Implementation Model

The abstract implementation model is provided as a reference aid to help you understand the scope of the CSA API.

The CSA interface is defined between a calendar-enabled application and a calendaring service. All functions in this interface are designed to be independent of the calendaring service; however, the API does allow protocol-specific extensions to the common functions to be invoked through the use of extensions. See "Extensions" for more information. The relationship of the CSA interface to a calendar-enabled application and the calendar service is shown in Figure 10-1.

Figure 10-1 Positioning of the Calendaring and Scheduling API

The model of the CSA interface can be divided into three components: administration, calendar management, and entry management. These components are shown in Figure 10-2.

Figure 10-2 Components of the Calendaring and Scheduling API

Access to the calendaring service is established through a calendaring session. The session provides for a valid connection to the calendaring service and assists in ensuring the integrity of the calendaring information maintained by the service. A calendar-enabled application logs on to an individual calendar within the calendaring service to establish a valid session or connection. The session is terminated by the calendar-enabled application logging off from the calendar.

The calendaring service maintains one or more calendars. The calendar service provides some level of administration support for these calendars. A calendar-enabled application might access a list of the calendars maintained by a particular calendar service. In addition, the calendar service might provide support for archive and restore of calendar information into some implementation-specific, persistent format. Where a calendar service provides support for maintaining more than one calendar, support functions are defined for creating and deleting calendars. In addition, functions are provided to support administering the characteristics of the calendar.

The majority of the functions within the CSA interface manage individual calendar entries. Calendar entries may be either events, to dos, or memos. Entries can be added, deleted, updated, and read from a particular calendar. A calendar-enabled application can also add reminders to calendar entries.