Project name: VCS to ICS Calendar Converter
Latest version: 3.0
Author: dragomerlin
Source code: Java only
IDE: Eclipse IDE for Java Developers Neon.1a Release (4.6.1) Build id: 20161007-1200
JDK: Oracle Corporation 1.8.0_102
Apache Commons Codec: http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-codec/
Apache Commons IO: http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-io/
Licenses: GPL, LGPL, Apache, MPL
Platform: multi (java runtime dependant)
Interface type: command line only, console
Runtime: userspace
Permissions: read / write on jar's present dir for vcs and ics subfolders
Internal behavior:
read, convert and write strings of characters into text files
decode quoted printable strings into UTF-8
Convert calendars to version 2.0 (remove quoted-printable)
Warning: Java may contain a bug where some letters will result in a unknown symbol when applying the
org.apache.commons.codec.net.QuotedPrintableCodec.decodeQuotedPrintable routine on strings that are not
totally coded in quoted printable. This shouldn't happen, and the issue was only found on windows, on
vcs files provided by Microsoft Works. See dair.vcs for more details. In this case, it is recommended to
use other operating system until it's solved. The program makes a quick check that is output to command
line every time it is run.
************ AVOID ERRORS DUE TO SPECIAL CHARACTERS ************
To avoid the message "WARNING!: org.apache.commons.codec.net.QuotedPrintableCodec.decodeQuotedPrintable
is not working properly on your system!" just run the application from Eclipse directly, instead of
using the command "java -jar calconv.jar". I could not figure it out why this happens, but certainly there's
some software issue which doesn't happen when using the Eclipse IDE.
I've only experienced this issue in Microsoft Windows. On all versions of Linux and OSX/macOS that I've tested
"java -jar calconv.jar" works as expected.
To run the software properly on Windows, download the source code, import it to Eclipse to your workspace, and
run the application from there. Shouldn't be any issues with special characters in files, and the following
message should be shown:
"Great!: org.apache.commons.codec.net.QuotedPrintableCodec.decodeQuotedPrintable
seems working ok on your system!"
The string used to check the correct behavior is "Steuererklär" which seems to make decoding fails when
running the jar file directly. The special character "ä" is the responsible.
If you know what is the cause and/or how to improve the source code, please post it on the project's tracker:
- https://sourceforge.net/p/vcstoicsfilecon/discussion/
- https://sourceforge.net/p/vcstoicsfilecon/tickets/
Since I couldn't figure it out why this happens on Windows, "calconv.jar" won't run if the decoding error takes place.
This is done to preserve the integrity of the results. In this case using Eclipse is recommended.
Using other operating systems like GNU/Linux or OSX/macOS should work from jar directly.
If you want to try with the error present anyway, download version 2.1 or older.
******************************************************************
How it works:
It looks for vcs folder and ics folder. Under vcs folder looks for .vcs files and for each one that matches the
calendar format creates the corresponding into the ics dir. Already existent are overwritten.
Email field may be required for third party software.
When running the application email can be specified or not. If specified use '-e', 'email' or '-email' arguments.
'java -jar calconv.jar' will prompt for email
'java -jar calconv.jar somethingstrange' will prompt as well
'java -jar calconv.jar -e' will use blank email and don't ask
'java -jar calconv.jar -e youremail' will use that string.
Getting the vcs files:
- You can send them to your computer via bluetooth from the phone, some symbian devices allow it.
- Use third party software running inside your phone.
- Connect the device to the computer via USB or Bluetooth or Wifi.
- Create a NBU, NBF, NFB, NFC and ARC type backups and extract calendar files inside with NbuExplorer.
- Get the contacts in the native database that the device uses and use third party software to parse.
Tips:
- Use an application like Notepad++ or Kate to edit files and see / change the encoding of the file itself.
Known issues:
- VCS files, when using quoted printable format, it is always expected to be ASCII and UTF-8 charset even if
no specified (ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE;CHARSET=UTF-8). Other charsets different than UTF-8 for printable are
unsupported and non standard.
- Some applications may limit the number of characters per field when importing ics files, truncating the lines
and thus resulting in a loss of data.
- Alarms are not converted since each Nokia phone may use different labels for fields or structure for specifying it.
The same way, each software may automatically overwrite or skip alarm settings or automatically overwrite with a new
one. Some alarm settings are not exportable because are too much specific for the device, for example using an
internal ringtone on Nokia that does not exist on iCal; system pop-up notifications or vibration reminders. There are
no complete specifications as well.
- Other issues may be present on third parties software due to closed specifications.