Get data from calendar applications

From SpinetiX Support Wiki

(Redirected from Exchange)
Jump to: navigation, search

This page is about getting data from different calendar applications to be used with calendar widgets. Although it is possible to create and edit calendars within Elementi, that is not within the scope of this page, as Elementi schedule feature is mostly used for content scheduling.

Introduction

Calendars are commonly used to store one-time or repetitive events, like meetings, room bookings, classes etc. Elementi's calendar widgets are a simple way to easily connect your calendar data to a digital signage screen that anyone can manage: a dedicated technical person or an assistant. Simply updating the calendar you use on a daily basis will update the content displayed on the screen.

The built-in calendar widgets offer support for secure connections to Outlook Online and Google Calendar through Cockpit channels.

You can also specify the widget's data source as an ICS file, stored within the project or on a sever - most calendar tools, like Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Calendar (formerly iCal), IBM Lotus Notes, Yahoo! Calendar etc., are able to export the data as iCalendar (.ics) file , as detailed below.

Google Calendar

Google Calendar a time-management and scheduling calendar service developed by Google. It can be accessed via web or mobile apps for the Android and iOS platforms. Google Calendar allows users to create and edit events. Events have a set start time and stop time, with an option for an "All-day event". Users can enable a "Recurring" functionality with optional parameters for frequency. Although the calendar defaults to showing users event times in their local time, users can specify a different time zone for an event. Locations can be added for easy understanding of an event's place.

Google Calendar allows the user to import events from a different calendar application, with notable support for both Microsoft Outlook and Apple iCloud calendars. Privacy settings allow the user to define the levels of public visibility of the entire calendar or individual events.

The built-in calendar widgets offer support for secure connections to Google Calendar through Cockpit - see how to configure and use the Google Calendar channel.

Google calendar settings
URI of the calendar

If you don't want to use Cockpit, then note that Google Calendar supports exporting calendar data in iCalendar format, either as a public or private (hard to guess) address - for that follow these steps:

  1. Open Google Calendar in your browser.
  2. Click the options button (three vertical points) next to the calendar you want to display on the HMP.
  3. Select "Settings and sharing". This opens the calendar settings page.
  4. Click the "Integrate calendar" left-menu item (or scroll down).
  5. Click the calendar's public or private address in iCal format and copy it - the link should end in ".ics", something like https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/.../basic.ics .
    • The public address won't work unless this calendar is public from "Access permission" section.
  6. Open the calendar widget.
  7. Click the Data Properties button to edit the properties related to the data source.
  8. Select "ICS File" channel.
  9. Paste the calendar address copied before into the "URI" field.
  10. Configure the rest of the options and then click "OK" button to save the changes.


Note See also:

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft Office suite. Although often used mainly as an email application, it also includes a calendar, task manager, contact manager, note taking etc. It can be used as a stand-alone application, or can work with Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SharePoint Server for multiple users in an organization, such as shared mailboxes and calendars, Exchange public folders, SharePoint lists, and meeting schedules. Microsoft has also released mobile applications for most mobile platforms, including iOS and Android.

Outlook Calendar

Outlook Calendar is the calendar and scheduling component of Outlook that is fully integrated with email, contacts, and other features. By using the Calendar you can create appointments and events, organize meetings, view group schedules, and much more. See also this introduction to the Outlook Calendar.


Note Notes:

Outlook exporting and sharing

Outlook exporting ics file

The calendar information can also be exported as ics file from Outlook - for that follow these steps:

  1. Open Outlook calendar view
  2. From the "File" menu, select "Save As..." (Outlook 2007) or "Save Calendar" (Outlook 2010).
  3. Select the destination.
    The ics file can be pushed directly on the HMP, saved locally to be pushed at a later time using Elementi (or other WebDAV clients), or made available to the player using web services (like DropBox).
  4. Using "More Options..." you may specify a date range and the amount of details to be saved.
  5. Press Save.


You can also share your Outlook calendars with others by following the procedures explained below for:


Note Note:
This procedure will have to be repeated each time the calendar needs to be updated on the player.

Outlook publishing

Note  
Before following the procedure below, make sure to export your calendar as ics file (see details above) and include it in your project. Then publish the project on the HMP. This ensures that re-publishing the project later won't remove the calendar file from the player.
Outlook publishing to the player

You can publish your Outlook calendar to a WebDAV server, thus directly on the HMP internal content server - for that follow these steps:

  1. Open Outlook calendar view.
  2. In the Navigation Pane, right-click the calendar that you want to share.
  3. Select "Publish to Internet" (Outlook 2007), respectively "Share" > "Publish Online" (Outlook 2010).
  4. In the sub-menu, select "Publish to WebDAV Server". A new dialog open called "Publish Calendar to Custom Server".
  5. In the Location box, type the HMP address (e.g., http://HMP_address:81/ or http://HMP_address/content/).
  6. Enter the address of the HMP as the publish location. (See Accessing Control Center to find the address of the player)
  7. Next to Time Span, select the number of days for which you want to share your calendar.
  8. Next to Detail, click the arrow and choose the amount of detail to share.
  9. Press OK.

For more details about the above procedure, see the Office support pages for


Note Note:
By default, the calendar is periodically updated, thus any modification to the calendar is automatically pushed on the target HMP.

Microsoft Exchange

If you are using Outlook in an environment with Microsoft Exchange, then the calendar data is stored in the Exchange database.

SharePoint web part

See also SharePoint integration.

This commercial SharePoint Exchange Calendar Web Part presents Exchange calendar data as an XML feed, allowing you to parse it and display it using one of Elementi built-in data feed widgets. This remains, however, not tested by SpinetiX.

Apple Calendar

iCal publishing to the player

Apple Calendar (formerly iCal) offers the possibility to publish calendar files to a WebDAV server, thus directly on the HMP internal content server - for that follow these steps:

  1. Open iCal
  2. From the main menu, select "Publish". A new dialog open called "Publish calendar".
  3. Select "Publish on: A private server".
  4. Type the HMP address (e.g., http://HMP_address:81/ or http://HMP_address/content/)] as the publish location.
  5. To have changes to your calendar automatically copied to the published version, select “Publish changes automatically.”
  6. To control what information is published, select or deselect the other checkboxes.
  7. Click Publish.

For more details, see also Publish or unpublish calendars article.


Note Note:
By default, the calendar is periodically updated, thus any modification to the calendar is automatically pushed on the target HMP.

IBM Lotus Notes

For more details about the iCalendar support in IBM Lotus Notes & IBM Lotus Domino, see these pages:

See also

Retrieved from "https://support.spinetix.com/w/index.php?title=Get_data_from_calendar_applications&oldid=17751#Microsoft_Exchange"
This page was last modified on 11 April 2022, at 08:58.