Why are my icalendar not recognized by gmail

Question

I've a problem with gmail and my iCalendar, this is a simple iCalendar:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//www.notilus.com//Dimo Gestion Notilus//FR
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:REQUEST
X-MS-OLK-FORCEINSPECTOROPEN:TRUE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20140619T080132Z
DTEND:20140619T090132Z
DTSTAMP:20140619T080132Z
ORGANIZER;CN=gonzo@work:mailto:gonzo@work
ATTENDEE;CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=
 FALSE;CN=gonzo@home;X-NUM-GUESTS=0:mailto:gonzo@home
CREATED:20140619T080132Z
DESCRIPTION:Description of flying to Sligo
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//E
 N">\n<html>\n<body>\n<table border="1"><tr><td>\n<b>HTML</b> Description o
 f flying to Sligo\n</td></tr><tr><td>\n<ul><li>HTML has certain advantages
 </li></ul>\n</td></tr></table>\n</body>\n</html>
LAST-MODIFIED:20140619T080132Z
LOCATION:
SEQUENCE:0
STATUS:CONFIRMED
SUMMARY:Fly to Sligo
TRANSP:OPAQUE
UID:20140619T080132Z
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

Everything works if I attach it directly from gmail.

If I send from my website it doesn't.

here my code:

        using (var smtp = new SmtpClient())
        {
            var subject = "Confirm";
            var message = new MailMessage();
            message.To.Add(email);
            message.Subject = subject;

            var loCalendarType = new System.Net.Mime.ContentType();
            loCalendarType.MediaType = "text/calendar";
            loCalendarType.Parameters.Add("method", "REQUEST");
            loCalendarType.CharSet = @"""utf-8""";
            loCalendarType.Name = "event.ics";

            // Create message body parts
            var loCalendarView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(ical, loCalendarType);
            loCalendarView.TransferEncoding = System.Net.Mime.TransferEncoding.SevenBit;
            message.AlternateViews.Add(loCalendarView);

            // html
            message.AlternateViews.Add(AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(html, Encoding.UTF8, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Text.Html));

            smtp.Send(message);
        }

and this is the mime sent:

Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of yyy@gmail.com designates 2a00:1450:400c:c00::22c as permitted sender) client-ip=2a00:1450:400c:c00::22c;
Message-ID: <53d62663.afcdb40a.4c38.ffffd877@mx.google.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 03:30:59 -0700 (PDT)
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: yyy@gmail.com
To: xxx@yyy.zzz
Subject: Confirm
Content-Type: text/calendar; method=REQUEST
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//www.notilus.com//Dimo Gestion Notilus//FR
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:REQUEST
X-MS-OLK-FORCEINSPECTOROPEN:TRUE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20140619T080132Z
DTEND:20140619T090132Z
DTSTAMP:20140619T080132Z
ORGANIZER;CN=gonzo@work:mailto:gonzo@work
ATTENDEE;CUTYPE=INDIVIDUAL;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=
 FALSE;CN=gonzo@home;X-NUM-GUESTS=0:mailto:gonzo@home
CREATED:20140619T080132Z
DESCRIPTION:Description of flying to Sligo
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//E
 N">\n<html>\n<body>\n<table border="1"><tr><td>\n<b>HTML</b> Description o
 f flying to Sligo\n</td></tr><tr><td>\n<ul><li>HTML has certain advantages
 </li></ul>\n</td></tr></table>\n</body>\n</html>
LAST-MODIFIED:20140619T080132Z
LOCATION:
SEQUENCE:0
STATUS:CONFIRMED
SUMMARY:Fly to Sligo
TRANSP:OPAQUE
UID:20140619T080132Z
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

I've read almost everything about it, but I really can't figure out what's wrong with my code. It's always displayed like an attachment and not like a appointment..

Do you know of https://www.nuget.org/packages/DDay.iCal/? May helps you... — Christoph Fink, Jul 28 '14 at 12:02
Are you sending the iCal data as the mail body? I think you need to attach an iCal file... — Christoph Fink, Jul 28 '14 at 12:38
If I attach the iCalendar it's displayed like an attachment and I can't add directly to google calendar, like this http://pictures.jasha.eu/binaries/content/gallery/2011/icalendar-in-mail.png — Bastianon Massimo, Jul 28 '14 at 12:51
If you look at that picutre you see it is an attachment there too. Maybe try sending an appointment FROM Gmail to some other address an look how it is done there... — Christoph Fink, Jul 28 '14 at 12:57
The first image shows the wrong result, the second one shows the correct result, when the same ics is attached directly from gmail http://devfarm.it/~temp/Untitled-2.jpg — Bastianon Massimo, Jul 28 '14 at 13:08
Maybe try this: http://kobikobi.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/sending-meeting-requests-to-outlook-via-aspnet-mail-message/ — Christoph Fink, Jul 28 '14 at 13:34
I just tested this myself as I need a similar functionality soon: Google seems to NOT show *.ics info anymore. What you see from google calendar is sent as the e-mail body. If you send an appointment from Outlook it is also "empty", BUT added to your calendar... — Christoph Fink, Jul 28 '14 at 14:08
I found a couple of tutorial but they are not working... It's a pity.. — Bastianon Massimo, Jul 28 '14 at 14:42
If you are able to "solve" this, please update your question here as I am interested in it too... — Christoph Fink, Jul 28 '14 at 14:58

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:33

1

Are you sure? Running your code, I get two basic errors. You need to provide a from address, and the utf8 line causes problems. Just comment it out. Those two things fixed, the resulting mail is correctly interpreted as an invitation by gmail.

The calendar, which is copied from this question I originally asked, is fine. Gmail is less picky than Outlook.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:33

Community

1
1

answered Jul 29 '14 at 07:11

bbsimonbb

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Bastianon Massimo · Answer 2 · 2014-07-29T14:03:17.887

just changed my smtp credential and everything works... 2 days of work.. wtf gmail

<mailSettings>
  <!-- NOT WORKING
<smtp from="xxx@gmail.com">
    <network host="smtp.gmail.com" port="587" enableSsl="true" userName="xxx@gmail.com" password="yyy" />
  </smtp>-->
  <smtp from="info@something.else">
    <network host="mail.something.else" userName="info@something.else" password="yyy" />
  </smtp>
</mailSettings>

My code:

using (var smtp = new SmtpClient())
{   
    var message = new MailMessage();

    message.To.Add(email);
    message.Subject = "Subject";

    // HTML
    message.AlternateViews.Add(AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(html, Encoding.UTF8, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Text.Html));

    // VCARD
    System.Net.Mime.ContentType loCalendarType = new System.Net.Mime.ContentType("text/calendar; method=REQUEST");
    AlternateView icalView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(ical, loCalendarType);
    icalView.TransferEncoding = TransferEncoding.Base64;
    message.AlternateViews.Add(icalView);

    smtp.Send(message);
}

I've checked and it doesn't work now - email received correctly, but meeting request is not recognized . Could you please check it again or probably share actual solution? — Eugene D. Gubenkov, Dec 05 '14 at 20:10

Why are my icalendar not recognized by gmail

2 Answers2