TOC 
Network Working GroupC. Daboo
Internet-DraftApple, Inc.
Intended status: Standards TrackM. Douglass
Expires: December 6, 2009RPI
 S. Lees
 Microsoft
 June 04, 2009


iCalendar XML Representation
draft-daboo-et-al-icalendar-in-xml-00

Status of This Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts.

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This Internet-Draft will expire on December 6, 2009.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2009 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents in effect on the date of publication of this document (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info). Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document.

Abstract

This specification defines a format for representing iCalendar data in XML.



Table of Contents

1.  Introduction
2.  Conventions Used in This Document
3.  Converting from iCalendar to XML
    3.1.  Pre-processing
    3.2.  iCalendar stream (2445bis section 3.4)
    3.3.  Components (2445bis section 3.6)
    3.4.  Properties (2445bis section 3.5)
        3.4.1.  Special Cases for Properties
            3.4.1.1.  Multi-valued Properties
            3.4.1.2.  GEO Property
            3.4.1.3.  REQUEST-STATUS Property
    3.5.  Parameters (2445bis section 3.4)
        3.5.1.  VALUE parameter
    3.6.  Values (2445bis section 3.3)
        3.6.1.  Binary (2445bis section 4.3.1)
        3.6.2.  Boolean (2445bis section 4.3.2)
        3.6.3.  Calendar User Address (2445bis section 4.3.3)
        3.6.4.  Date (2445bis section 4.3.4)
        3.6.5.  Date-Time (2445bis section 4.3.5)
        3.6.6.  Duration (2445bis section 4.3.6)
        3.6.7.  Float (2445bis section 4.3.7)
        3.6.8.  Integer (2445bis section 4.3.8)
        3.6.9.  Period of Time (2445bis section 4.3.9)
        3.6.10.  Recurrence Rule (2445bis section 4.3.10)
        3.6.11.  Text (2445bis section 4.3.11)
        3.6.12.  Time (2445bis section 4.3.12)
        3.6.13.  URI (2445bis section 4.3.13)
        3.6.14.  UTC Offset (2445bis section 4.3.14)
    3.7.  Extensions
4.  Converting from XML into iCalendar
5.  Security Considerations
6.  IANA Considerations
    6.1.  Namespace Registration
    6.2.  Media Type
7.  Acknowledgments
8.  Normative References
Appendix A.  Relax NG Schema
Appendix B.  XML Stylesheet for conversion to iCalendar
Appendix C.  Example
    C.1.  iCalendar Data
    C.2.  XML Data




 TOC 

1.  Introduction

The iCalendar data format [I‑D.ietf‑calsify‑rfc2445bis] (Desruisseaux, B., “Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar),” April 2009.) is a widely deployed interchange format for calendaring and scheduling data. While many applications and services consume and generate calendar data, iCalendar is a specialized format that requires its own parser/generator. In contrast, XML-based formats are widely used for interoperability between applications, and the many tools that generate, parse, and manipulate XML make it easier to work with than iCalendar.

The purpose of this specification is to define an XML format that allows iCalendar data to be converted to XML, and then back to iCalendar, without losing any semantic meaning in the data. Anyone creating XML calendar data according to this specification will know that their data can be converted to a valid iCalendar representation as well.

Several key design decisions have been made:

Round-tripping: i.e., converting an iCalendar instance to XML and back will give the same result as the starting point.

Make the conversion process as simple as possible.

Make it easy to work with the XML without needing to re-parse it. It is worth explaining the rationale behind this decision. One result is that this specification breaks up date/time values from iCalendar into separate year, month, day, hour, minute, and second elements. By separating the values into different elements, it becomes much easier to transform or query over the resulting XML. For instance, given a set of xCal elements representing events, it is easy to find the events that start at a particular time or in a particular year, month, or day. Given a date / time value in the xCal format described here, it would be easy to transform it to HTML while removing unneeded sub-elements; no additional parsing is needed.

Preserve the semantics of the iCalendar data. This decision is important: the semantics of iCalendar is preserved in the XML so a full understanding of iCalendar is required in order to actually use the data, whether it be in the iCalendar or XML formats.



 TOC 

2.  Conventions Used in This Document

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119] (Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels,” March 1997.).

When XML element types in the namespace "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:icalendar" are referenced in this document outside of the context of an XML fragment, the string "ICAL:" will be prefixed to the element types.

Some examples in this document contain "partial" XML documents used for illustrative purposes. In these examples, three periods "..." are used to indicate a portion of the document that has been removed for compactness.



 TOC 

3.  Converting from iCalendar to XML

This section describes how iCalendar data is converted to XML using a simple, predictable mapping between the iCalendar data model and XML elements.



 TOC 

3.1.  Pre-processing

iCalendar data uses a line folding mechanism to limit lines of data to a maximum line length (typically 72 characters) to ensure maximum likelihood of preserving data integrity as it is transported via various means (e.g., email) - see Section 3.1 of [I‑D.ietf‑calsify‑rfc2445bis] (Desruisseaux, B., “Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar),” April 2009.).

Prior to converting iCalendar data into XML all folded lines MUST be unfolded.

iCalendar data uses an "escape" character sequence for text values and parameter values. When such text elements are converted into XML the escaping MUST be removed.

iCalendar uses a base64 encoding for binary data. The base64 encoding MUST remain when converted to XML.



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3.2.  iCalendar stream (2445bis section 3.4)

iCalendar has a well defined object model for its data that makes mapping to XML a simple process of following a set of rules for mapping the various object model types into XML elements.

At the top-level of the iCalendar object model is an "iCalendar stream". This object encompasses multiple "iCalendar objects". In XML, the entire stream is contained in the root ICAL:icalendar XML element.

Example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<icalendar xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:icalendar">
...
</icalendar>

An iCalendar stream can contain one or more iCalendar objects. Each iCalendar object, delimited by BEGIN:VCALENDAR and END:VCALENDAR, is enclosed by the ICAL:vcalendar XML element.

Example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<icalendar xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:icalendar">
  <vcalendar>
  ...
  </vcalendar>
</icalendar>

iCalendar objects are comprised of a set of "components", "properties", "parameters" and "values". A "component" can contain other "components" or "properties". A "property" has a value and optionally a set of "parameters".

In XML, "components" are contained within an ICAL:components XML element. With that element, another ICAL:components element could appear (representing components nested within components) or the ICAL:properties XML element could appear. ICAL:properties is used to encapsulate iCalendar properties.

Each iCalendar property will be mapped to its own XML element as described below. Within each of these elements there is an optional ICAL:parameters XML element used to encapsulate any iCalendar parameters. Additionally there will be one or more XML elements representing the value of the iCalendar property.

Example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<icalendar xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:icalendar">
  <vcalendar>
    <properties>
    ...
    </properties>
    <components>
    ...
    </components>
  </vcalendar>
</icalendar>

ItemXML elementXML Definition
iCalendar Stream ICAL:icalendar Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.4
VCALENDAR ICAL:vcalendar Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.6



 TOC 

3.3.  Components (2445bis section 3.6)

Each calendar component in the VCALENDAR object, delimited by BEGIN and END, will be converted to an enclosing XML element with the same name, but in lowercase:

ComponentXML elementXML Definition
VEVENT ICAL:vevent Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.6.1
VTODO ICAL:vtodo Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.6.2
VJOURNAL ICAL:vjournal Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.6.3
VFREEBUSY ICAL:vfreebusy Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.6.4
VTIMEZONE ICAL:vtimezone Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.6.5
STANDARD ICAL:standard Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.6.5
DAYLIGHT ICAL:daylight Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.6.5
VALARM ICAL:valarm Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.6.6



 TOC 

3.4.  Properties (2445bis section 3.5)

iCalendar properties , whether they apply to the VCALENDAR object or to the components, are handled in a consistent way.

iCalendar properties are enclosed in the XML element ICAL:properties.

Each invidivual iCalendar property is represented in XML by an element of the same name as the iCalendar property, but in lowercase. For example, the CALSCALE property is represented in XML by the ICAL:calscale element.

Example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<icalendar xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:icalendar">
  <vcalendar>
    <properties>
      <calscale>...</calscale>
      <version>...</version>
      <prodid>...</prodid>
    </properties>
    <components>
    ...
    </components>
  </vcalendar>
</icalendar>

Each property can contain an ICAL:parameters XML element encapsulating any iCalendar parameters associated with the iCalendar property.

Each property will contain one or more "value" XML elements as described below representing the value of the iCalendar property.

PropertyXML elementXML Definition
CALSCALE ICAL:calscale Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.7.1
METHOD ICAL:method Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.7.2
PRODID ICAL:prodid Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.7.3
VERSION ICAL:version Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.7.4
ATTACH ICAL:attach Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.1
CATEGORIES ICAL:categories Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.2
CLASS ICAL:class Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.3
COMMENT ICAL:comment Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.4
DESCRIPTION ICAL:description Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.5
GEO ICAL:geo Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.6
LOCATION ICAL:location Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.7
PERCENT-COMPLETE ICAL:percent-complete Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.8
PRIORITY ICAL:priority Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.9
RESOURCES ICAL:resources Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.10
STATUS ICAL:status Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.11
SUMMARY ICAL:summary Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.12
COMPLETED ICAL:completed Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.2.1
DTEND ICAL:dtend Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.2.2
DUE ICAL:due Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.2.3
DTSTART ICAL:dtstart Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.2.4
DURATION ICAL:duration Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.2.5
FREEBUSY ICAL:freebusy Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.2.6
TRANSP ICAL:transp Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.2.7
TZID ICAL:tzid Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.3.1
TZNAME ICAL:tzname Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.3.2
TZOFFSETFROM ICAL:tzoffsetfrom Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.3.3
TZOFFSETTO ICAL:tzoffsetto Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.3.4
TZURL ICAL:tzurl Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.3.5
ATTENDEE ICAL:attendee Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.4.1
CONTACT ICAL:contact Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.4.2
ORGANIZER ICAL:organizer Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.4.3
RECURRENCE-ID ICAL:recurrence-id Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.4.4
RELATED-TO ICAL:related-to Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.4.5
URL ICAL:url Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.4.6
UID ICAL:uid Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.4.7
EXDATE ICAL:exdate Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.5.1
RDATE ICAL:rdate Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.5.2
RRULE ICAL:rrule Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.5.3
ACTION ICAL:action Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.6.1
REPEAT ICAL:repeat Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.6.2
TRIGGER ICAL:trigger Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.6.3
CREATED ICAL:created Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.7.1
DTSTAMP ICAL:dtstamp Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.7.2
LAST-MODIFIED ICAL:last-modified Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.7.3
SEQUENCE ICAL:sequence Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.7.4
REQUEST-STATUS ICAL:request-status Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.8.3



 TOC 

3.4.1.  Special Cases for Properties

Some properties in iCalendar can contain "structured" value data. This includes lists of "standard" value types, as well as values with specific "fields". In XML, these "structured" values are represented as separate XML elements in various ways for ease of processing using standard XML tools.



 TOC 

3.4.1.1.  Multi-valued Properties

The following iCalendar properties can have values that consist of a list of "standard" iCalendar values separated by a specific delimiter. In XML these properties are represented by an XML element that contains multiple "value" elements (Section 3.6 (Values (2445bis section 3.3))).

PropertyXML elementXML Definition
CATEGORIES ICAL:categories Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.2
RESOURCES ICAL:resources Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.10
FREEBUSY ICAL:freebusy Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.2.6
EXDATE ICAL:exdate Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.5.1
RDATE ICAL:rdate Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.5.2



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3.4.1.2.  GEO Property

In iCalendar, the GEO property value is defined as a semi-colon separated list of two FLOAT values, the first representing latitude and the second longitude.

In XML, the value for the ICAL:geo element is represented by an ICAL:value element containing an ICAL:latitude element and an ICAL:longitude element, each of which contain text values representing the FLOAT values. See Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.1.6.



 TOC 

3.4.1.3.  REQUEST-STATUS Property

In Icalendar, the REQUEST-STATUS property value is defined as a semi-colon separated list of two or three TEXT values. The first represents a code, the second a description, and the third (optional) additional data.

In XML, the value for the ICAL:request-status element is represented by an ICAL:value element containing an ICAL:code element, and iCAL:description element, and optionally and ICAL:data element, each of which contain the corresponding TEXT values. See Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.8.8.3.



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3.5.  Parameters (2445bis section 3.4)

iCalendar parameters are enclosed in the XML element ICAL:parameters which optionally occurs once in each property XML element.

Each invidivual iCalendar parameter is represented in XML by an element of the same name as the iCalendar parameter, but in lowercase. For example, the PARTSTAT parameter is represented in XML by the ICAL:partstat element.

Example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<icalendar xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:icalendar">
  <vcalendar>
    ...
    <components>
    ...
      <attendee>
        <parameters>
          <partstat>NEEDS-ACTION</partstat>
        </parameters>
        ...
    </components>
  </vcalendar>
</icalendar>

Each parameter contains either text, or one or more child XML elements representing iCalendar value types.

ParameterXML elementXML Definition
ALTREP ICAL:altrep Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.1
CN ICAL:cn Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.2
CUTYPE ICAL:cutype Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.3
DELEGATED-FROM ICAL:delegated-from Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.4
DELEGATED-TO ICAL:delegated-to Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.5
DIR ICAL:dir Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.6
ENCODING ICAL:encoding Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.7
FMTTYPE ICAL:fmttype Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.8
FBTYPE ICAL:fbtype Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.9
LANGUAGE ICAL:language Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.10
MEMBER ICAL:member Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.11
PARTSTAT ICAL:partstat Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.12
RANGE ICAL:range Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.13
RELATED ICAL:related Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.14
RELTYPE ICAL:reltype Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.15
ROLE ICAL:role Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.16
RSVP ICAL:rsvp Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.17
SENT-BY ICAL:sent-by Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.18
TZID ICAL:tzid Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.2.19



 TOC 

3.5.1.  VALUE parameter

iCalendar defines a VALUE parameter (Section 3.2.20 of [I‑D.ietf‑calsify‑rfc2445bis] (Desruisseaux, B., “Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar),” April 2009.). This parameter is not mapped to an XML element. Instead, the value type is handled by having different XML elements for each value, and these appear inside of ICAL:property elements. Thus, when converting from iCalendar to XML, any VALUE parameters are skipped. When converting from XML into iCalendar, the appropriate VALUE parameter MUST be included in the iCalendar property if the value type is not the default value type for that property.



 TOC 

3.6.  Values (2445bis section 3.3)

iCalendar value types are mapped into XML elements with a matching name in all lowercase. In some cases, iCalendar defines "structured" values and these are mapped into separate child elements in each value element, as described by the simple DTD definitions below.

Some properties allow for multiple values and these are represented by separate matching value XML elements.



 TOC 

3.6.1.  Binary (2445bis section 4.3.1)

Description:
iCalendar BINARY property values are represented by the ICAL:binary XML element. The content of the element is base64 encoded data. Whitespace MAY be inserted into the data at any point to "wrap" the data to reasonable line lengths. When converting back to iCalendar the whitespace MUST first be removed.
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.1


 TOC 

3.6.2.  Boolean (2445bis section 4.3.2)

Description:
iCalendar BOOLEAN property values are represented by the ICAL:boolean XML element. The content of the element is text containing either of "TRUE" or "FALSE".
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.2


 TOC 

3.6.3.  Calendar User Address (2445bis section 4.3.3)

Description:
iCalendar CAL-ADDRESS property values are represented by the ICAL:cal-address XML element. The content of the element is a URI.
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.3


 TOC 

3.6.4.  Date (2445bis section 4.3.4)

Description:
iCalendar DATE property values are represented by the ICAL:date XML element. The content of the element is three child elements representing the year, month and day values in the date.
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.4


 TOC 

3.6.5.  Date-Time (2445bis section 4.3.5)

Description:
iCalendar DATE-TIME property values are represented by the ICAL:date-time XML element. The content of the element is six child elements representing the year, month, day, hour, minute and second values in the date-time. In addition, an XML attribute is used to indicate whether the date-time value represents a UTC based date-time (represented by a trailing "Z" in the iCalendar value).
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.5


 TOC 

3.6.6.  Duration (2445bis section 4.3.6)

Description:
iCalendar DURATION property values are represented by the ICAL:duration XML element. The content of the element is various child elements representing the possible combinations of week, day, hour, minute and second values. In addition, an XML attribute is used to indicate whether the duration value represents a positive or negative offset.
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.6


 TOC 

3.6.7.  Float (2445bis section 4.3.7)

Description:
iCalendar FLOAT property values are represented by the ICAL:float XML element. The content of the element is a text representation of a floating point number.
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.7


 TOC 

3.6.8.  Integer (2445bis section 4.3.8)

Description:
iCalendar INTEGER property values are represented by the ICAL:integer XML element. The content of the element is a text representation of an integer number.
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.8


 TOC 

3.6.9.  Period of Time (2445bis section 4.3.9)

Description:
iCalendar PERIOD property values are represented by the ICAL:period XML element. The content of the element is two child elements representing the start date-time and end date-time or positive duration.
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.9


 TOC 

3.6.10.  Recurrence Rule (2445bis section 4.3.10)

Description:
iCalendar RECUR property values are represented by the ICAL:recur XML element. The content of the element is child elements representing the various components of a recurrence rule.
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.10


 TOC 

3.6.11.  Text (2445bis section 4.3.11)

Description:
iCalendar TEXT property values are represented by the ICAL:text XML element. The content of the element is simple text.
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.11


 TOC 

3.6.12.  Time (2445bis section 4.3.12)

Description:
iCalendar TIME property values are represented by the ICAL:time XML element. The content of the element is three child elements representing the hour, minute and second values in the time. In addition, an XML attribute is used to indicate whether the time value represents a UTC based time (represented by a trailing "Z" in the iCalendar value).
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.12


 TOC 

3.6.13.  URI (2445bis section 4.3.13)

Description:
iCalendar URI property values are represented by the ICAL:uri XML element. The content of the element is a URI.
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.13


 TOC 

3.6.14.  UTC Offset (2445bis section 4.3.14)

Description:
iCalendar UTC-OFFSET property values are represented by the ICAL:utc-offset XML element. The content of the element is two or three child elements representing the hour, minute and (optional) second values in the UTC offset. In addition, an XML attribute is used to indicate whether the offset value represents a positive or negative offset.
XML Definition:
Appendix A (Relax NG Schema) # 3.3.14


 TOC 

3.7.  Extensions

iCalendar extension properties and parameters (ones with an "X-" prefix in their name) are handled in the same way as other properties and parameters: the property or parameter is represented by an XML element with the same name, but in lowercase. e.g., the "X-FOO" property in iCalendar turns into the ICAL:x-foo element in XML.



 TOC 

4.  Converting from XML into iCalendar

When converting from XML back to iCalendar, any elements in the XML that are not in the "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:icalendar" namespace MUST be ignored.

When converting component, property and parameter values, the names SHOULD be converted to uppercase. Although iCalendar names are case insensitive, common practice is to keep them all uppercase following the actual definitions in [I‑D.ietf‑calsify‑rfc2445bis] (Desruisseaux, B., “Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar),” April 2009.).

Backslash escaping and line folding MUST be applied to the resulting iCalendar data as required by [I‑D.ietf‑calsify‑rfc2445bis] (Desruisseaux, B., “Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar),” April 2009.).



 TOC 

5.  Security Considerations

This extension does not introduce any new security concerns than those already described in iCalendar.



 TOC 

6.  IANA Considerations

This document uses one new URN to identify a new XML namespace, and one new media type. The URN conforms to a registry mechanism described in [RFC3688] (Mealling, M., “The IETF XML Registry,” January 2004.).



 TOC 

6.1.  Namespace Registration

Registration request for the iCalendar namespace:

URI: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:icalendar

Registrant Contact: See the "Authors' Addresses" section of this document.

XML: None. Namespace URIs do not represent an XML specification.



 TOC 

6.2.  Media Type

This section defines the MIME media type for use with iCalendar in XML data.

To:
ietf-types@iana.org
Subject:
Registration of media type application/xml+calendar
Type name:
application
Subtype name:
xml+calendar
Required parameters:
none
Optional parameters:
charset, method, component and optinfo as defined for the text/calendar media type
Encoding considerations:
iCalendar data is typically UTF-8 and thus the XML representation will follow that. As a result, for 7-bit transports, data in UTF-8 MUST be encoded in quoted-printable or base64.
Security considerations:
See Section 5 (Security Considerations).
Interoperability considerations:
This media type provides an alternative syntax to iCalendar data based on XML.
Published specification:
This specification.
Applications which use this media type:
Applications that currently make use of the text/calendar media type can use this as an alternative.
Additional information:
Magic number(s):
None
File extension(s):
XML data should use "xml" as the file extension.
Macintosh file type code(s):
None specified.
Person & email address to contact for further information:
See the "Author's Address" section of this document.
Intended usage:
COMMON
Restrictions on usage:
There are no restrictions on where this media type can be used.
Author:
See the "Author's Address" section of this document.
Change controller:
IETF



 TOC 

7.  Acknowledgments

This specification originated from the work of the XML technical committee of the Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium.



 TOC 

8. Normative References

[I-D.ietf-calsify-rfc2445bis] Desruisseaux, B., “Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar),” draft-ietf-calsify-rfc2445bis-10 (work in progress), April 2009 (TXT).
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels,” BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997 (TXT, HTML, XML).
[RFC3688] Mealling, M., “The IETF XML Registry,” BCP 81, RFC 3688, January 2004 (TXT).


 TOC 

Appendix A.  Relax NG Schema

Below is a Relax NG schema for iCalendar in XML. This schema uses the compact notation of Relax NG. The numeric section numbers given in the comments refer to section in [I‑D.ietf‑calsify‑rfc2445bis] (Desruisseaux, B., “Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar),” April 2009.). The ordering of elements follows the section ordering of [I‑D.ietf‑calsify‑rfc2445bis] (Desruisseaux, B., “Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar),” April 2009.).

The Relax NG compact notation "?" operator is used to indicate an unordered list of items. However, that operator, as defined, allows "mixing" each element that it operates on at any depth within the other elements, rather than just allowing "mixing" of siblings only. As a result, the schema provided allows certain constructs that are not allowed in iCalendar. Given that there is no sibling-only unordered list operator in RelaxNG, this is the best representation that can be given.

# Relax NG Schema for iCalendar in XML

default namespace = "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:icalendar"

# 3.2 Property Parameters

# 3.2.1 Alternate Text Representation

altrepparam = element altrep { value-uri }

# 3.2.2 Common Name

cnparam = element cn { text }

# 3.2.3 Calendar User Type

cutypeparam = element cutype {
    "INDIVIDUAL" |
    "GROUP" |
    "RESOURCE" |
    "ROOM" |
    "UNKNOWN"
}

# 3.2.4 Delegators

delfromparam = element delegated-from { value-cal-address+ }

# 3.2.5 Delegatees

deltoparam = element delegated-to { value-cal-address+ }

# 3.2.6 Directory Entry Reference

dirparam = element dir { value-uri }

# 3.2.7 Inline Encoding

encodingparam = element encoding {
    "8BIT" |
    "BASE64"
}


# 3.2.8 Format Type

fmttypeparam = element fmttype { text }

# 3.2.9 Free/Busy Time Type

fbtypeparam = element fbtype {
    "FREE" |
    "BUSY" |
    "BUSY-UNAVAILABLE" |
    "BUSY-TENTATIVE"
}

# 3.2.10 Language

languageparam = element language { text }

# 3.2.11 Group or List Membership

memberparam = element member { value-cal-address+ }

# 3.2.12 Participation Status

partstatparam = element partstat {
    type-partstat-event |
    type-partstat-todo |
    type-partstat-jour
}

type-partstat-event = (
    "NEEDS-ACTION" |
    "ACCEPTED" |
    "DECLINED" |
    "TENTATIVE" |
    "DELEGATED"
)

type-partstat-todo = (
    "NEEDS-ACTION" |
    "ACCEPTED" |
    "DECLINED" |
    "TENTATIVE" |
    "DELEGATED" |
    "COMPLETED" |
    "IN-PROCESS"
)

type-partstat-jour = (
    "NEEDS-ACTION" |
    "ACCEPTED" |
    "DECLINED"
)

# 3.2.13 Recurrence Identifier Range

rangeparam = element range {
    "THISANDFUTURE"
}

# 3.2.14 Alarm Trigger Relationship

trigrelparam = element related {
    "START" |
    "END"
}

# 3.2.15 Relationship Type

reltypeparam = element reltype {
    "PARENT" |
    "CHILD" |
    "SIBLING"
}

# 3.2.16 Participation Role

roleparam = element role {
    "CHAIR" |
    "REQ-PARTICIPANT" |
    "OPT-PARTICIPANT" |
    "NON-PARTICIPANT"
}

# 3.2.17 RSVP Expectation

rsvpparam = element rsvp {
    "TRUE" |
    "FALSE"
}

# 3.2.18 Sent By

sentbyparam = element sent-by { value-cal-address }

# 3.2.19 Time Zone Identifier

tzidparam = element tzid { text }

# 3.3 Property Value Data Types

# 3.3.1 BINARY

value-binary =  element binary { text }

# 3.3.2 BOOLEAN

value-boolean = element boolean {
    ("TRUE" | "FALSE")
}

# 3.3.3 CAL-ADDRESS

value-cal-address = element cal-address { text }

# 3.3.4 DATE

value-date = element date {
    element year  { text },
    element month { text },
    element day   { text }
}

# 3.3.5 DATE-TIME

value-date-time = element date-time {
    attribute utc  { "yes" | "no" },
    element year   { text },
    element month  { text },
    element day    { text },
    element hour   { text },
    element minute { text },
    element second { text }
}

# 3.3.6 DURATION

value-duration = element duration {
    attribute sign { "+" | "-" },
    (
        (
            element day    { text },
            element hour   { text }?,
            element minute { text }?,
            element second { text }?
        ) |
        (
            element hour   { text },
            element minute { text }?,
            element second { text }?
        ) |
        (
            element minute { text },
            element second { text }?
        ) |
        (
            element second { text }
        ) |
        element week { text }
    )
}

# 3.3.7 FLOAT

value-float = element float { text }

# 3.3.8 INTEGER

value-integer = element integer { text }

# 3.3.9 PERIOD

value-period = element period {
    value-date-time,
    (
        value-date-time |
        value-duration
    )
}

# 3.3.10 RECUR

value-recur = element recur {
    type-freq,
    (type-until | type-count)?,
    element interval  { text }?,
    element bysecond  { text }*,
    element byminute  { text }*,
    element byhour    { text }*,
    type-byday*,
    type-bymonthday*,
    type-byyearday*,
    type-byweekno*,
    element bymonth   { text }*,
    type-bysetpos*,
    element wkst { type-weekday }?
}

type-freq = element freq {
    "SECONDLY" |
    "MINUTELY" |
    "HOURLY"   |
    "DAILY"    |
    "WEEKLY"   |
    "MONTHLY"  |
    "YEARLY"
}

type-until = element until {
    type-date |
    type-date-time
}

type-count = element count { text }

type-weekday = (
    "SU" |
    "MO" |
    "TU" |
    "WE" |
    "TH" |
    "FR" |
    "SA"
)

type-byday = element byday {
    element ordwk {
        text
    }?,
    element weekday { type-weekday }
}

type-bymonthday = element bymonthday {
    text
}

type-byyearday = element byyearday {
    text
}

type-byweekno = element byweekno {
    text
}

type-bysetpos = element bysetpos {
    text
}

# 3.3.11 TEXT

value-text = element text { text }

# 3.3.12 TIME

value-time = element time {
    attribute utc  { "yes" | "no" },
    element hour   { text },
    element minute { text },
    element second { text }
}

# 3.3.13 URI

value-uri = element uri { text }

# 3.3.14 UTC-OFFSET

value-utc-offset = element utc-offset {
    attribute sign  { "+" | "-" },
    element hour   { text },
    element minute { text },
    element second { text }?
}


# 3.4 iCalendar Stream

start = element icalendar { vcalendar+ }

# 3.6 Calendar Components

vcalendar = element vcalendar {
    type-calprops,
    type-component
}

type-calprops = element properties {
    property-prodid &
    property-version &
    property-calscale? &
    property-method?
}

type-component = element components {
    (
        component-vevent |
        component-vtodo |
        component-vjournal |
        component-vfreebusy |
        component-vtimezone
    )*
}

# 3.6.1 Event Component

component-vevent = element vevent {
    type-eventprop,
    element components {
        component-valarm+
    }?
}

type-eventprop = element properties {
    property-dtstamp &
    property-dtstart &
    property-uid &

    property-class? &
    property-created? &
    property-description? &
    property-geo? &
    property-last-mod? &
    property-location? &
    property-organizer? &
    property-priority? &
    property-seq? &
    property-status-event? &
    property-summary? &
    property-transp? &
    property-url? &
    property-recurid? &

    property-rrule? &

    (property-dtend | property-duration)? &

    property-attach* &
    property-attendee* &
    property-categories* &
    property-comment* &
    property-contact* &
    property-exdate* &
    property-rstatus* &
    property-related* &
    property-resources* &
    property-rdate*
}

# 3.6.2 To-do Component

component-vtodo = element vtodo {
    type-todoprop,
    element components {
        component-valarm+
    }?
}

type-todoprop = element properties {
    property-dtstamp &
    property-uid &

    property-class? &
    property-completed? &
    property-created? &
    property-description? &
    property-geo? &
    property-last-mod? &
    property-location? &
    property-organizer? &
    property-percent? &
    property-priority? &
    property-recurid? &
    property-seq? &
    property-status-todo? &
    property-summary? &
    property-url? &

    property-rrule? &

    (
        (property-dtstart?, property-dtend? ) |
        (property-dtstart, property-duration)?
    ) &

    property-attach* &
    property-attendee* &
    property-categories* &
    property-comment* &
    property-contact* &
    property-exdate* &
    property-rstatus* &
    property-related* &
    property-resources* &
    property-rdate*
}

# 3.6.3 Journal Component

component-vjournal = element vjournal {
    type-jourprop
}

type-jourprop = element properties {
    property-dtstamp &
    property-uid &

    property-class? &
    property-created? &
    property-dtstart? &
    property-last-mod? &
    property-organizer? &
    property-recurid? &
    property-seq? &
    property-status-jour? &
    property-summary? &
    property-url? &

    property-rrule? &

    property-attach* &
    property-attendee* &
    property-categories* &
    property-comment* &
    property-contact* &
    property-description? &
    property-exdate* &
    property-related* &
    property-rdate* &
    property-rstatus*
}

# 3.6.4 Free/Busy Component

component-vfreebusy = element vfreebusy {
    type-fbprop
}

type-fbprop = element properties {
    property-dtstamp &
    property-uid &

    property-contact? &
    property-dtstart? &
    property-dtend? &
    property-duration? &
    property-organizer? &
    property-url? &

    property-attendee* &
    property-comment* &
    property-freebusy* &
    property-rstatus*
}

# 3.6.5 Time Zone Component

component-vtimezone = element vtimezone {
    element properties {
        property-tzid &

        property-last-mod? &
        property-tzuurl?
    },
    element components {
        (component-standard | component-daylight) &
        component-standard* &
        component-daylight*
    }
}

component-standard = element standard {
    type-tzprop
}

component-daylight = element daylight {
    type-tzprop
}

type-tzprop = element properties {
    property-dtstart &
    property-tzoffsetto &
    property-tzoffsetfrom &

    property-rrule? &

    property-comment* &
    property-rdate* &
    property-tzname*
}

# 3.6.6 Alarm Component

component-valarm = element valarm {
    audioprop | dispprop | emailprop
}

type-audioprop = element properties {
    property-action &
    property-trigger &

    (property-duration, property-repeat)? &

    property-attach?
}

type-dispprop = element properties {
    property-action &
    property-description &
    property-trigger &
    property-summary &

    property-attendee+ &

    (property-duration, property-repeat)? &

    property-attach*
}

type-emailprop = element properties {
    property-action &
    property-description &
    property-trigger &

    (property-duration, property-repeat)?
}

# 3.7 Calendar Properties

# 3.7.1 Calendar Scale

property-calscale = element calscale {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    element text { "GREGORIAN" }
}

# 3.7.2 Method

property-method = element method {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.7.3 Product Identifier

property-prodid = element prodid {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.7.4 Version

property-version = element version {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.8 Component Properties

# 3.8.1 Descriptive Component Properties

# 3.8.1.1 Attachment

property-attach = element attach {

    element parameters {
        fmttypeparam? &
        encodingparam?
    }?,

    value-uri | value-binary
}

# 3.8.1.2 Categories

property-categories = element categories {

    element parameters {
        languageparam? &
    }?,

    value-text+
}

# 3.8.1.3 Classification

property-class = element class {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    element text {
        "PUBLIC" |
        "PRIVATE" |
        "CONFIDENTIAL"
    }
}

# 3.8.1.4 Comment

property-comment = element comment {

    element parameters {
        altrepparam? &
        languageparam?
    }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.8.1.5 Description

property-description = element description {

    element parameters {
        altrepparam? &
        languageparam?
    }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.8.1.6 Geographic Position

property-geo = element geo {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    element value {
        element latitude  { text },
        element longitude { text }
    }
}

# 3.8.1.7 Location

property-location = element location {

    element parameters {
        altrepparam? &
        languageparam?
    }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.8.1.8 Percent Complete

property-percent = element percent-complete {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-integer
}

# 3.8.1.9 Priority

property-priority = element priority {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-integer
}

# 3.8.1.10 Resources

property-resources = element resources {

    element parameters {
        altrepparam? &
        languageparam?
    }?,

    value-text+
}

# 3.8.1.11 Status

property-status-event = element status {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    element text {
        "TENTATIVE" |
        "CONFIRMED" |
        "CANCELLED"
    }
}

property-status-todo = element status {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    element text {
        "NEEDS-ACTION" |
        "COMPLETED" |
        "IN-PROCESS" |
        "CANCELLED"
    }
}

property-status-jour = element status {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    element text {
        "DRAFT" |
        "FINAL" |
        "CANCELLED"
    }
}

# 3.8.1.12 Summary

property-summary = element summary {

    element parameters {
        altrepparam? &
        languageparam?
    }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.8.2 Date and Time Component Properties

# 3.8.2.1 Date/Time Completed

property-completed = element completed {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-date-time
}

# 3.8.2.2 Date/Time End

property-dtend = element dtend {

    element parameters {
        tzidparam?
    }?,

    value-date-time |
    value-date
}

# 3.8.2.3 Date/Time Due

property-due = element due {

    element parameters {
        tzidparam?
    }?,

    value-date-time |
    value-date
}

# 3.8.2.4 Date/Time Start

property-dtstart = element dtstart {

    element parameters {
        tzidparam?
    }?,

    value-date-time |
    value-date
}

# 3.8.2.5 Duration

property-duration = element duration {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-duration
}

# 3.8.2.6 Free/Busy Time

property-freebusy = element freebusy {

    element parameters {
        fbtypeparam?
    }?,


    value-period+
}

# 3.8.2.7 Time Transparency

property-transp = element transp {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    element text {
        "OPAQUE" |
        "TRANSPARENT"
    }
}

# 3.8.3 Time Zone Component Properties

# 3.8.3.1 Time Zone Identifier

property-tzid = element tzid {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.8.3.2 Time Zone Name

property-tzname = element tzname {

    element parameters {
        languageparam?
    }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.8.3.3 Time Zone Offset From

property-tzoffsetfrom = element tzoffsetfrom {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-utc-offset
}

# 3.8.3.4 Time Zone Offset To

property-tzoffsetto = element tzoffsetto {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-utc-offset
}

# 3.8.3.5 Time Zone URL

property-tzurl = element tzurl {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-uri
}

# 3.8.4 Relationship Component Properties

# 3.8.4.1 Attendee

property-attendee = element attendee {

    element parameters {
        cutypeparam? &
        memberparam? &
        roleparam? &
        partstatparam? &
        rsvpparam? &
        deltoparam? &
        delfromparam? &
        sentbyparam? &
        cnparam? &
        dirparam? &
        languageparam?
    }?,

    value-cal-address
}

# 3.8.4.2 Contact

property-contact = element contact {

    element parameters {
        altrepparam? &
        languageparam?
    }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.8.4.3 Organizer

property-organizer = element organizer {

    element parameters {
        cnparam? &
        dirparam? &
        sentbyparam? &
        languageparam?
    }?,

    value-cal-address
}

# 3.8.4.4 Recurrence ID

property-recurid = element recurrence-id {

    element parameters {
        tzidparam? &
        rangeparam?
    }?,

    value-date-time |
    value-date
}

# 3.8.4.5 Related-To

property-related = element related-to {

    element parameters {
        reltypeparam?
    }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.8.4.6 Uniform Resource Locator

property-url = element url {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-uri
}

# 3.8.4.7 Unique Identifier

property-uid = element uid {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-text
}

# 3.8.5 Recurrence Component Properties

# 3.8.5.1 Exception Date/Times

property-exdate = element exdate {

    element parameters {
        tzidparam?
    }?,

    value-date-time+ |
    value-date+
}

# 3.8.5.2 Recurrence Date/Times

property-rdate = element rdate {

    element parameters {
        tzidparam?
    }?,

    value-date-time+ |
    value-date+ |
    value-period+
}

# 3.8.5.3 Recurrence Rule

property-rrule = element rrule {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-recur
}

# 3.8.6 Alarm Component Properties

# 3.8.6.1 Action

property-action = element action {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    element text {
        "AUDIO" |
        "DISPLAY" |
        "EMAIL"
    }
}

# 3.8.6.2 Repeat Count

property-repeat = element repeat {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-integer
}

# 3.8.6.3 Trigger

property-repeat = element repeat {

    (
        element parameters {
            trigrelparam?
        }?,

        value-duration
    ) |
    (
        element parameters { empty }?,

        value-date-time
    )
}

# 3.8.7 Change Management Component Properties

# 3.8.7.1 Date/Time Created

property-created = element created {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-date-time
}

# 3.8.7.2 Date/Time Stamp

property-dtstamp = element dtstamp {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-date-time
}

# 3.8.7.3 Last Modified

property-last-mod = element last-modified {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-date-time
}

# 3.8.7.4 Sequence Number

property-seq = element sequence {

    element parameters { empty }?,

    value-integer
}

# 3.8.8 Miscellaneous Component Properties

# 3.8.8.3 Request Status

property-rstatus = element request-status {

    element parameters {
        languageparam?
    }?,

    element value {
        element code { text },
        element description { text },
        element data { text }?
    }
}


 TOC 

Appendix B.  XML Stylesheet for conversion to iCalendar

TO DO



 TOC 

Appendix C.  Example

Below is some example iCalendar data and its representation in XML as defined by this specification.



 TOC 

C.1.  iCalendar Data

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:-//Example Inc.//Example Calendar//EN
VERSION:2.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20080205T191224Z
DTSTART:20081006
SUMMARY:Planning meeting
UID:4088E990AD89CB3DBB484909
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR


 TOC 

C.2.  XML Data

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<icalendar xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:icalendar">
 <vcalendar>
  <properties>
   <calscale><text>GREGORIAN</text></calscale>
   <prodid>
    <text>-//Example Inc.//Example Calendar//EN</text>
   </prodid>
   <version><text>2.0</text></version>
  </properties>
  <components>
   <vevent>
    <properties>
     <dtstamp>
      <date-time utc='yes'>
       <year>2008</year><month>2</month><day>5</day>
       <hour>19</hour><minute>12</minute><second>24</second>
      </date-time>
     </dtstamp>
     <dtstart>
      <date>
       <year>2008</year><month>10</month><day>6</day>
      </date>
     </dtstart>
     <summary>
      <text>Planning meeting</text>
     </summary>
     <uid>
      <text>4088E990AD89CB3DBB484909</text>
     </uid>
    </properties>
   </vevent>
  </components>
 </vcalendar>
</icalendar>


 TOC 

Authors' Addresses

  Cyrus Daboo
  Apple Inc.
  1 Infinite Loop
  Cupertino, CA 95014
  USA
EMail:  cyrus@daboo.name
URI:  http://www.apple.com/
  
  Mike Douglass
  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  110 8th Street
  Troy, NY 12180
  USA
EMail:  douglm@rpi.edu
URI:  http://www.rpi.edu/
  
  Steven Lees
  Microsoft Corporation
  One Microsoft Way
  Redmond, WA 98052
  USA
EMail:  Steven.Lees@microsoft.com
URI:  http://www.microsoft.com/