Bug in Entourage VCAL Code

[Scott Henning]

There seems to be a bug in the way Entourage codes an invitation for a
recurring meeting. When my meeting request is sent from Entourage and
received by Outlook, Outlook thinks the date range ends one day before
it actually does. This causes Outlook to omit the final event.

The following shows the difference in how the two programs code a
meeting which starts on Oct 1st, 8-9am, and repeats weekly until
10/15....

Entourage 2004 VCAL CODE:
----------------------------
DTSTART;TZID="Pacific Time (US & Canada); Tijuana":20041001T080000
DTEND;TZID="Pacific Time (US & Canada); Tijuana":20041001T090000
RRULE:FREQ=WEEKLY;UNTIL=20041015T000000;INTERVAL=1;BYDAY=FR;WKST=MO

Outlook VCAL CODE:
----------------------------
DTSTART;TZID="(GMT-08.00) Pacific Time (US &
Canada)/Tijuana":20041001T080000
DTEND;TZID="(GMT-08.00) Pacific Time (US &
Canada)/Tijuana":20041001T090000
RRULE:FREQ=WEEKLY;UNTIL=20041015T160000Z;WKST=MO;INTERVAL=1

Outlook reads the Entourage invite as ending on 10/14, so omits the
10/15 meeting.
Entourage reads the Outlook invite correctly.

The difference lies in the RRULE line:
Entourage has UNTIL=20041015T000000
Outlook has UNTIL=20041015T160000Z

I have discovered a workaround to this problem. Instead of using an
end date for recurring events, I use the Number of Occurances.
Entrouage seems to report this correctly.

If this is not a problem with Entrouage, then Outlook must have a
problem reading some invitations!

Any thought?
-Scott Henning

 

[Scott Henning]

After further experimenting...

--Entourage always codes the UNTIL with T00000 on the end date of the
recurring event (which in any US time zone or UTC is BEFORE the actual
event end time!)

--Outlook codes the UNTIL as the end date & time (in UTC) of the
recurring event

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

After further experimenting...

--Entourage always codes the UNTIL with T00000 on the end date of the
recurring event (which in any US time zone or UTC is BEFORE the actual
event end time!)

--Outlook codes the UNTIL as the end date & time (in UTC) of the
recurring event

This is very useful to know - thanks for reporting back. I hope the MS
eavesdroppers here are paying attention. PLEASE send feedback via the Help
menu: it's the only way to make sure they get this bug report from you.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.