## ReminderFox - Info

### Invitation with Reminderfox [iCal / iTIP]

> Reminders stored with ReminderFox can be used for invitations. The organizer of an event sends the invitation by mail to the addressee / attendees with a RSVP. His original event will be expanded with those invitation infos.
> Answers (replies with acknowledge or decline) send by the addressee / attendees will be added to the event also.
> Invitations coming in with mail can be processed also, those invitations are treated with Reminderfox as events with additional attributes.
> The addressee / attendees using Reminderfox also can add the invitation to their event list, answer the request with accept/decline or change that status. All that will be traced with Reminderfox as well.
> Reminderfox invitation is based on the Internet Protokoll "iCal / iTIP" which defines the interoperability between Calendar systems.
> [iCAL] - specifies a core specification of objects, data types, properties and property parameters (see RFC2445)
> [iTIP] - specifies an interoperability protocol for scheduling between different implementations (see RFC2446)
> See also Notes for Working with Invitations

#### Sending / Exporting Event(s)

> Starting the send / export process is using the context menu on the list [Export / Send event..] with selecting one or more events in the list. This opens a dialog, the title indicates which type of event and how many items have been selected:

> There are two part with the dialog selectable alternatively.
> The upper part is used to just export the selected event(s), the data is written to the selected location to a ICS file.
> The lower part of the dialog handles the sending of the event(s). If more than one event was selected, Reminderfox will allow to compose a mail messages and attaches a ICS file with the relevant data. This mode is not an invitation.
> With selecting only one event, the dialog has a checkbox [Send Reminder as invitation/schedule via mail].
> Using that additional items for the invitation has to be entered:
> 1. Sender
> 2. Attendee(s)
> 3. Comment for the invitation (optional)
> Sender - With Reminderfox installed to one of the mail applications Thunderbird / SeaMonkey / Postbox (TB/SM/PB); that field offers the available mail account names / addresses for selection of the 'sender'/organizer. Using Firefox the organizer's name / address has to be added manually.
> Attendee(s) - Also here the names/addresses has to be entered. Multiple addresses can be separated by comma. The symbol next to the entry box opens the TB/SM/PB addressbook.
> Using the TB/SM/PB adressbook the required attendees will be selected, using the button [Copy] on the menubar of the adressbook the names and addresses are copied. Alternatively the context menu on the card list has the function [Copy Mail address(es)]

> > Note: The menu button can be added using the normal Customize Toolbar feature.

> With TB/SM/PB the selected names / addresses will be copied directly to the send dialog textbox.
> With Firefox the copied information has to be pasted manually to the textbox. Note all names / addresses has to be separated by comma.
> Closing the dialog with [OK] it will
> 1. change the event to become an invitation stored in the senders/organizers Reminderfox list,
> 2. a mail message with an ICS invitation file attached will be send automatically to all attendees
> The organizer will use that reminder to follow-up the invitation with replies or cancellations. Also he can send updates for the invitation.

#### Receiving and Processing of Invitations

> Working with Thunderbird, Seamonkey or Postbox those "iCalendar" invitation can be added to the Reminderfox list.
> The invitation data can be stored with an attachment or be part of the mail text - so called 'Inline' - and has to be processed by the user.

> This figure shows a mail message handled by Thunderbird with an attachment [1] "reminderfoxEvents.ics".

> > Note:
> > The buttons [Accept] [Decline] placed in the header of the message [2] are part of Lightning - another calendar application. If the installation also uses Lightning it is recommended to process first the Reminderfox part.
> > See also: Lightning Calendar

> For processing the invitation with Reminderfox the attachment has to be processed. A context menu on the attachment has the function [Import reminders from iCal]:

#### Invitation in the Reminderlist of an Attendee

> With [Import reminders from iCal] an invitation received by mail will be processed and opened with the [Add Reminder] dialog with some specific items to describe the invitation:

> > [1] Invitation details:
> > 1. Event options
> >    1. how send the invitation
> >    2. a sequence number, eg. [# 1]
> >    3. is the event preliminary or confirmed
> >    4. is it a public or private event
> > 2. the 'Organizer' including mail address
> > 3. 'My Participation' line shows some request to "me" for the invitation
> > 4. Attendees - other persons which are invited are mentioned here. The number near to the symbol shows how many persons have been invited. The symbol is also a toggle button to display/hide the invitation list.

> > > Symbols in front of the participants have the following meaning:

> > > > 1. RSVP: a response is asked
> > > > 2. Role/Participation: is required, requested or not necessary
> > > > 3. Status: answered, participation accepted / declined
> > > > 4. This indicates a required action of the attendee

> > [2] with the buttons [Accept] [Decline] the attendee informs the organizer about his/her participation
> > [3] The notes shows the history of the invitation. This field can be modified without loosing important items about the invitation.
> > [4]The item of the invitation 'Date' (including recurring options), 'Location' and the 'Title' can not be altered by the attendee. This is possible only for the organizer.

> Using the buttons [2] [Accept] [Decline] the attendee will send a mail message to the organizer and also update his Reminderfox list with the invitation:

#### Reply to an Invitation

> Mails received from attendees with replies to an invitation are very much similar as the mail send for an invitation (see above). The organizer will open and import it to his reminder list:

> [1] The organizer will see -- after opening the [Show All Attendees] the complete status for the event with all replies of the attendees which are processed already.
> [2] The 'Notes' holds the processing history for the invitation. This can be altered as required, it not harm the features for the invitation stored to the reminders.
> [3] Only the organizer can change the event/invitation date/time schedule (including any recurrence), the location and the title.

> > Important Notice:
> > Changing of those items are treated as important changes to the invitation and will automatically send a mail to all attendees so they get that new current status. The change will be show also with a new date and sequence number, see at position [4].

### Notes for Working with Invitations

> #### Invitation with Firefox and Thunderbird/Seamonkey/Postbox

> > The ReminderFox Invitation feature uses the e-mail transport of Thunderbird/Seamonkey/Postbox for sending and receiving the invitation.
> > Reminderfox installed with Firefox will display the inviations stored to the reminderfox list. To recognize the names and mail addresses the account settings are required but not available with Firefox. The complete functionality is available with Thunderbird/Seamonkey/Postbox.
> > Invitations or processing replies with Reminderfox on Firefox can done with some minor user interface limitations, but for sending Reminderfox calls the mail functions of Thunderbird/Seamonkey/Postbox. A 'Firefox only' installation will not be able to send or receive invitations.

> #### Special Notes for the 'Organizer' and the 'Attendees'

> > ##### Organizer

> > 1. An event can be send only once as an invitation, a message will be displayed if the event has been send before.
> > 2. Invitation changes will be done with changing the event 's title, date/time or location. A new invitation mail be send automatically.
> > 3. If the organizer tries to import / process a reply of an attendee once more, he will be asked if the old reply should be processed anyway. Doing that, the newer additions of the attendee will be lost.
> > 4. Selecting more than one event will be processed as a "Send of event information". The event data of all seleceted events will be written to ICS file and attached to a compose mail dialog. No invitation is send!
> > 5. Receiving a mail with a reply from a sender which is not on the invitation list, the organizer get a warning "Not invited attendee". He can decide to assign the reply to any of the attendees or to discard the reply totally.
> > 6. Received mail messages with an invitation reply which don't match with one of the mail accounts will not be treated as invitation reply mails.

> > ##### My Participation

> > 1. Invitation attachment to mails can be processed only once, any further actions will produce a warning message.
> > 2. Invitations which has been processed with [Accept] or [Decline] can be changed by the attendee. For this the attendee uses the symbol 'Accepted' or 'Declined' next to his name. This will send a message to the organizer giving the new status, the reminder in the list will be changed also.
> > 3. Using the symbol [Show all Attendees] will show all names etc of the invited attendees and also that status which has been send by the organizer. It's possible it's not the last status for every attendees, for that the organizer would have sending an update.
> > 4. If the organizer sends a new status for the invitation, the attendee has to process the attachment to get the new information to his reminder list.

> > ##### Attendees

> > The section 'Attendees' is only used to show all the attendees names, mail addresses and the status and requirement for each attendee send or updates by the organizer.

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