Which client should aim to implement ICalendar export for events?

Question

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICalendar

I am working on implementing an event export function. The link above lists tons of clients that support the ICalendar standard, but the “three big” ones I see are Apple iCal, Microsoft Outlook, and Google Gmail.

I get the feeling that each of these clients implements different parts of the “standard”, and I'm not sure which part of the information we should try to export from the application so that someone can put it on their calendar (especially around the repetition).

For example, from what I understand, Outlook does not support hourly recurrence.

Can any of you describe the “happy environment” here in terms of implementing functions?

The secondary question is, if we decide to disable the export functions (for example, hourly repetition), because it is not supported in Outlook, should we support it in the application? (This is a general-purpose event planning application that does not take into account the specifics of the business ... therefore we are really looking for a happy environment)

Answer 1

I must say that I do not use the hourly repetition function, since in fact, how many people repeat events on the same day? I could see if someone had to plan a time when they needed to take medicine at repeated times throughout the day.

I would say that I support full functions in the application itself, but I warn when they go to export the calendar that all event data may not work as expected, or find a way to export differently for Outlook alone, which provides hour repeat function.

Answer 2

I use iCal in Lightning (Thunderbird) and Rainlendar .

I have used calendar software for many years (decades) and never needed to repeat events on the same day. On the same day, you can add additional daily recurring events, if it is really necessary.