Bug in CSV Calendar Download?

sjpynes · #1

I am entering events in our stake website calendar to create a printed calendar for the stake. I download the data in CSV format and then use that "export.csv" file to create the printed calendar.

I just noticed that General Conference shows up on the website calendar on Saturday, April 3, 2010 and on Sunday, April 4, 2010, but the CSV download only has an entry on Saturday, April 3, 2010 and there is no entry on Sunday, April 4, 2010.

Here is what the export.csv looks like at that point:

6344707,"Churchwide Event","04/03/10","","","General Conference",""
6410301,"Stake Event","04/03/10","","","Temple Closed",""
6190349,"Stake Event","04/04/10","","","Easter",""
6309493,"Stake Event","04/05/10","","","OHS - Spring Break",""

Is this a bug in the CSV download or am I missing something?

Thanks for any help.

#2

sjpynes wrote:I am entering events in our stake website calendar to create a printed calendar for the stake. I download the data in CSV format and then use that "export.csv" file to create the printed calendar.

I just noticed that General Conference shows up on the website calendar on Saturday, April 3, 2010 and on Sunday, April 4, 2010, but the CSV download only has an entry on Saturday, April 3, 2010 and there is no entry on Sunday, April 4, 2010.

Here is what the export.csv looks like at that point:

6344707,"Churchwide Event","04/03/10","","","General Conference",""
6410301,"Stake Event","04/03/10","","","Temple Closed",""
6190349,"Stake Event","04/04/10","","","Easter",""
6309493,"Stake Event","04/05/10","","","OHS - Spring Break",""

Is this a bug in the CSV download or am I missing something?

Thanks for any help.

It is a repeating event that spans two days. The export.csv file does not show the end date of the event. This does make it inconvenient to use the file to print another calendar.

Look at the October general conference entry. It is the same way.

Look at some of your local overnight events such as Father/Son Outing, Scout Camp, or Young Women Camp. You will only see the start date. You will not see the end date, but the event will span the correct number of days in the online calendar.

I would call this a bug, unless there is some hidden meaning to the event number that tells you how many days the event lasts. If there is, I do not see it. My guess is that this information was overlooked in preparing the format for the .csv file.

But there is your explanation of what is happening.

Developers?

#3

As an added note, I see that events with a beginning and an end time have the date and time for both the beginning and the end of the event. I wonder if you put a time on the last day of the event, if the end date and time would show up in the .csv file?

I have not tried it to see.

faazshift · #4

I see the same thing, but elsewhere in the .csv I see a second entry for the next days general conference. Are you sure you are missing the second entry from the file altogether?

sjpynes · #5

I've done some experimenting. Here is what it looks like to me.

The "export.csv" file never has anything in the "end" field of a record unless an ending time is given by the user. If an ending time is given, then the record has a date and a time inserted in the "end" field , i.e., "06/08/11 22:00:00" otherwise the the field is always empty.

So if an event simply spans more that one day, i.e., starts on 06/04/11 and ends on 06/08/11 (and no ending time is given), there is no way to tell from the "export.csv" file that the event is more than one day long (because there will be no ending date in the "end" field of the record.

However, if an event is actually entered as a repeating event (not just an event that starts on one date and ends on a later date), then the "export.csv" file has a separate record for each day the event is repeated. If the repeating event includes an ending time, then each record will have a date and time inserted in the "end" field, but in such a case the date will be the same as the start date like this:

6780851,"Stake Event","06/04/11 10:00:00","06/04/11 22:00:00","","Event that repeats for several days",""
6780851,"Stake Event","06/05/11 10:00:00","06/05/11 22:00:00","","Event that repeats for several days",""
6780851,"Stake Event","06/06/11 10:00:00","06/06/11 22:00:00","","Event that repeats for several days",""
6780851,"Stake Event","06/07/11 10:00:00","06/07/11 22:00:00","","Event that repeats for several days",""
6780851,"Stake Event","06/08/11 10:00:00","06/08/11 22:00:00","","Event that repeats for several days",""

Maybe I am missing something, but it looks to me like the records in the "export.csv" file should always include an ending date (even if no ending time is given). The interface requires the user to have an ending date. If the ending date was always inserted in the "end" field there would be a way to tell when a record spaned more than one day.

I know there are probably other priorities, but this issue make the "export.csv" file unreliable. Is there any way this could be fixed?

sjpynes · #6

It appears the same "bug" is in the ical "export.ics" file, since apparently no end date is ever included as a "DTEND" value unless an ending time is given. That would appear to make the "export.ics" file unreliable as well.

However, the vcal "export.vcs" actually appears to include a DTEND value with each event, but apparently if no end time is given it inserts an end time of "232900" (or 11:29 PM). For the General Conference entry it shows a start date on Saturday, April 3, 2010 at midnight and an end date on Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 11:29 PM:

BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:20100403T0001006344707@lds.org
CATEGORIES:Churchwide Event
DTSTART:20100403T000000
DTEND:20100404T232900
TRANSP:1
SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:General Conference
END:VEVENT

So, it appears to be safe to use the vcal download to print a calendar.