The method parameter describes the type of message used: invitation, response, cancellation.
For group scheduling, specify one of the following ITIP methods:
1 |
PUBLISH |
Used only by the organizer. |
2 |
REQUEST |
Used only by the organizer. |
4 |
REPLY |
Used only by attendees. |
8 |
CANCEL |
Used only by the organizer. |
In addition to these ITIP methods, there is another method used by Calendar Server internally (a non-ITIP method):
256 |
UPDATE |
Used by attendee to update only the attendee’s copy of a group scheduled event. Does not affect anyone else’s calendar data. |
Even though the method parameter has a default value, it is a required parameter if you are trying to do anything other than PUBLISH. Leaving the parameter off the storeevents or storetodos commands causes the default (PUBLISH) to be the presumed action.
In an invitation, three types of messages can occur:
An organizer invites attendees.
When an organizer creates a meeting, there are two ways to invite people:
Send a PUBLISH message, creating or modifying a meeting. The method parameter is set to “1”. Note that everything except the attendee information is sent. (Attendees can see the event but not the other attendees.)
Send a REQUEST message, creating or modifying a meeting, and requesting a response to the invitation from attendees. The method parameter is set to “2”.
Only the organizer of the meeting can send a PUBLISH or REQUEST message.
Attendees respond to invitation.
An attendee sends a REPLY message, either accepting or declining the invitation. (The method parameter is set to “4”.)
Organizer cancels the meeting.
When an organizer cancels a meeting, attendees are notified by sending a CANCEL using one of the deleteevents commands. The method parameter is set to “8”.
The preferred way to handle a cancellation is to use one of the deleteevents commands, rather than storeevents.
The following set of examples demonstrates the WCAP commands for an organizer “org” to invite attendees “attA” and “attB” to a meeting. Attendee “attA” accepts the invitation. Attendee “attB” declines the invitation. The uid for the meeting is “event_u1”. The event is created on both attendees’ calendars. Each responds to the event on their own calendar. The response is sent back to the organizer’s calendar by the Calendar Server Group Scheduling Engine.
The following is an example of an invitation:
storeevents.wcap?id=${SESSIONID of org}&calid=org &dtstart=20020201T200200Z &dtend=20020201T210000Z summary=invite_attA_attB &method=2 &attendees=PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED^RSVP=TRUE^org; PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION^RSVP=TRUE^attA; PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION^RSVP=TRUE^attB &fmt-out=text/xml |
The following is an example of the acceptance:
storeevents.wcap?id=${SESSIONID ofattA}&calid=attA &uid=event_u1 &method=4 &attendees=PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED^RSVP=TRUE^attA &fmt-out=text/xml |
The following is an example of a declined meeting:
storeevents.wcap?id=${SESSIONID ofattB}&calid=attB &uid=event_u1 &method=4 &attendees=PARTSTAT=DECLINED^RSVP=TRUE^attA &comments=I_cannot_make_it_Sorry &fmt-out=text/xml |