AsianFoodTOURS iCalendar

iCalendar Subscription and Synchronization

Are you joining us on an upcoming FoodTOUR? add this link to your Calendar. webcal://ical.me.com/larbmoo/AsianFoodTOURS.com.ics

ABOUT SUBSCRIBING WITH OUR CALENDAR

This document explains how to keep an updated copy of Globetrotting Gourmet / Asian FoodTOURS schedule on your computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), cell phone, and/or iPod at all times - even when you are not connected to the Internet. And if you wish, the events from an AsianFoodTOUR calendar can be displayed with other events from your personal calendar.

We uses a calendar file format called iCalendar (.ics), which is an open standard supported by an increasing number of calendar applications. For example, Apple's iCal (Mac), Mozilla's Sunbird (Mac/Windows), EventSherpa (Windows), Google Calendar, and Outlook (2007 version only) can all subscribe to an .ics calendar and receive updates automatically on a configurable basis.

Mac users currently have an advantage and a superior calendaring application. Apple's iCal, which comes bundled with the Mac OS X operating system, was one of the first to very efficiently read and subscribe to iCalendar files. You can use Apple's iCal application to subscribe to an OSLER calendar, then use Apple's iSync application to synchronize this information with your portable device (e.g. Palm & PocketPC PDAs, certain cell phones, and iPods).

Microsoft Windows is currently lacking an integrated and/or complete calendaring solution like Apple's iCal that allows you to subscribe to as well as sync with your portable devices out-of-the-box. Microsoft Office 2007 does allow synchronization of your calendar, if you purchase the software. This does not mean Windows users are limited to one option only; there are a few applications that will allow you to subscribe to your calendar that we are aware of and we will list them in our recommended order:

EventSherpa (http://www.eventsherpa.com) is a free Windows-based calendaring application that allows you to subscribe to iCalendar files on remote servers and receive updates on a configurable basis. This is likely one of the better solutions to-date that we have come across because it is easy to download, easy to setup and is available at no cost. Unfortunately, we are not aware of any methods to synchronize this calendar with any of your portable devices.

Microsoft Works 8 / 2006 (http://www.microsoft.com/products/works/) believe it or not, has a better integrated calendar solution than Microsoft Outlook in many respects. If you currently own a copy of Microsoft Works 8 (2006), you can subscribe to iCalendar files in the "Works Calendar" and receive regular updates. We cannot confirm at this time whether or not it is possible to synchronize with your portable devices.

Sunbird (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird.html) is a cross-platform calendar project started by The Mozilla Foundation (makers of Firefox and Thunderbird), which allows you to subscribe to iCalendar files and receive updates from our servers. Unfortunately, though, the application is still in it's infancy and is lacking support for synchronization.

Microsoft Outlook, on the other hand, has no trouble with synchronizing your calendar to your portable devices; however, Outlook 2003 does not support subscriptions, only importing, and the distinction between importing and subscribing is very important. Importing means that the calendar will be loaded into Outlook once containing the schedule as it was at the time of download. When you import an iCalendar file you will not receive any updates made to that calendar file on the remote server. For this reason, the UME e-learning team strongly advises against using Microsoft Outlook 2003 to import an iCalendar file. MS Outlook 2007 does allow for importing and subscribing. The steps are listed below.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE

Apple iCal - Mac:

From within iCal, choose "Subscribe" from the "Calendar" menu at the top of your screen.
Enter the full URL (listed above) to the desired iCalendar file in the "Subscribe to:" box and click "Subscribe".
iCal will then download the calendar and bring you to a screen which allows you to give a title to that calendar. Check the "Refresh:" checkbox and select "every day" which will instruct iCal to check for updates to the calendar on a daily basis.
That's it. Your new calendar will appear, and you can choose to show or hide it by selecting or deselecting the calendar's title in the "Calendars" screen.
To synchronize this calendar to your portable device, make sure that your portable device is supported by Apple, open the iSync application, add the device to iSync, and press the "Sync" button.

EventSherpa - Windows:

From within EventSherpa, choose "Subscribe to Calendar" from the "Calendar" menu at the top of your screen.
Enter the full URL webcal://ical.me.com/larbmoo/AsianFoodTOURS.com.ics to the desired iCalendar file in the "Calendar Location:" box and click "OK"
EventSherpa will then download the calendar and display it on your screen with the title of "New Calendar" under the "My Calendars" group on the left. Updates by default are scheduled for every hour that EventSherpa is opened.

Mozilla Sunbird - Windows/Mac:
Download and install Mozilla Sunbird (if you do not already have it installed)

From within Sunbird, choose "Subscribe to Remote Calendar" from the "File" menu at the top of your screen.
Select the "On the Network" radio button and click "Continue".
Select the "iCalendar" option and enter the full URL webcal://ical.me.com/larbmoo/AsianFoodTOURS.com.ics to the desired iCalendar file in the "Location:" box and click "Continue".
Name the calendar and select the colour you would like these events listed in, then click "Continue". Your calendar will be downloaded, and you can click "Done" to exit the wizard.
Finally, right click on your newly created calendar in the "Calendars" tab on the left, and click "Properties".
Select the "Read- only" option and then click "OK" to stop your calendar from trying to publish (and timeout) any modifications you attempt to make.
Note: You can create additional calendars for your personal events, if you wish.

Google Calendar – Any computer with a web browser:

Go to http://www.google.com/calendar and sign in. If you do not have a Google Account create one using the link provided at the bottom of the page.
Click on “Manage Calendars” located at the bottom of the menu on the left.
Under Calendar Settings > Calendar click on the “Add Calendar” in the Other Calendars section.
Under “Add Other Calendars” click on the “Public Calendar Address” tab and enter the URL of the iCalendar file. For example, you would add the URL
webcal://ical.me.com/larbmoo/AsianFoodTOURS.com.ics to add the AsianFoodTOURS.com diary
The new calendar will now appear and is accessible from the My Calendars menu located on the left hand side of the screen.

Microsoft Outlook 2007

Open Microsoft Outlook to the Calendar View
In the top tool bar, click on "Tools" > "Account Settings"
Account Settings will open in a pop-up window. Click on "Internet Calendars" tab.
Click on "New". A pop up window will appear.
In the pop-up window, enter the URL of the iCalendar file. For example, you would add the URL
webcal://ical.me.com/larbmoo/AsianFoodTOURS.com.ics to add the AsianFoodTOURS.com calendar.
The "Subscription Options" pop-up window will appear. Name the calendar (e.g. "AsianFoodTOURS.com")
Add a description if you want
Under "Attachments", select the checkbox to include attachments. Note: AsianFoodTOURS is not yet able to download resources with each calendar booking. If you leave this function unchecked, the calendar events will have problems downloading.
Click "OK"
In the larger box, click "OK"
The new calendar will now appear in Outlook. It will take a few minutes for all Calendar events to download.
Note: MS Outlook calendar will synch with portable devices, but only using the main calendar in Outlook. Thus, if you want AsianFoodTOURS events on your portable device, you need to move these into the main Outlook Calendar.