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Calendar FAQ

General: What's the difference between Sunbird and Lightning?; What do I need to install Lightning?; How do I uninstall Lightning?; Are nightly builds safe?
Use: Is there a holiday feature of some kind?; How can I make a recurring event on, say, the first Monday every August?; How can I publish my events on a remote server?; How can I serve my shared calendars?; Can Sunbird/Lightning remind me when closed? Can Sunbird start minimized?
Import, Export: What is the file format for Sunbird or Lightning?; Where are my calendars after upgrading to a newer version?; Will it work with Outlook?; Will it work with Netscape's calendar server?; Does it work with Apple's iCal?; Does it synch with my Palm Pilot?; Why doesn't it show any events when importing a calendar file?
(It seems to be importing all the items but doesn't show any events.)
Configure/Customize: How can I change the Date Format?; How can I change the Alarm Sound?; How can I Color Events?; How can I access Local Calendar(s) from Sunbird or Lightning at the same time?; How can I run Lightning on startup?; How can I open the calendar without opening Thunderbird first?; How do I get a calendar button in the Thunderbird toolbar?
Help Develop Sunbird/Lightning: How can I tinker with or patch the user interface?; Where do I get the source for Sunbird/Lightning?; How do I build Sunbird/Lightning?; How can I help to fix bugs?
Community Discussion/Help: Where is the help function in Sunbird/Lightning?; Which newsgroup or forum discusses Sunbird and Lightning?

The Answers

General

What's the difference between Sunbird and Lightning?

Sunbird is our standalone calendar application. It doesn't need another client application to run at the cost of a larger download and higher memory requirements. Because of its standalone nature, Sunbird does not offer any kind of tight integration with an e-mail application, such as Mozilla Thunderbird.

Lightning is a calendar extension for Mozilla Thunderbird. It offers calendaring features directly in the Thunderbird User Interface. Further integration features, such as e-mail invites or address book integration are planned for future releases.

What do I need to install Lightning?

You need a current version of Thunderbird, either 1.5 or higher. There are also Lightning versions for the latest nightly releases. Take a look at the Lightning download page. If there is trouble, try installing Lightning before any other extensions.

How do I uninstall Lightning?

You can uninstall Lightning from the Extensions Manager in the Tools menu.

Are nightly build safe?

Nightly builds are test builds for developers. They are not intended for general use. Using nightly builds can result in crashes and loss of data.

Use

Is there a holiday feature of some kind?

You can subscribe to holiday files.

How can I make a recurring event on, say, the first Monday every August?

Set the event to repeat every 12 months: In the new event dialog, set the start date to the first Monday of August of the first year, say 2000-08-07. Click the recurrence tab, check "Repeat every", set interval to 12, set unit to "Months", then click "First Monday of the month".

How can I publish my events on a remote server?

You can publish events from the calendar to an FTP server (Sunbird only) or a webDAV enabled web server. You can also use the calendar to subscribe to these events as well.

How can I serve my shared calendars?

To share your calendars, you need access to a webDAV server. If you run your own web server, you can install mod_dav, a free Apache module that will turn your web server into a webDAV server. Instructions on how to set it up are on their website. Once you set up your webDAV server, you can publish your calendar to the site, then subscribe to it from any other Calendar. Automatically updating the calendar will give you a poor man's calendar server.

Additional info available here.
There's also this document.

Can Sunbird/Lightning remind me when closed? Can Sunbird start minimized?

No, Sunbird and Lightning can't give pop-up messages or send e-mails when they are not running. There is a 'trick' for this problem. You can hide Sunbird in the tray. This can be done with Suntray or Minimize to Tray for Windows and Kdocker for Linux.

Import, Export

What is the file format for Sunbird or Lightning?

Sunbird/Lightning uses a SQL-based storage mechanism based on SQLite. Local calendar files have the file suffix .sdb and can be found in the profile directory.

Sunbird/Lightning can also work with files based on the iCal standard. These files have the .ics file suffix and can be opened, imported, exported and subscribed to.

Where are my calendars after upgrading to a newer version?

As said in the questions above newer versions of Sunbird (beginning with Sunbird 0.3 alpha1) use a SQL-based storage mechanism to store events and tasks in a calendar. Older versions of Sunbird used so called .ics files.

Newer versions of Sunbird do not come with a auto-import feature for old .ics-based calendar files. To use your old calendar files, you will have to manually import or open them in Sunbird. You can find your old calendar files in your profile folder.

Will it work with Outlook?

Outlook does not store its calendar data in an open standard format, so Calendar and Sunbird currently do not support Outlook directly. However, you may be able to export your Outlook events as an .ics or .csv file, and import them into Sunbird or Lightning using the "Calendar Files" or "Outlook Comma Separated" file type, respectively. Linux users may find this page of some use. (Follow bug 167102 for more details on Outlook integration)

Will it work with Netscape's calendar server?

Calendar does not currently work with Netscape's calendar server. To share calendars, subscribe to remote calendars using Tools->Subscribe and publish your calendars back to a webDAV enabled server by using Tools->Publish.

Does it work with Apple's iCal?

iCal and Calendar use the same file format, so events from one should show up without problem in the other. You can also subscribe to the list of events on Apple's website if you like.

Please note that iCal is currently not capable of cooperatively editing a calendar file on a webDAV or ftp server. iCal will overwrite any changes made from a different application (like Sunbird or Lightning) on such a file.

Does it synch with my Palm Pilot?

Calendar does not yet synch with your Palm Pilot.

Why doesn't it show any events when importing a calendar file? (It seems to be importing all the items but doesn't show any events.)

Sounds like your default calendar might be set to not visible (in the Calendars tab). There is a bug that sets a non-visible calendar to visible for a short time while adding a new event to that calendar. The events are drawn to view during that time, but when you click one of the events the calendar is not available, and a crash results.
In short, check if your default calendar is visible.

Configure/Customize

How can I change the date format?

The Long date format and Short date format are defined by the local operating system so date formats are consistent across the screen.

In windows, see Start | Settings | Control Panel | Regional Options | Date (tab)

You can choose between the Long date format or Short date format in the calendar preferences to control how dates appear in tables and exported text.

How can I change the calendar alarm sound?

It is packed in the calendar.jar file in your applications chrome directory. The filename is sound.wav. You have to unpack calendar.jar with a zip program (like WinZip), change sound.wav and repack it.

How can I Color Events?

You can create calendar files for different kinds of events and give each file a different color.

How can I access Local Calendar(s) from Sunbird or Lightning at the same time?

Use File | New Calendar File to create a new local file in one program, and File | Open Calendar File to open the same local file from the other program.

This is intended for viewing the same local calendar from two programs, not for editing a shared calendar. Be careful not to add or edit any events or tasks in the same calendar file from two program instances simultaneously, or you may lose changes when the file is overwritten. (If you must live dangerously, refresh before editing.)

An example in more detail:

Create a local calendar within the first program, say Lightning.
1. To create the new file:
  1. In the Calendar File menu, click New Calendar File
  2. click Browse
    1. Navigate to a directory in which to store your calendar,
    2. Enter the filename to be your calendar file, say MyCal.ics
    3. ok the file browser, and
  3. ok the New Calendar File dialog window.
2. To add an event:
  1. In the Calendars tab, select the new calendar MyCal so it has an outline border. (The checkbox should remain on.)
  2. Then click New Event to add a new event, enter a title, say My Lunch, and click ok to save it.
3. To verify where the calendar is stored: In the Calendars tab, click-right on the calendar name MyCal.ics and click Edit Calendar. Note the file path. Click ok.
4. To verify that the event My Lunch has been stored in that file, MyCal.ics, view MyCal.ics in a text editor to check that an event with the title My Lunch has been added to that file.
Open the local calendar from the second program, say Sunbird.
1. To open the file:
  1. In the Calendar File menu, click Open Calendar
  2. Click Browse, locate the same file (MyCal.ics), and Ok the file browser
  3. ok the Open Calendar File dialog window.
2. You should see the event My Lunch that you added from Lightning.
3. Add a task to the same file from Sunbird titled, say, My Workout, and click ok.
Refresh the other program's memory of the calendar from the local file
1. Find the program's Calendars tab in Lightning.
2. Toggle the calendar MyCal checkbox off and then on again.
3. Events or tasks added from Sunbird like My Workout should appear.

How can I run Lightning on startup?

thunderbird -mail -calendar
See next for how to make the Thunderbird command into a short cut.

How can I open the calendar without opening Thunderbird first?

Create a desktop/quick launch icon as a link to the Thunderbird executable with the "-calendar" parameter. This should start Lightning directly.

On Windows, control-drag the Thunderbird shortcut icon to copy it, then right-click and choose Properties. Rename the copy to Lightning. In the Target input box of the Shortcut tab, put the -calendar command option after the quote, for example
```
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -calendar
```
On Mac OS:(assuming the application is Thunderbird and that it is installed in the /Applications directory)
Open Script Editor (located in /Applications/AppleScript)
In the top pane of the script editor window, type:
```
do shell script "nohup /Applications/thunderbird.app/Contents/MacOS/thunderbird -calendar > /dev/null 2>&1 &"
```
Select "Save As..." from the "File" menu
Enter a meaningful name in the "Save As:" box, select "Application" as the "File Format:" and click save.
Voila! an applescript has been created that starts Lightning.
On any OS command line, type the command option after the Thunderbird command, for example,
```
thunderbird -calendar
```

How do I get a calendar button in the Thunderbird toolbar?

View | Toolbars | Customize
Drag calendar button to toolbar, perhaps next to the Thunderbird address book.

Help Develop Sunbird/Lightning

How can I tinker with or patch the user interface?

The GUI is written in XUL, JavaScript, and CSS, with DTDs and properties files for localized text. They are all contained in the chrome/calendar.jar in the user profile extensions directory (Firefox, Thunderbird).

On Linux the profile extensions path is probably something like ~/.mozilla/thunderbird/default.xxx/extensions/{8e117890-a33f-424b-a2ea-deb272731365}/chrome/calendar.jar
On Linux the application directory path is probably something like /usr/local/sunbird/chrome/calendar.jar
On Windows the profile extensions path is probably something like C:\Documents and Settings\(user)\Application Data\Mozilla\thunderbird\Profiles\default.xxx\extensions\{8e117890-a33f-424b-a2ea-deb272731365}\chrome\calendar.jar
On Windows the application directory path is probably something like c:\Program Files\sunbird\chrome\calendar.jar

Unzip the calendar.jar. It contains three directories: content, locale, skin.

content: XUL and JS defines the components and event handlers. XBL files contain both XUL and JS.
locale: DTD and properties define the text for each locale.
skin: CSS and images define the look for each default theme.

To make a change:

Unzip the calendar.jar,
Edit files,
Pack it back up into calendar.jar,
Restart Mozilla and test.

That's it.

Test with javascript.options.strict set to true to get JavaScript console warnings for common problems (open URI about:config in browser to set preference).

For fixing bugs, if files in cvs are more recent than the latest install xpi, it is better to get files from cvs, edit, and pack them into the jar (note directory structure).

Where do I get the latest source for Sunbird/Lightning?

The source for the Sunbird/Lightning is in Mozilla's CVS under mozilla/calendar. Follow Mozilla's instructions on how to get the source code.

You can also browse or search the source, or check what just changed in directory /mozilla/calendar.

How do I build Sunbird/Lightning?

Check out the Sunbird build page or the Lightning build page.

How can I help to fix bugs?

Check out the bugs page. See also the "Contribute" navigation section above left.

Community Discussion/Help

Where is the help function in Sunbird/Lightning?

Sunbird and Lightning do not have a help function yet. There is a project ongoing which provides an extension for Sunbird. The extension can be found on their project page. The same project also came up with an online help.

Which newsgroup or forum discusses Sunbird and Lightning?

Two Sunbird-/Lightning-related newsgroups exist on the news.mozilla.org news server:

mozilla.support.calendar:
This newsgroup is dedicated to users of Sunbird or Lightning. All user-related discussions (questions regarding the use of the product, tips and tricks, workarounds or enhancement requests) should be posted here.
mozilla.dev.apps.calendar:
This newsgroup is dedicated to the current and future developers of Sunbird or Lightning. All developer-related discussions (how to best fix a particular bug, how to use a particular interface to extend the product or all discussions regarding future product planning) should be posted here.

Some also use the MozillaZine Calendar Forum