Jan 22 2009

SyncML on iPhone, iFinally have that functionality

Published by cjh at 1:07 am under IT, PSUIT, iPhone

One of my major gripes about the iPhone has been its lack of syncML support. Also, Apple does not allow third party apps to modify data in the built-in calendar application. Ostensibly, because they want users to subscribe to their MobileMe service. So, this has meant that I couldn’t easily sync my Oracle Calendar to my iPhone. On January 7, 2009, Synthesis released an application called
Todo+Cal+Sync. I think the price is a little steep at $14.99, but it fits my requirements. So, how did Synthesis get around the inability to modify built-in calendar app data? Easy, they wrote their own calendar. It looks almost identical to the iPhone calendar app.

My iPhone home screen with Todo+Cal+Sync app.

Screen shot of the calendar app:

List view:

Syncronize UI

Settings interface. Make sure you change the SyncML version to 1.1, the automatic setting failed for me.

SyncML URL:

Calendar server path for Penn State Oracle Calendar server:

Todo server path for Penn State Oracle Calendar server:

34 responses so far

34 Responses to “SyncML on iPhone, iFinally have that functionality”

  1. # Coleon 22 Jan 2009 at 12:36 pm

    Hey Chris … thanks for pointing this out! Can you type out the server paths … they are really hard to see? I am trying to set this up right now. Thanks!

  2. # Ellysaon 22 Jan 2009 at 12:39 pm

    Christian,
    Thanks for posting this! I’ve been waiting for an Oracle calendar app for the iPhone.
    I installed it and followed your screen caps faithfully, but it’s still not working for me. Here’s the message I’m getting: Sync failed: server database not found. What do you think I’m doing wrong? I supplied the penn state userid/password combo for server login.

  3. # Coleon 23 Jan 2009 at 8:52 am

    I got the same result, but then added a “.” before the / in the path and things seemed to work. It does seem a little flaky — are you having any problems with it?

  4. # cjhon 23 Jan 2009 at 12:06 pm

    I haven’t had any problem with it so far. I probably don’t have near the number of events on my calendar as you do. Is it failing during a sync or just “flaky?” And what part is flaky?

  5. # kevinon 23 Jan 2009 at 3:03 pm

    The meta question: how do you do iPhone screencaps?

    The real question: Who paid for it? Was this Hubing money or PSU money?

  6. # cjhon 23 Jan 2009 at 6:00 pm

    To take a screen cap, hold down home and hit the power button. Voila! It gets dumped into your photo’s library.

    Hubing money paid for the application.

  7. # Kevinon 23 Jan 2009 at 9:56 pm

    Thanks!!!! Just got it working and im thinking of tracking you down and kissing you.
    And it was Morooney $ FYI. But it makes me wonder. I use google for the fam….

  8. # Coleon 24 Jan 2009 at 2:38 pm

    I’m going to try and redo the settings … I get a “waiting” and then “processing” in a loop until my iPhone just shuts off. I’ll report back. It worked one time and nothing since … I must have something off. BTW, Camplese $$ here — if it works, it is worth every single penny.

  9. # Coleon 24 Jan 2009 at 2:52 pm

    OK, so I just sat back and let it work for quite some time and it did the trick. I just had to make sure I was keeping the phone awake.

  10. # Chris Milleton 27 Jan 2009 at 1:09 pm

    Worked perfectly for me. Thanks!

  11. # Danon 27 Jan 2009 at 2:59 pm

    I’m not going to kiss you but a high-five is in order! Nice!

  12. # Minellion 27 Jan 2009 at 3:23 pm

    Works like a charm… except for the fact I fat fingered the https… you should have a warning label somewhere to address that issue…

  13. # Rob Porteron 27 Jan 2009 at 4:12 pm

    So if you put information on the calendar can it work also for your private calendar and not push up certain entries?

  14. # Todd Litzinger (AIS)on 28 Jan 2009 at 4:55 pm

    Worked for me on an ipod touch! Thanks!

  15. # Walter Kayon 30 Jan 2009 at 10:12 am

    Calendar sync works great; thanks Chris.

  16. # Peter Angeloson 08 Feb 2009 at 1:12 pm

    Got this going yesterday too pointed at Univ. of Minn. ocas server. So anyone figure out audible event notifications?

  17. # Robinon 11 Feb 2009 at 5:37 pm

    Does anyone have any idea how to make this program work with a webcal URL? Our URL is

    https://webcal.ncsu.edu/ocas-bin/ocas.fcgi?sub=web

    our IT guy says that this is significantly different from the type of oracle calendar program you are using at Penn State.

  18. # Dave DiBiaseon 18 Feb 2009 at 10:10 am

    This is the coolest thing since my dog learned to pee outside.

  19. # Doloreson 20 Feb 2009 at 6:03 pm

    Thanks for pointing out this app. It works. The only caution I have is to read the urls you type in really carefully, as with all computer stuff one little typo can mess you up. Once I found my typo I was off and running. Thanks again for posting this!

  20. # Dave Batzloffon 06 Mar 2009 at 5:02 pm

    what, if any config file changes were made on the oracle server?

    thanks

  21. # Jeffon 06 Mar 2009 at 11:29 pm

    I can’t wait to actually get this to work! Laugh if you want to, but here’s a stupid question: How do you actually pull the calendar up? I have touched everything on every screen I could find and all I can see is a to do list.

    I followed the above instructions, I have synced it, and it tells me that it synced 115 records in the calendar. Great. How do you actually get the calendar to be seen?

    At the bottom of the screen that says “All Todos” there are little icons, including one that looks like a calendar page. Touching it gives me . . . All Todos. Touch the little icon with the “1-2-3″ sloping downward, and I get All Todos.

    Help! Thanks so much for whatever assistance anyone can provide!

  22. # Jeffon 06 Mar 2009 at 11:38 pm

    [sigh]. I just figured it out. . . swiping the screen. :-p

  23. # Andreaon 07 Apr 2009 at 3:09 pm

    This is GREAT! THANKS for the wonderful directions!

  24. # Mickeyon 11 Apr 2009 at 6:26 pm

    what url would I need to sync my Google calendar with this program?

  25. # Jeffon 14 Apr 2009 at 9:51 am

    SyncML stopped working for me last night. I’m getting the following error: “Sync failed: Invalid data from server (wrong URL?)”

    Is anyone else getting this? I haven’t changed any settings, and I just verified that they have remained the same.

  26. # Mikeon 14 Apr 2009 at 10:01 am

    I am in outreach. My sync fails and suggests I have the wrong URL. Do i need a different URL since I am in the Outreach group?

  27. # Daniel Ritteron 30 Apr 2009 at 9:53 am

    Hey Mike at Outreach. I had the same trouble at first. This got me going, hope it helps you:

    I noticed that despite trying a couple of times, my settings failed to “take” my edit of changing “http://” to “https://”.
    I had to restart the phone, edit again. Then it synced as expected.

  28. # Heatheron 22 Jun 2009 at 11:02 am

    Any new information on how the 3.0 affects being able to access Oracle Calendar?

    I have been able to verify the calendar using the following steps, but nothing seems to happen.

    Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> add account -> other -> Add CalDAV account -> Server https://www.cal.psu.edu/ocst-bin/ocas.fcgi

    Thanks in advance.
    Heather

  29. # Kevinon 12 Jul 2009 at 11:16 pm

    I’m trying to get this to work on the UNC-CH Oracle calendar. No luck. Any other unc iPhone users out there? Thanks to the PSU crowd for getting me this far. We are…

    I keep getting the incorrect URL and have tried these variations:
    http and https://calendar.unc.edu schedule.unc.edu
    schedule.unc.edu/ocas-bin/ocas.fcgi

    tried https://www.schedule.unc.edu/ocas-bin/ocas.fcgi which led to an internet connection error.

  30. # Joyceon 15 Jul 2009 at 10:21 am

    This worked perfectly for me. Thanks for posting the details.

  31. # Mike Furloughon 13 Oct 2009 at 8:52 am

    Has anyone had problems with duplicate entries or syncs that result in a combination of entries rather than a true sync? Specifically….

    Yesterday I synced my ToDo+Cal with Oracle Cal. ToDo restored several records to Oracle that had been removed from the server since the previous synch.

    This morning I Re-loaded the client from the server, which cleaned up the calendar on my phone.

    BUT, I added a single entry to the phone, then performed a Normal Sync. The client added the new entry to the Oracle Server, but also duplicated a meeting on my calendar (and on the calendars of all the attendees), as well as several other “holds.”

    Prior to this problem showing up, I had several failed sync events in the days previous (around October 7).

    I have *been* happy with this so far….

    m

    or having ToDo+Cal restore entries that had been removed

  32. # Daniel Ritteron 13 Oct 2009 at 7:16 pm

    Hi Mike,
    Have not seen that myself, but also have not had occasion to process entries as you state (and have not set up a test to observe). My only dupe issues were with having my Oracle Calendar side set such that my “available hours” were from ‘midnight to midnight’. Seems the clients confuse all-day flags and notes, and creating a dupe-crawl scenario. Setting available hours to a more ‘real’ window fixes that weirdness.

    What versions of all clients? Any Mac/Win versions of Ora Cal clients in the mix? OS revs, iPhone patch level?

    Same behavior on wifi vs Edge vs 3G, for ex?

  33. # Mike Furloughon 14 Oct 2009 at 5:50 pm

    >>>Daniel Ritter

    My available hours are set to normal work hours, with extended hours set just a couple of hours beyond into the PM side.

    These are the specs:

    ToDo +Cal: 1.9 (but the first time the problem occurred I was on 1.8).

    Oracle Cal: 10.1.2.4 on Windows XP

    iPhone (2nd gen): Version 3.1 (7c144). The phone is tethered to a a Mac.

    Networks: I can’t say what network I was using when the bad syncs happened.

    Failed syncs: I can say that before first “bad sync” I had a string of aborted/unsuccessful attempts to sync. Looks like I was very impatient on 10/7: I have 4 failed attempts (1 no network, 3 503 errors), plus 1 sync I aborted due to the apparent time out. There are a couple of more aborted syncs in the next couple of days following that.

    I’m starting to think of uninstalling/reinstalling and starting fresh.

    m

  34. # Mike Furloughon 21 Oct 2009 at 9:55 am

    Update: A complete wipe/re-install solved the problem with duplication during syncs.

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