icalobject | timezonedef | similar Definition of a timezone. |
VALARM | ?component | alarm | can nest in component |
CALSCALE | icalobject |
See spec 4.8
The columns E, T etc indicate whether the subject of the property is permitted to be an event, todo, journal, freebusy, alarm or timezone component.
iCalendar name | E | T | J | F | A |
Tz | range | Notes |
ATTACH | y | y | y | y | text-or-doc | |||
CATEGORIES | y | y | y | text | List of enums | |||
CLASS | y | y | y | classification | ||||
COMMENT | y | y | y | y | y | text | no comment | |
DESCRIPTION | y | y | y | y | text | |||
GEO | y | y | float float | lat long. @@ Split into two properties? | ||||
LOCATION | y | y | text | |||||
PERCENT- COMPLETE | y | integer | ||||||
PRIORITY | y | y | integer | |||||
RESOURCES | y | y | text | |||||
STATUS | y | y | y | text | enum - see the spec. | |||
SUMMARY | y | y | y | y | text | |||
COMPLETED | date-time | |||||||
DTEND | y | y | date-time or date | |||||
DUE | y | date-time or date | ||||||
DTSTART | y | y | y | y | date-time or date | |||
DURATION | y | y | y | y | duration | |||
FREEBUSY | y | period | ||||||
TRANSP | y | text | really boolean! | |||||
TZID | a | a | a | a | a | a | text | |
TZNAME | y | text | ||||||
TZOFFFROM | y | utc-offset | like -0500 | |||||
TZOFFTO | y | utc-offset | ||||||
TZURL | y | URI | ||||||
ATTENDEE | y | y | y | y | y | y | party | @@ If language is specified, it applies to CN: Kludge! @@@ |
CONTACT | y | y | y | y | text | |||
ORGANIZER | y | y | y | y | party | Note in FREEBUSY the use is different | ||
RECURRENCE-ID | y | y | y | date-time or date | Could be a problem. Not a property of an event, but its presence makes it a reference to a specific occurrence of a repeated event. | |||
RELATED-TO | y | y | y | text (really URI whcih is UID of component) | Subclass only of PARENT, CHILD, SIBLING above. | |||
PARENT , CHILD, SIBLING | y | y | y | see RELATED-TO | ||||
URI | y | y | y | y | URI | document "associated with" component. For more information. | ||
UID | y | y | y | y | UID - URI without mid: | @@ Missing scheme!!! @@ replace with midL: URI | ||
EXDATE | y | y | y | date-time or date | Excludes the dates given @@ implicit logic makes search logic difficult. | |||
EXRULE | y | y | y | recur | ||||
RDATE | y | y | y | date-time or date | ||||
RRULE | y | y | y | recur |
name | domain | range | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
ACTION | A | text | really an enum |
REPEAT | A | Ainteger | |
TRIGGER | A | duration or date-time | See RELATED. @ Split into two properties? |
CREATED | ETJ | date-time | |
DTSTAMP | ETJF | date-time | |
LAST-MODIFIED | ETJTz | date-time | |
SEQUENCE | ETJ | integer | fuzzy rules for incrementing this |
REQUEST-STATUS | ETJF | text | eg 3.1.1 |
name | domain | range | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
UNTIL | rrule | text | text - all these are text with various constraints and substructure | |
COUNT | ||||
INTERVAL | ||||
BYSECOND | ||||
BYMINUTE | ||||
BYHOUR | ||||
BYDAY | ||||
BYMONTHDAY | ||||
BYYEARDAY | ||||
BYWEEKNO | ||||
BYMONTH | ||||
BYSETPOS | ||||
WKST | ||||
FREQ |
name | domain | range | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
@@@
There must be a much better list of resources for hacking calendar files of various formats - but until I find it here are some random things I found.