Syncing Custom Event Fields with Google Calendar

[Dbesley]

Hi team,

I have multiple Google calendars and three VueMinder Ultimate licences that sync up with these.

I have added Custom Event Fields to the calendars from one of the running VueMinder apps. This works successfully.

The manual says "Custom data can be imported/exported, published/subscribed, synced with other VueMinder installations through Google Calendar, and.."

I was unsure of this because I thought custom fields would be local to an installation, but the manual suggests not and perhaps they are part of the Google API function? (that's actually a question ).

In my case, the customer fields are not being passed to the other VueMinder installations in the sync (which is what I want).

Anyone help here?

Thanks and Regards
DeanB

PS love this product

[VueSoft]

Hi DeanB, welcome to the forums. Custom fields can be shared with other VueMinder installations, but not by syncing with Google Calendar alone. Basically, you'd need to install MySQL Server on one of your connected computers and then configure each VueMinder installation to connect to MySQL Server for sharing custom field definitions. instructions can be found here:
http://www.vueminder.com/sharing.php

You don't need to configure your existing calendars to be shared through MySQL Server. You can continue syncing the calendars through Google Calendar. The only thing MySQL Server would be used for is syncing the custom field definitions. You should then see the same custom data on your other VueMinder installations.

Another (low tech) option would be to open the VueMinder data folder (the location can be found in the Program Options) on the computer where the correct custom fields are displayed. Within that folder, there's a file named "CustomFields.bin". Copy that file to the data folder on your other VueMinder installations, replacing the existing file. Make sure to exit VueMinder prior to copying the file. When you restart VueMinder, you should see the same custom field definitions and custom data within events. However, if you create any new custom field definitions (via the Tools menu), you won't see the new fields on your other computers. You'd need to re-copy the file. Going through MySQL Server is the preferred approach.

I hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

[Dbesley]

Hi Dan,

Need a bit of support mate.

I have successfully configured the MySQL server, and am now syncing with both Google Calendars and MySQL locally.
However whenever I put an event on, it triplicates on all machines. I believe this has something to do with the way I have all the computers syncing with both the Google Calendars and the MySQL with the same incorrect configuration.

Our setup is:

1. Main Server on LAN
- VueMinder and MySQL installed successfully
- Options: Calendar Sharing Settings: All Local Network settings are ticked except "Check Event completion status"
- Calendar Properties Sync Options: "Sync with Google Calendar" AND "Share with VueMinder on other Computers - all as Contributor" selected
- NOTE the Google Calendar sync has the local compute name selected (should it? Cant find any support in the Help on this)
- We have Custom fields for Events which we want common across all computers as we do Category and Priorities
2. Extra Computer on LAN
- Same as above
3. Laptop - Roving, sometime on LAN sometimes in Wifi on public network
- same setup as above

I am not sure if only one computer should be synced with Google and the other LAN one should only sync via MySQL. Question here is, what to do with the laptop? I thought maybe I was looking for an option to only sync custom fields via MySQL but I cant see where.

So, to be clear:
- Need all machines to be read/write for all the Google Calendars
- Need the custom fields and their data to be synced across all machines
- Need Categories and Priorities to be synced across all machines

Hope this all makes sense and you can guide me a little .

Thanks and Regs
DeanB

[VueSoft]

Hi DeanB, are you running the latest version (2017.04) on all computers? The problem you describe sounds like something that (I thought) has been fixed.

If you're already using the latest version, please change how the calendar syncs so only one computer syncs the calendar with Google Calendar. If multiple computers are configured to sync the locally shared calendar with Google Calendar, that would definitely cause issues. The latest version has a field on the Sync tab to specify which computer is responsible for syncing with Google Calendar.

[Dbesley]

Thanks Dan

- Yep, we are using the latest calendar.
- I thought it maybe the multiple sync points causing the problem.
- How does this work with the roaming laptop?
If it is away from the Local Network and updates are made to the calendars (and it NOT setup to auto sync with Google direct as suggested) does it store the changes locally and then sync them with the main Google synced PC when it is back on the LAN?

Regs
DeanB

[VueSoft]

Hi DeanB, the roaming laptop will sync changes when re-connected to the network. I'm not sure what would be causing the duplicates to appear but I'll investigate further. In the meantime, my suggestion would be to sync the calendar only through Google Calendar and not through MySQL Server. You can still share custom fields, custom data, categories, and priorities through MySQL Server - even if the calendar isn't shared through MySQL Server.

Here's how to switch the calendar to syncing only through Google Calendar:

1. Open the Calendar Properties on the computer that "owns" the shared calendar.

2. On the Sync tab, make sure "Sync with Google Calendar" is checked and uncheck "Share with VueMinder on other computers". The calendar should disappear from the other computers.

3. Open the Google Calendar webpage.

4. Click the drop-down arrow next to the calendar you'd like to share and select "Share this calendar".

5. Enter the Google accounts of the people you'd like to be able to access the calendar. Adjust the permissions as needed.

6. On the other computers, click the "File -> Add Calendar -> Add Google Calendar" menu command to add the calendar.

[Dbesley]

Hi Dan,

We encountered a sync issue here between our VueMinder and MySQL Server, that I'm guessing occurred when a sync was interrupted (?).

The result is that MySQL created a duplicate calendar in VueMinder, with one event that was duplicated 1000's of times. This also seems to have broken the sync process as a Select * on the Calendars table only has one entry (being the duplicate calendar).

I cannot delete this duplicate calendar off any of the VueMinder installs either as its owner is one of the MySQL accounts and the VueMinder does not have access. If I drop the whole VueMinder database off MySQL and resync, then the local VueMinder install just recreates it.
I cannot delete all the Calendars off Vueminder and MySQL and resync off Google Calendar (which does not have the duplicate calendar) because it does not hold the custom event columns (I recall).

Clearly, I'm already in way too deep .

So, any suggestions? Perhaps I can change permissions within MySQL on this calendar so I can delete from the local app? Perhaps there is a way to drop the record and its referential records easily (I don't have a schema though) . Perhaps I'm wrong and the customer fields are available in Google and I can start from there?

Appreciate any help please.

Regs
DeanB

[VueSoft]

Hi DeanB, I'm not sure what happened to cause the problem. Fixing it will be tricky, but if you have a recent backup that was created before the problem occurred, you should be able to fix the problem by following these steps:

1. In VueMinder, right-click the shared calendar and select "Delete Calendar" from the popup menu. This will remove the calendar from the database.
2. On the Google Calendar web page, delete the calendar that was synced with VueMinder.
3. Disconnect your computer from the network and MySQL Server, or shut down MySQL Server.
4. Use the "File -> Restore Data" menu command to restore a backup that was created before the problem occurred.
5. Open the Calendar Properties of the shared calendar and select "Do not sync".
6. Reconnect to the network or restart MySQL Server.
7. Open the Calendar Properties and configure the calendar to be shared with other VueMinder installations and with Google Calendar.
8. The calendar should appear on the other computers (without all the duplicates) and should also upload to Google Calendar.

I hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

[Dbesley]

Thx for quick replay Dan,

Unfortunately I cannot delete this duplicate calendar off the VueMinder App as its owner is one of the MySQL accounts. The error is "xxx is a shared calendar owned by xxx. Only the Calendar owner can delete a shared calendar. etc ".

If I Restore without deletingit, I'm assumuing this rogue calendar will remain intact?

Regs
DeanB

[VueSoft]

Hi DeanB, if you restore without deleting the calendar, the duplicate events will re-appear when the calendar syncs. Could you have the calendar owner delete it? Do you have root access to MySQL Server? If so, you could reset the owner's password and then enter their credentials in the Sharing Options on your VueMinder installation, so you can delete the calendar.