Calendar:Release Notes

Sunbird 0.3a1 Release Notes (Draft)

On __ September 2005, the Sunbird/Calendar project announced the availability of a release candidate build for Sunbird 0.3a1. These release notes are intended to provide a clear picture of what users should and should not expect in the final Sunbird 0.3a1 release. Thanks in advance go out to our testing community for their feedback on this release candidate, which will enable these notes to be made more complete, and the final release of Sunbird 0.3a1 to be more stable.

On __ September 2005, the Sunbird/Calendar project released Sunbird 0.3a1. This marks the first official release Sunbird since the lengthy task of rewriting the backend code on was undertaken. Sunbird 0.3a1 marks the first milestone on the roadmap towards a final Sunbird 0.3.

Goals of the 0.3a1 Release

Sunbird 0.3a1 is not intended to be a production-quality release. (See "Limitations and Known Bugs". Instead, it is being released largely in order to showcase/test the new backend code. This includes:

• Better calculation of recurring events.
• Better storage capabilities for local calendars via embedded SQLite.
• Better support for normal remote calendaring via WebDAV.
• Partial support for Calendar Server Extensions for CalDAV protocol.
• Improved import/export functionality.

It is hoped that the release of Sunbird 0.3a1 will draw a wider audience of testers that can more fully identify any bugs or problems in this backend code. Those wishing to perform more rigorous testing can use the Calendar:Tests page as a guide. Other goals of the release include:

• Gain user feedback on several new UI elements
  • 'New Calendar' wizard
  • Connection/Proxy configuration
  • Category color preferences
• ???Provide new versions of the Calendar extension for users of Firefox 1.5, Seamonkey 1.0, Thunderbird 1.5, and those users that fell victim of bug 134432 (ICAL component not registered).
• Release a version of Sunbird that fully supports Extensions/Themes

Limitations and Known Bugs

Before using Sunbird 0.3a1, it is strongly encouraged that you read the following limitations that the release possesses. The goal was to provide a similar set of abilities that Sunbird 0.2 provided, but based on the new backend code.

• Windows versions of Sunbird 0.3a1 will crash for dates after 2037
• Drag and drop support is severely limited from 0.2 abilities
• Switching from Task to Event in the Event dialog fails
• Sunbird 0.3a1 is not fully localizable
• Attachments cannot be added to events
• Printing does not work (it might soon)
• 'Tasks in view' options does not work.
• Alarms can only be snoozed for 5 minutes
• Alarms missed while Sunbird was closed will not be fired
• Email alarms do not work in Sunbird
• Publishing errors will be reported poorly
• The timezone preference does nothing

Minor:

• All-day events cause week/day view to start at 12:00am
• Starting Sunbird with a new profile may cause Javascript errors in preferences
• Unchecking a calendar may cause a Javascript error

The Next Step

The next step in the development process of Sunbird/Calendar is to implement many of the new UI elements that have been created for Lightning. This includes:

• New calendar views which support inline-editting, full drag-and-drop, and improved visibility
• A new, more user-friendly 'Create Event' dialog
• Improved publishing/import dialogs, and more.

Users wishing to follow the implemetations of these features should feel free to download nightly builds. As always, testing and good bug reports are always greatly appreciated