[Kolab-devel] KDEPIM HEAD Usability feedback (1: Kolab)

Stephan Buys list at codefusion.co.za
Mon Apr 26 12:52:59 CEST 2004


Hi all,

I have managed to get KDEPIM HEAD up and running and I am very impressed by
the amount of work that has gone into it. Here are some of my initial feedback regarding
Kolab integration.

1) The "Hide Groupware Folders" functionality is a bit confusing. The user is very likely
to want to share his/her Calendar folder, which means that the user has to:
	a) Unhide the Groupware Folders
	b) Set the ACLs 
	c) Hide them again or be very confused by the raw messages.

What is the feasibility of doing a KROUPWARE_BRANCH style folder which can redicect
to the Calendar if clicked upon? But have the ability to set ACLs if right-clicked upon?

2) The detection of other Calendars does not seem to work. As far as I know, according
to the KDE PIM resource framework one has to associate IMAP Calendars using KMail,
which in turn, gets detected by KOrganizer. KMail has no method of "flagging" a folder
as a Calendar with Disconnected IMAP. This, yet again, affects Calendar sharing. Maybe
we should consider ANNOTATEMORE as we know we will be using Cyrus IMAP.

http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-daboo-imap-annotatemore-04.txt

It might be _really_ handy to set the groupware type instead of having to use a hidden
messages or client-side configs.

Example (log into IMAP using telnet)

A10 SETANNOTATION "INBOX/Calendar" "/comment" ("value.priv" "EVENTS")
* A10 OK Completed
? SETANNOTATION "INBOX/Memos" "/comment" ("value.priv" "MEMOS")
? OK Completed
? SETANNOTATION "INBOX/Contacts" "/comment" ("value.priv" "CONTACTS")
? OK Completed
? SETANNOTATION "INBOX/Tasks" "/comment" ("value.priv" "TASKS")
? OK Completed

ZZ GETANNOTATION "*" "/comment" ("value.priv")
* ANNOTATION "INBOX/Calendar" "/comment" ("value.priv" "EVENTS")
* ANNOTATION "INBOX/Contacts" "/comment" ("value.priv" "CONTACTS")
* ANNOTATION "INBOX/Memos" "/comment" ("value.priv" "MEMOS")
* ANNOTATION "INBOX/Tasks" "/comment" ("value.priv" "TASKS")
ZZ OK Completed


3) Kolab Webclient interoperability. (The Web Client is to be announced this afternoon).
We should try agree to a standard way of storing Calendars, etc. in IMAP. At the moment
we only have guidelines for one part of the problem, and that is the storage of the exact
Calendar/vCard information. Some issues that will need to be addressed:
	1) What are the standard RFC2822 extension headers we will use?
	X-KMail-EncryptionState:
	X-KMail-SignatureState:
	X-KMail-MDN-Sent:
	I would suggest these be called X-Kolab...
	X-Horde-Category: 1??
	
	2) We should agree that none of the clients will destroy headers placed by other clients.
	Ie. if existing X-Kolab headers exist those headers should be kept in place if the client
	cannot handle them... (Non-destructive updates)


This is my initial list. I posted these comments to the developer list as we are using different Issue
trackers with the two projects. Bo, how would you prefer that I address these issues?

Kind regards,
-- 
Stephan  Buys
Code Fusion cc.
Tel: +27 11 391 1412
Mobile: +27 83 294 1876
Email: s.buys at codefusion.co.za

E-mail Solutions, Kolab Specialists.
http://www.codefusion.co.za




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