rfc:rfc9073
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) M. Douglass Request for Comments: 9073 Bedework Updates: 5545 August 2021 Category: Standards Track ISSN: 2070-1721
Event Publishing Extensions to iCalendar
Abstract
This specification updates RFC 5545 by introducing a number of new iCalendar properties and components that are of particular use for event publishers and in social networking.
This specification also defines a new "STRUCTURED-DATA" property for iCalendar (RFC 5545) to allow for data that is directly pertinent to an event or task to be included with the calendar data.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9073.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2021 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Conventions Used in This Document
1.2. Terms Used in This Document
2. Components and Properties
3. Typed References
3.1. Use Cases
3.1.1. Piano Concert Performance
3.1.2. Itineraries
3.1.2.1. Reserving Facilities
4. Modifications to Calendar Components
5. New Property Parameters
5.1. Order
5.2. Schema
5.3. Derived
6. New Properties
6.1. Location Type
6.2. Participant Type
6.3. Resource Type
6.4. Calendar Address
6.5. Styled-Description
6.6. Structured-Data
7. New Components
7.1. Participant
7.1.1. Schedulable Participant
7.2. Location
7.3. Resource
8. Extended Examples
8.1. Example 1
8.2. Example 2
9. Security Considerations
9.1. URIs
9.2. Malicious Content
9.3. HTML Content
10. Privacy Considerations
10.1. Tracking
10.2. Revealing Locations
11. IANA Considerations
11.1. Additional iCalendar Registrations
11.1.1. Properties
11.1.2. Parameters
11.1.3. Components
11.2. Participant Types and Resource Types Registries
11.2.1. Participant Types
11.2.2. Resource Types
12. Normative References
Acknowledgements
Author's Address
1. Introduction
The currently existing iCalendar standard [RFC5545] lacks useful methods for referencing additional, external information relating to calendar components. Additionally, there is no standard way to provide rich-text descriptions or metadata associated with the event.
Current practice is to embed this information as links in the description or to add nonstandard properties, as defined in Section 3.8.8.2 of [RFC5545].
This document updates [RFC5545] to define a number of properties and components referencing such external information that can provide additional information about an iCalendar component. The intent is to allow the interchange of such information between applications or systems (e.g., between clients, between client and server, and between servers). Formats, such as vCard [RFC6350], are likely to be most useful to the receivers of such events as they may be used in other applications -- such as address books.
1.1. Conventions Used in This Document
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.
The notation used in this memo is the ABNF notation of [RFC5234] as used by iCalendar [RFC5545]. Any syntax elements shown below that are not explicitly defined in this specification come from iCalendar [RFC5545].
1.2. Terms Used in This Document
Event: When the word 'event' (perhaps with a capitalized 'E') is
used, we are referring to gatherings, formal or informal (for
example, a sports event, a party, or a concert).
Social Calendaring: Historically, calendar data and scheduling has
been heavily biased towards meetings in a corporate environment.
Some of the features defined in this document are to support a
more informal, i.e., social, model. For example, we may want to
record who is participating in a public event.
2. Components and Properties
Previous extensions to the calendaring standards have been largely restricted to the addition of properties or parameters. This is partly because iCalendar libraries had trouble handling components nested deeper than those defined in [RFC5545].
In a break with this 'convention', this specification defines a number of components rather than properties. This is a better match for the way [W3C.REC-xml-20081126] and JSON [RFC8259] handle such structures and allows richer definitions.
It also allows for the addition of extra properties inside the components and resolves some of the problems of trying to add detailed information as a parameter.
3. Typed References
The properties and components defined here can all reference external metadata, which may be used by applications to provide further information to users. By providing type information, clients and servers are able to discover interesting references and make use of them, perhaps for indexing or presenting additional, related information for the user.
As always, clients should exercise caution in following references to external data.
The "LOCATION" property [RFC5545] provides only an unstructured single text value for specifying the location where an event (or task) will occur. This is inadequate for use cases where structured location information (e.g., address, region, country, or postal code) is required or preferred and limits widespread adoption of iCalendar in those settings.
Using the "VLOCATION" component, rich information about multiple locations can be communicated in a "STRUCTURED-DATA" property; examples include address, region, country, postal code, parking availability, nearby restaurants, and the venue, among others. Servers and clients can retrieve the objects when storing the event and use them to index by geographic location.
When a calendar client receives a calendar component, it can search the set of locations looking for those of particular interest. The "LOCATION-TYPE" property and "FMTTYPE" parameter applied to the "STRUCTURED-DATA" property, if supplied, can be used to help the selection.
The "PARTICIPANT" component is designed to handle common use cases in event publication. It is generally important to provide information about the organizers of such events. Sponsors wish to be referenced in a prominent manner. In social calendaring, it is often important to identify the active participants (e.g,, a school sports team) and the inactive participants (e.g., the parents) in the event.
The "PARTICIPANT" component can be used to provide useful extra data about an attendee. For example, a location inside the PARTICIPANT gives the actual location of a remote attendee. (But see the note about privacy.)
Alternatively, the "PARTICIPANT" component can be used to provide a reference -- perhaps the address for mailing lists.
3.1. Use Cases
The main motivation for these changes has been event publication, but there are opportunities for use elsewhere. The following use cases will describe some possible scenarios.
3.1.1. Piano Concert Performance
In putting together a concert, there are many participants: piano tuner, performer, stage hands, etc. In addition, there are sponsors and various contacts to be provided. There will also be a number of related locations. A number of events can be created, all of which relate to the performance in different ways.
There may be an iCalendar Transport-independent Interoperability Protocol (iTIP) [RFC5546] meeting request for the piano tuner, who will arrive before the performance. Other members of staff may also receive meeting requests.
An event can also be created for publication, which will have a "PARTICIPANT" component for the pianist providing a reference to vCard information ([RFC6350]) about the performer. This event would also hold information about parking, local subway stations, and the venue itself. In addition, there may be sponsorship information for sponsors of the event and perhaps paid sponsorship properties, essentially advertising local establishments.
3.1.2. Itineraries
These additions also provide opportunities for the travel industry. When booking a flight, the "PARTICIPANT" component can be used to provide references to businesses at the airports and to rental car businesses at the destination.
The embedded location information can guide the traveler around the airport itself or to their final destination. The contact information can provide detailed information about the booking agent, airlines, car hire companies, and hotel.
3.1.2.1. Reserving Facilities
For a meeting, the size of a room and the equipment needed depends, to some extent, on the number of attendees actually in the room.
A meeting may have many attendees, none of which are co-located. The current "ATTENDEE" property does not allow for the addition of such metadata. The "PARTICIPANT" component allows attendees to specify their location.
4. Modifications to Calendar Components
The following changes to the syntax defined in iCalendar [RFC5545] are made here. New elements are defined in subsequent sections.
; Addition of PARTICIPANT, VLOCATION, and VRESOURCE
; as valid components
eventc = "BEGIN" ":" "VEVENT" CRLF
eventprop *alarmc *participantc *locationc *resourcec
"END" ":" "VEVENT" CRLF
; Addition of properties STYLED-DESCRIPTION and STRUCTURED-DATA
eventprop =/ *styleddescription
*sdataprop
; Addition of PARTICIPANT, VLOCATION, and VRESOURCE
; as valid components
todoc = "BEGIN" ":" "VTODO" CRLF
todoprop *alarmc *participantc *locationc *resourcec
"END" ":" "VTODO" CRLF
; Addition of properties STYLED-DESCRIPTION and STRUCTURED-DATA
todoprop =/ *styleddescription
*sdataprop
; Addition of PARTICIPANT, VLOCATION, and VRESOURCE
; as valid components
journalc = "BEGIN" ":" "VJOURNAL" CRLF
jourprop *participantc *locationc *resourcec
"END" ":" "VJOURNAL" CRLF
; Addition of properties STYLED-DESCRIPTION and STRUCTURED-DATA
jourprop =/ *styleddescription
*sdataprop
; Addition of PARTICIPANT, VLOCATION, and VRESOURCE
; as valid components
freebusyc = "BEGIN" ":" "VFREEBUSY" CRLF
fbprop *participantc *locationc *resourcec
"END" ":" "VFREEBUSY" CRLF
; Addition of property STYLED-DESCRIPTION fbprop =/ *styleddescription
5. New Property Parameters
5.1. Order
Parameter name: ORDER
Purpose: This parameter defines ordering for the associated
property.
Format Definition: This parameter is defined by the following
notation:
orderparam = "ORDER" "=" integer
; Must be greater than or equal to 1
Description: The "ORDER" parameter is OPTIONAL and is used to
indicate the relative ordering of the corresponding instance of a
property. Its value MUST be an integer greater than or equal to 1
that specifies the order, with 1 being the first in the ordering.
When the parameter is absent, the default MUST be to interpret the
property instance as being ordered last, that is, the property
will appear after any other instances of the same property with
any value of ORDER.
When any "ORDER" parameters have the same value, all the
associated properties appear as a group within which there is no
defined order.
Note that the value of this parameter is to be interpreted only in
relation to values assigned to other corresponding instances of
the same property in the same entity.
This parameter MUST NOT be applied to a property that does not
allow multiple instances.
Example uses: The ORDER may be applied to the "PARTICIPANT-TYPE"
property to indicate the relative importance of the participant,
for example, as a sponsor or a performer. For example, ORDER=1
could define the principal performer or soloist.
5.2. Schema
Parameter Name: SCHEMA
Purpose: This parameter specifies the schema used for the content of
a "STRUCTURED-DATA" property value.
Format Definition: This parameter is defined by the following
notation:
schemaparam = "SCHEMA" "=" DQUOTE uri DQUOTE
Description: This property parameter SHOULD be specified on
"STRUCTURED-DATA" properties. When present, it provides
identifying information about the nature of the content of the
corresponding "STRUCTURED-DATA" property value. This can be used
to supplement the media type information provided by the "FMTTYPE"
parameter on the corresponding property.
Example:
STRUCTURED-DATA;FMTTYPE=application/ld+json;
SCHEMA="https://schema.org/FlightReservation";
ENCODING=BASE64;VALUE=BINARY:ICAgIDxzY3JpcHQgdHlwZT0iYXBwb
GljYXRpb24vbGQranNvbiI+CiAgICB7CiAgICAgICJAY29
udGV4dCI6ICJodHRwOi8vc2NoZW1hLm9yZyIsCiAgICAgICJAdHlwZSI
6ICJGbGlnaHRSZXNlcnZhdGlvbiIsCiAgICAgICJyZXNlcnZhdGlvbkl
kIjogIlJYSjM0UCIsCiAgICAgICJyZXNlcnZhdGlvblN0YXR1cyI6ICJ
odHRwOi8vc2NoZW1hLm9yZy9SZXNlcnZhdGlvbkNvbmZpcm1lZCIsCiA
gICAgICJwYXNzZW5nZXJQcmlvcml0eVN0YXR1cyI6ICJGYXN0IFRyYWN
rIiwKICAgICAgInBhc3NlbmdlclNlcXVlbmNlTnVtYmVyIjogIkFCQzE
yMyIsCiAgICAgICJzZWN1cml0eVNjcmVlbmluZyI6ICJUU0EgUHJlQ2h
lY2siLAogICAgICAidW5kZXJOYW1lIjogewogICAgICAgICJAdHlwZSI
6ICJQZXJzb24iLAogICAgICAgICJuYW1lIjogIkV2YSBHcmVlbiIKICA
gICAgfSwKICAgICAgInJlc2VydmF0aW9uRm9yIjogewogICAgICAgICJ
AdHlwZSI6ICJGbGlnaHQiLAogICAgICAgICJmbGlnaHROdW1iZXIiOiA
iVUExMTAiLAogICAgICAgICJwcm92aWRlciI6IHsKICAgICAgICAgICJ
AdHlwZSI6ICJBaXJsaW5lIiwKICAgICAgICAgICJuYW1lIjogIkNvbnR
pbmVudGFsIiwKICAgICAgICAgICJpYXRhQ29kZSI6ICJDTyIsCiAgICA
gICAgICAiYm9hcmRpbmdQb2xpY3kiOiAiaHR0cDovL3NjaGVtYS5vcmc
vWm9uZUJvYXJkaW5nUG9saWN5IgogICAgICAgIH0sCiAgICAgICAgInN
lbGxlciI6IHsKICAgICAgICAgICJAdHlwZSI6ICJBaXJsaW5lIiwKICA
gICAgICAgICJuYW1lIjogIlVuaXRlZCIsCiAgICAgICAgICAiaWF0YUN
vZGUiOiAiVUEiCiAgICAgICAgfSwKICAgICAgICAiZGVwYXJ0dXJlQWl
ycG9ydCI6IHsKICAgICAgICAgICJAdHlwZSI6ICJBaXJwb3J0IiwKICA
gICAgICAgICJuYW1lIjogIlNhbiBGcmFuY2lzY28gQWlycG9ydCIsCiA
gICAgICAgICAiaWF0YUNvZGUiOiAiU0ZPIgogICAgICAgIH0sCiAgICA
gICAgImRlcGFydHVyZVRpbWUiOiAiMjAxNy0wMy0wNFQyMDoxNTowMC0
wODowMCIsCiAgICAgICAgImFycml2YWxBaXJwb3J0IjogewogICAgICA
gICAgIkB0eXBlIjogIkFpcnBvcnQiLAogICAgICAgICAgIm5hbWUiOiA
iSm9obiBGLiBLZW5uZWR5IEludGVybmF0aW9uYWwgQWlycG9ydCIsCiA
gICAgICAgICAiaWF0YUNvZGUiOiAiSkZLIgogICAgICAgIH0sCiAgICA
gICAgImFycml2YWxUaW1lIjogIjIwMTctMDMtMDVUMDY6MzA6MDAtMDU
6MDAiCiAgICAgIH0KICAgIH0KICAgIDwvc2NyaXB0Pg==
5.3. Derived
Parameter Name: DERIVED
Purpose: This parameter specifies that the value of the associated
property is derived from some other property value or values.
Format Definition: This parameter is defined by the following
notation:
derivedparam = "DERIVED" "=" ("TRUE" / "FALSE")
; Default is FALSE
Description: This property parameter MAY be specified on any
property when the value is derived from some other property or
properties. When present with a value of TRUE, clients MUST NOT
update the property.
As an example, if a "STYLED-DESCRIPTION" property is present with
FMTTYPE="application/rtf", then there may be an additional
"STYLED-DESCRIPTION" property with FMTTYPE="text/html" and
DERIVED=TRUE, as well as a value created from the rtf value.
Example:
STYLED-DESCRIPTION;FMTTYPE=text/html;
DERIVED=TRUE:<html>...</html>
6. New Properties
This specification makes use of the "NAME" property, which is defined in [RFC7986].
6.1. Location Type
Property Name: LOCATION-TYPE
Purpose: This property specifies the type(s) of a location.
Value Type: The value type for this property is TEXT. The allowable
values are defined below.
Description: This property MAY be specified in "VLOCATION"
components and provides a way to differentiate multiple locations.
For example, it allows event producers to provide location
information for the venue and the parking.
Format Definition: This property is defined by the following
notation:
loctype = "LOCATION-TYPE" loctypeparam ":"
text *("," text)
CRLF
loctypeparam = *(";" other-param)
Multiple values may be used if the location has multiple purposes,
for example, a hotel and a restaurant.
Values for this parameter are taken from the values defined in
Section 3 of [RFC4589]. New location types SHOULD be registered
in the manner laid down in Section 5 of [RFC4589].
6.2. Participant Type
Property Name: PARTICIPANT-TYPE
Purpose: This property specifies the type of participant.
Value Type: The value type for this property is TEXT. The allowable
values are defined below.
Property Parameters: Nonstandard parameters can be specified on this
property.
Conformance: This property MUST be specified once within a
"PARTICIPANT" component.
Description: This property defines the type of participation in
events or tasks. Participants can be individuals or
organizations, for example, a soccer team, the spectators, or the
musicians.
Format Definition: This property is defined by the following
notation:
participanttype = "PARTICIPANT-TYPE" partvalueparam ":"
partvalue CRLF
partvalue = ("ACTIVE"
/ "INACTIVE"
/ "SPONSOR"
/ "CONTACT"
/ "BOOKING-CONTACT"
/ "EMERGENCY-CONTACT"
/ "PUBLICITY-CONTACT"
/ "PLANNER-CONTACT"
/ "PERFORMER"
/ "SPEAKER"
/ iana-token) ; Other IANA-registered
; values
partvalueparam = *(";" other-param)
Example: The following is an example of this property.
PARTICIPANT-TYPE:SPEAKER
The registered values for the "PARTICIPANT-TYPE" property have the meanings described here:
ACTIVE: A participant taking an active role -- for example, a team
member.
INACTIVE: A participant taking an inactive role -- for example, an
audience member.
SPONSOR: A sponsor of the event. The "ORDER" parameter may be used
with this participant type to define the relative order of
multiple sponsors.
CONTACT: Contact information for the event. The "ORDER" parameter
may be used with this participant type to define the relative
order of multiple contacts.
BOOKING-CONTACT: Contact information for reservations or payment.
EMERGENCY-CONTACT: Contact in case of emergency.
PUBLICITY-CONTACT: Contact for publicity.
PLANNER-CONTACT: Contact for the event planner or organizer.
PERFORMER: A performer -- for example, the soloist or the
accompanist. The "ORDER" parameter may be used with this
participant type to define the relative order of multiple
performers. For example, ORDER=1 could define the principal
performer or soloist.
SPEAKER: Speaker at an event.
6.3. Resource Type
Property Name: RESOURCE-TYPE
Purpose: This property specifies the type of resource.
Value Type: The value type for this property is TEXT. The allowable
values are defined below.
Format Definition: This property is defined by the following
notation:
restypeprop = "RESOURCE-TYPE" restypeparam ":"
restypevalue CRLF
restypevalue = ("ROOM"
/ "PROJECTOR"
/ "REMOTE-CONFERENCE-AUDIO"
/ "REMOTE-CONFERENCE-VIDEO"
/ iana-token) ; Other IANA-registered
; values
restypeparam = *(";" other-param)
Description: This property MAY be specified in "VRESOURCE"
components and provides a way to differentiate multiple resources.
The registered values are described below. New resource types
SHOULD be registered in the manner laid down in this
specification.
ROOM: A room for the event/meeting.
PROJECTOR: Projection equipment.
REMOTE-CONFERENCE-AUDIO: Audio remote conferencing facilities.
REMOTE-CONFERENCE-VIDEO: Video remote conferencing facilities.
6.4. Calendar Address
Property Name: CALENDAR-ADDRESS
Purpose: This property specifies the calendar address for a
participant.
Value Type: CAL-ADDRESS
Property Parameters: IANA-registered or nonstandard property
parameters can be specified on this property.
Conformance: This property MAY be specified once within a
"PARTICIPANT" component.
Description: This property provides a calendar user address for the
participant. If there is an "ATTENDEE" property with the same
value, then the participant is schedulable.
Format Definition: This property is defined by the following
notation:
calendaraddress = "CALENDAR-ADDRESS" caladdressparam ":"
cal-address CRLF
caladdressparam = *(";" other-param)
6.5. Styled-Description
Property Name: STYLED-DESCRIPTION
Purpose: This property provides for one or more rich-text
descriptions to replace that provided by the "DESCRIPTION"
property.
Value Type: There is no default value type for this property. The
value type can be set to URI or TEXT. Other text-based value
types can be used when defined in the future. Clients MUST ignore
any properties with value types they do not understand.
Property Parameters: IANA-registered, nonstandard, id, alternate
text representation, format type, derived, and language property
parameters can be specified on this property.
Conformance: The property can be specified multiple times in the
"VEVENT", "VTODO", "VJOURNAL", "VFREEBUSY", "PARTICIPANT", or
"VALARM" calendar components.
If it does appear more than once, there MUST be exactly one
instance of the property with no "DERIVED" parameter or
DERIVED=FALSE. All others MUST have DERIVED=TRUE.
Additionally, if there is one or more "STYLED-DESCRIPTION"
property, then the "DESCRIPTION" property should either be absent
or have the parameter DERIVED=TRUE.
Description: This property supports rich-text descriptions, for
example, HTML. Event publishers typically wish to provide more
and better-formatted information about the event.
This property is used in the "VEVENT" and "VTODO" components to
capture lengthy textual descriptions associated with the activity.
This property is used in the "VJOURNAL" calendar component to
capture one or more textual journal entries. This property is
used in the "VALARM" calendar component to capture the display
text for a DISPLAY category of alarm and to capture the body text
for an EMAIL category of alarm. In the "PARTICIPANT" component,
it provides a detailed description of the participant.
VALUE=TEXT is used to provide rich text inline as the property
value.
VALUE=URI is used to provide a link to rich-text content, which is
expected to be displayed inline as part of the event.
In either case, the "DESCRIPTION" property should be absent or
contain a plain-text rendering of the styled text.
Applications MAY attempt to guess the media type of the resource
via inspection of its content if and only if the media type of the
resource is not given by the "FMTTYPE" parameter. If the media
type remains unknown, calendar applications SHOULD treat it as
type "text/html" and process the content as defined in
[W3C.REC-html51-20171003].
Multiple "STYLED-DESCRIPTION" properties may be used to provide
different formats or different language variants. However, all
but one MUST have DERIVED=TRUE.
Format Definition: This property is defined by the following
notation:
styleddescription = "STYLED-DESCRIPTION" styleddescparam ":"
styleddescval CRLF
styleddescparam = *(
; The following is REQUIRED
; but MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
(";" "VALUE" "=" ("URI" / "TEXT")) /
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; but MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
(";" altrepparam) / (";" languageparam) /
(";" fmttypeparam) / (";" derivedparam) /
;
; The following is OPTIONAL
; and MAY occur more than once.
;
(";" other-param)
)
styleddescval = ( uri / text )
;Value MUST match value type
Example: The following is an example of this property. It points to
an HTML description.
STYLED-DESCRIPTION;VALUE=URI:http://example.org/desc001.html
6.6. Structured-Data
Property Name: STRUCTURED-DATA
Purpose: This property specifies ancillary data associated with the
calendar component.
Value Type: There is no default value type for this property. The
value type can be set to TEXT, BINARY, or URI.
Property Parameters: IANA-registered, nonstandard, inline encoding,
and value data type property parameters can be specified on this
property. The format type and schema parameters can be specified
on this property and MUST be present for text or inline binary
encoded content information.
Conformance: This property can be specified multiple times in an
iCalendar object. Typically, it would be used in the "VEVENT",
"VTODO", or "VJOURNAL" calendar components.
Description: The existing properties in iCalendar cover key elements
of events and tasks, such as start time, end time, location,
summary, etc. However, different types of events often have other
specific "fields" that are useful to include in the calendar data.
For example, an event representing an airline flight could include
the airline, flight number, departure and arrival airport codes,
check-in and gate-closing times, etc. As another example, a
sporting event might contain information about the type of sport,
the home and away teams, the league the teams are in, information
about nearby parking, etc.
This property is used to specify ancillary data in some structured
format, either directly (inline) as a "TEXT" or "BINARY" value or
as a link via a "URI" value.
Rather than define new iCalendar properties for the variety of
event types that might occur, it would be better to leverage
existing schemas for such data. For example, schemas available at
<https://schema.org> include different event types. By using
standard schemas, interoperability can be improved between
calendar clients and noncalendaring systems that wish to generate
or process the data.
This property allows the direct inclusion of ancillary data whose
schema is defined elsewhere. This property also includes
parameters to clearly identify the type of the schema being used
so that clients can quickly and easily spot what is relevant
within the calendar data and present that to users or process it
within the calendaring system.
iCalendar does support an "ATTACH" property, which can be used to
include documents or links to documents within the calendar data.
However, that property does not allow data to be included as a
"TEXT" value (a feature that "STRUCTURED-DATA" does allow), plus
attachments are often treated as "opaque" data to be processed by
some other system rather than the calendar client. Thus, the
existing "ATTACH" property is not sufficient to cover the specific
needs of inclusion of schema data. Extending the "ATTACH"
property to support a new value type would likely cause
interoperability problems. Additionally, some implementations
manage attachments by stripping them out and replacing with a link
to the resource. Thus, a new property to support inclusion of
schema data is warranted.
Format Definition: This property is defined by the following
notation:
sdataprop = "STRUCTURED-DATA" sdataparam
(
";" "VALUE" "=" "TEXT"
":" text
) /
(
";" "ENCODING" "=" "BASE64"
";" "VALUE" "=" "BINARY"
";" binary
) /
(
";" "VALUE" "=" "URI"
":" uri
)
CRLF
sdataparam = *(
;
; The following is OPTIONAL for a URI value,
; REQUIRED for a TEXT or BINARY value,
; and MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
(";" fmttypeparam) /
(";" schemaparam) /
;
; The following is OPTIONAL
; and MAY occur more than once.
;
(";" other-param)
;
)
Example: The following is an example of this property.
STRUCTURED-DATA;FMTTYPE=application/ld+json;
SCHEMA="https://schema.org/SportsEvent";
VALUE=TEXT:{\n
"@context": "http://schema.org"\,\n
"@type": "SportsEvent"\,\n
"homeTeam": "Pittsburgh Pirates"\,\n
"awayTeam": "San Francisco Giants"\n
}\n
7. New Components
7.1. Participant
Component name: PARTICIPANT
Purpose: This component provides information about a participant in
an event or task.
Conformance: This component can be specified multiple times in a
"VEVENT", "VTODO", "VJOURNAL", or "VFREEBUSY" calendar component.
Description: This component provides information about a participant
in a calendar component. A participant may be an attendee in a
scheduling sense, and the "ATTENDEE" property may be specified in
addition. Participants can be individuals or organizations, for
example, a soccer team, the spectators, or the musicians.
"STRUCTURED-DATA" properties, if present, may refer to definitions
of the participant -- such as a vCard.
The "CALENDAR-ADDRESS" property, if present, will provide a cal-
address. If an "ATTENDEE" property has the same value, the
participant is considered schedulable. The "PARTICIPANT"
component can be used to contain additional metadata related to
the attendee.
Format Definition: This component is defined by the following
notation:
participantc = "BEGIN" ":" "PARTICIPANT" CRLF
partprop *locationc *resourcec
"END" ":" "PARTICIPANT" CRLF
partprop = *(
;
; The following are REQUIRED
; but MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
participanttype / uid /
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; but MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
calendaraddress / created / description / dtstamp /
geo / last-mod / priority / seq /
status / summary / url /
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; and MAY occur more than once.
;
attach / categories / comment
contact / location / rstatus / related /
resources / strucloc / strucres /
styleddescription / sdataprop / iana-prop
;
)
Note: When the "PRIORITY" property is supplied, it defines the
ordering of "PARTICIPANT" components with the same value for the
"PARTICIPANT-TYPE" property.
Privacy Issues: When a "LOCATION" property is supplied, it provides
information about the location of a participant at a given time or
times. This may represent an unacceptable privacy risk for some
participants. User agents MUST NOT broadcast this information
without the express permission of the participants whose location
would be exposed. For further comments, see Section 10.
Example: The following is an example of this component. It contains
a "STRUCTURED-DATA" property that points to a vCard providing
information about the event participant.
BEGIN:PARTICIPANT
UID: em9lQGZvb2GFtcGxlLmNvbQ
PARTICIPANT-TYPE:PERFORMER
STRUCTURED-DATA;VALUE=URI:
http://dir.example.com/vcard/aviolinist.vcf
END:PARTICIPANT
Example: The following is an example for the primary contact.
BEGIN:PARTICIPANT
UID: em9lQGZvb2GFtcGxlLmNvbQ
STRUCTURED-DATA;VALUE=URI;
http://dir.example.com/vcard/contacts/contact1.vcf
PARTICIPANT-TYPE:CONTACT
DESCRIPTION:A contact
END:PARTICIPANT
Example: The following is an example for a participant with contact
and location.
BEGIN:PARTICIPANT
UID: em9lQGZvb2GFtcGxlLmNdrt
STRUCTURED-DATA;VALUE=URI;
http://dir.example.com/vcard/contacts/my-card.vcf
PARTICIPANT-TYPE:SPEAKER
DESCRIPTION:A participant
BEGIN:VLOCATION
UID:123456-abcdef-98765432
NAME:My home location
STRUCTURED-DATA;VALUE=URI:
http://dir.example.com/addresses/my-home.vcf
END:VLOCATION
END:PARTICIPANT
7.1.1. Schedulable Participant
A "PARTICIPANT" component may represent someone or something that needs to be scheduled, as defined for ATTENDEE in [RFC5545] and [RFC5546]. The "PARTICIPANT" component may also represent someone or something that is NOT to receive scheduling messages.
For backwards compatibility with existing clients and servers when used to schedule events and tasks, the "ATTENDEE" property MUST be used to specify the scheduling parameters as defined for that property.
For other, future uses, the "CALENDAR-ADDRESS" property MUST be used to specify those parameters.
A "PARTICIPANT" component is defined to be schedulable if:
- it contains a "CALENDAR-ADDRESS" property and
- that property value is the same as the value for an "ATTENDEE"
property.
If both of these conditions apply, then the participant defined by the value of the URL property will take part in scheduling operations, as defined in [RFC5546].
An appropriate use for the "PARTICIPANT" component in scheduling would be to store "SEQUENCE" and "DTSTAMP" properties associated with replies from each "ATTENDEE" property. A "LOCATION" property within the "PARTICIPANT" component might allow better selection of meeting times when participants are in different time zones.
7.2. Location
Component name: VLOCATION
Purpose: This component provides rich information about the location
of an event using the structured data property or, optionally, a
plain-text typed value.
Conformance: This component can be specified multiple times in a
"VEVENT", "VTODO", "VJOURNAL", "VFREEBUSY", or "PARTICIPANT"
calendar component.
Description: There may be a number of locations associated with an
event. This component provides detailed information about a
location.
When used in a component, the value of this property provides
information about the event venue or of related services, such as
parking, dining, stations, etc.
"STRUCTURED-DATA" properties, if present, may refer to
representations of the location -- such as a vCard.
Format Definition: This component is defined by the following
notation:
locationc = "BEGIN" ":" "VLOCATION" CRLF
locprop
"END" ":" "VLOCATION" CRLF
locprop = *(
;
; The following are REQUIRED
; but MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
uid /
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; but MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
description / geo / loctype / name
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; and MAY occur more than once.
;
sdataprop / iana-prop
)
The "NAME" property is defined in [RFC7986].
Example: The following is an example of this component. It points
to a venue.
BEGIN:VLOCATION
UID:123456-abcdef-98765432
NAME:The venue
STRUCTURED-DATA;VALUE=URI:
http://dir.example.com/venues/big-hall.vcf
END:VLOCATION
7.3. Resource
Component name: VRESOURCE
Purpose: This component provides a typed reference to external
information about a resource or, optionally, a plain-text typed
value. Typically, a resource is anything that might be required
or used by a calendar entity and possibly has a directory entry.
Conformance: This component can be specified multiple times in a
"VEVENT", "VTODO", "VJOURNAL", "VFREEBUSY", or "PARTICIPANT"
calendar component.
Description: When used in a component, this component provides
information about resources used for the event, such as rooms,
projectors, and conferencing capabilities.
The RESOURCE-TYPE value registry provides a place in which
resource types may be registered.
"STRUCTURED-DATA" properties, if present, may refer to
representations of the resource -- such as a vCard.
Format Definition: This component is defined by the following
notation:
resourcec = "BEGIN" ":" "VRESOURCE" CRLF
resprop
"END" ":" "VRESOURCE" CRLF
resprop = *(
;
; The following are REQUIRED
; but MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
uid /
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; but MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
description / geo / name / restype /
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; and MAY occur more than once.
;
sdataprop / iana-prop
)
The "NAME" property is defined in [RFC7986].
Example: The following is an example of this component. It refers
to a projector.
BEGIN:VRESOURCE
UID:456789-abcdef-98765432
NAME:The projector
RESOURCE-TYPE:projector
STRUCTURED-DATA;VALUE=URI:http://dir.example.com/projectors/3d.vcf
END:VRESOURCE
8. Extended Examples
The following are some examples of the use of the properties defined in this specification. They include additional properties defined in [RFC7986], which includes "IMAGE".
8.1. Example 1
The following is an example of a "VEVENT" describing a concert. It includes location information for the venue itself, as well as references to parking and restaurants.
BEGIN:VEVENT CREATED:20200215T145739Z DESCRIPTION: Piano Sonata No 3\n Piano Sonata No 30 DTSTAMP:20200215T145739Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200315T150000Z DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200315T163000Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200216T145739Z SUMMARY:Beethoven Piano Sonatas UID:123456 IMAGE;VALUE=URI;DISPLAY=BADGE;FMTTYPE=image/png:h ttp://example.com/images/concert.png BEGIN:PARTICIPANT PARTICIPANT-TYPE:SPONSOR UID:dG9tQGZvb2Jhci5xlLmNvbQ STRUCTURED-DATA;VALUE=URI:http://example.com/sponsor.vcf END:PARTICIPANT BEGIN:PARTICIPANT PARTICIPANT-TYPE:PERFORMER: UID:em9lQGZvb2GFtcGxlLmNvbQ STRUCTURED-DATA;VALUE=URI:http://www.example.com/people/johndoe.vcf END:PARTICIPANT BEGIN:VLOCATION UID:123456-abcdef-98765432 NAME:The venue STRUCTURED-DATA;VALUE=URI:http://dir.example.com/venues/big-hall.vcf END:VLOCATION BEGIN:VLOCATION UID:123456-abcdef-87654321 NAME:Parking for the venue STRUCTURED-DATA;VALUE=URI:http://dir.example.com/venues/parking.vcf END:VLOCATION END:VEVENT
8.2. Example 2
The following is an example of a "VEVENT" describing a meeting. One of the attendees is a remote participant.
BEGIN:VEVENT CREATED:20200215T145739Z DTSTAMP:20200215T145739Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200315T150000Z DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200315T163000Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200216T145739Z SUMMARY:Conference planning UID:123456 ORGANIZER:mailto:a@example.com ATTENDEE;PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED;CN=A:mailto:a@example.com ATTENDEE;RSVP=TRUE;CN=B:mailto:b@example.com BEGIN:PARTICIPANT PARTICIPANT-TYPE:ACTIVE: UID:v39lQGZvb2GFtcGxlLmNvbQ STRUCTURED-DATA;VALUE=URI:http://www.example.com/people/b.vcf LOCATION:At home END:PARTICIPANT END:VEVENT
9. Security Considerations
This specification extends [RFC5545] and makes further use of possibly linked data. While calendar data is not unique in this regard, it is worth reminding implementors of some of the dangers and safeguards.
9.1. URIs
See [RFC3986] for a discussion of the security considerations relating to URIs. Because of the issues discussed there and below, clients SHOULD NOT follow URIs and fetch content automatically and should only do so at the explicit request of the user.
Fetching remote resources carries inherent risks. Connections must only be allowed on well-known ports, using allowed protocols (generally just HTTP/HTTPS on their default ports). The URL must be resolved externally and not allowed to access internal resources. Connecting to an external source reveals IP (and therefore generally location) information.
A maliciously constructed iCalendar object may contain a very large number of URIs. In the case of published calendars with a large number of subscribers, such objects could be widely distributed. Implementations should be careful to limit the automatic fetching of linked resources to reduce the risk of this being an amplification vector for a denial-of-service attack.
9.2. Malicious Content
For the "STRUCTURED-DATA" property, agents need to be aware that a client could attack underlying storage by sending extremely large values and could attack processing time by uploading a recurring event with a large number of overrides and then repeatedly adding, updating, and deleting structured data.
Agents should set reasonable limits on storage size and number of instances and apply those constraints. Calendar protocols should ensure there is a way to report on such limits being exceeded.
Malicious content could be introduced into the calendar server by way of the "STRUCTURED-DATA" property and propagated to many end users via scheduling. Servers SHOULD check this property for malicious or inappropriate content. Upon detecting such content, servers SHOULD remove the property.
9.3. HTML Content
When processing HTML content, applications need to be aware of the many security and privacy issues, as described in the IANA Considerations section of [W3C.REC-html51-20171003].
10. Privacy Considerations
10.1. Tracking
Properties with a "URI" value type can expose their users to privacy leaks, as any network access of the URI data can be tracked both by a network observer and by the entity hosting the remote resource. Clients SHOULD NOT automatically download data referenced by the URI without explicit instruction from users.
To help alleviate some of the concerns, protocols and services could provide proxy services for downloading referenced data.
10.2. Revealing Locations
The addition of location information to the new participant component provides information about the location of participants at a given time. This information MUST NOT be distributed to other participants without those participant's express permission. Note that there may be a number of participants who may be unaware of their inclusion in the data.
Agents processing and distributing calendar data must be aware that it has the property of providing information about a future time when a given individual may be at a particular location, which could enable targeted attacks against that individual.
The same may be true of other information contained in the participant component. In general, revealing only as much as is absolutely necessary should be the approach taken.
For example, there may be some privacy considerations relating to the "ORDER" parameter, as it provides an indication of the organizer's perception of the relative importance of other participants.
11. IANA Considerations
11.1. Additional iCalendar Registrations
11.1.1. Properties
This document defines the following iCalendar properties that have been added to the "Properties" registry defined in Section 8.2.3 of [RFC5545]:
+====================+=========+=======================+
| Property | Status | Reference |
+====================+=========+=======================+
| CALENDAR-ADDRESS | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.4 |
+--------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| LOCATION-TYPE | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.1 |
+--------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| PARTICIPANT-TYPE | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.2 |
+--------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| RESOURCE-TYPE | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.3 |
+--------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| STRUCTURED-DATA | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.6 |
+--------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| STYLED-DESCRIPTION | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.5 |
+--------------------+---------+-----------------------+
Table 1: Additions to the Properties Registry
11.1.2. Parameters
This document defines the following iCalendar property parameters that have been added to the "Parameters" registry defined in Section 8.2.4 of [RFC5545]:
+===========+=========+=======================+
| Parameter | Status | Reference |
+===========+=========+=======================+
| ORDER | Current | RFC 9073, Section 5.1 |
+-----------+---------+-----------------------+
| SCHEMA | Current | RFC 9073, Section 5.2 |
+-----------+---------+-----------------------+
| DERIVED | Current | RFC 9073, Section 5.3 |
+-----------+---------+-----------------------+
Table 2: Additions to the Parameters Registry
11.1.3. Components
This document defines the following iCalendar components that have been added to the "Components" registry defined in Section 8.3.1 of [RFC5545]:
+=============+=========+=======================+
| Component | Status | Reference |
+=============+=========+=======================+
| PARTICIPANT | Current | RFC 9073, Section 7.1 |
+-------------+---------+-----------------------+
| VLOCATION | Current | RFC 9073, Section 7.2 |
+-------------+---------+-----------------------+
| VRESOURCE | Current | RFC 9073, Section 7.3 |
+-------------+---------+-----------------------+
Table 3: Additions to the Components Registry
11.2. Participant Types and Resource Types Registries
This section defines new registration tables for PARTICIPANT-TYPE and RESOURCE-TYPE values. These tables are updated using the same approaches laid down in Section 8.2.1 of [RFC5545].
This document creates new IANA registries for participant and
resource types. IANA will maintain these registries and, following
the policies outlined in [RFC8126], new tokens are assigned after
Expert Review. The Expert Reviewer will generally consult the IETF
GEOPRIV Working Group mailing list or its designated successor.
Updates or deletions of tokens from the registration follow the same
procedures. The Expert Review should be guided by a few common-sense
considerations. For example, tokens should not be specific to a
country, region, organization, or company; they should be well
defined and widely recognized. The Expert's support of IANA will
include providing IANA with the new token(s) when the update is
provided only in the form of a schema and providing IANA with the new
schema element(s) when the update is provided only in the form of a
token. To ensure widespread usability across protocols, tokens MUST
follow the character set restrictions for XML Names
[W3C.REC-xml-20040204]. Each registration must include the name of
the token and a brief description similar to the ones offered herein
for the initial registrations contained this document.
11.2.1. Participant Types
+===================+=========+=======================+
| Participant Type | Status | Reference |
+===================+=========+=======================+
| ACTIVE | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.2 |
+-------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| INACTIVE | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.2 |
+-------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| SPONSOR | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.2 |
+-------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| CONTACT | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.2 |
+-------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| BOOKING-CONTACT | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.2 |
+-------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| EMERGENCY-CONTACT | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.2 |
+-------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| PUBLICITY-CONTACT | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.2 |
+-------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| PLANNER-CONTACT | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.2 |
+-------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| PERFORMER | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.2 |
+-------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| SPEAKER | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.2 |
+-------------------+---------+-----------------------+
Table 4: Initial Contents of the Participant Types
Registry
11.2.2. Resource Types
+=========================+=========+=======================+
| Resource Type | Status | Reference |
+=========================+=========+=======================+
| PROJECTOR | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.3 |
+-------------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| ROOM | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.3 |
+-------------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| REMOTE-CONFERENCE-AUDIO | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.3 |
+-------------------------+---------+-----------------------+
| REMOTE-CONFERENCE-VIDEO | Current | RFC 9073, Section 6.3 |
+-------------------------+---------+-----------------------+
Table 5: Initial Contents of the Resource Types Registry
12. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66,
RFC 3986, DOI 10.17487/RFC3986, January 2005,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3986>.
[RFC4589] Schulzrinne, H. and H. Tschofenig, "Location Types
Registry", RFC 4589, DOI 10.17487/RFC4589, July 2006,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4589>.
[RFC5234] Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5234, January 2008,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5234>.
[RFC5545] Desruisseaux, B., Ed., "Internet Calendaring and
Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar)",
RFC 5545, DOI 10.17487/RFC5545, September 2009,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5545>.
[RFC5546] Daboo, C., Ed., "iCalendar Transport-Independent
Interoperability Protocol (iTIP)", RFC 5546,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5546, December 2009,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5546>.
[RFC6350] Perreault, S., "vCard Format Specification", RFC 6350,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6350, August 2011,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6350>.
[RFC7986] Daboo, C., "New Properties for iCalendar", RFC 7986,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7986, October 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7986>.
[RFC8126] Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
[RFC8259] Bray, T., Ed., "The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data
Interchange Format", STD 90, RFC 8259,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8259, December 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8259>.
[W3C.REC-html51-20171003]
Faulkner, S., Ed., Eicholz, A., Ed., Leithead, T., Ed.,
and A. Danilo, Ed., "HTML 5.1 2nd Edition", World Wide Web
Consortium Recommendation REC-html51-20171003, October
2017, <https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/REC-html51-20171003>.
[W3C.REC-xml-20040204]
Sperberg-McQueen, M., Maler, E., Bray, T., Paoli, J., and
F. Yergeau, "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Third
Edition)", World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation REC-
xml-20040204, February 2004,
<https://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xml-20040204>.
[W3C.REC-xml-20081126]
Bray, T., Ed., Paoli, J., Ed., Sperberg-McQueen, M., Ed.,
Maler, E., Ed., and F. Yergeau, Ed., "Extensible Markup
Language (XML) 1.0 (Fifth Edition)", World Wide Web
Consortium Recommendation REC-xml-20081126, November 2008,
<https://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-xml-20081126>.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Chuck Norris of eventful.com for his work, which led to the development of this RFC.
The author would also like to thank the members of CalConnect: The Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium, the Event Publication technical committee, and the following individuals for contributing their ideas and support:
Cyrus Daboo, John Haug, Dan Mendell, Ken Murchison, and Scott Otis.
Author's Address
Michael Douglass Bedework 226 3rd Street Troy, NY 12180 United States of America
Email: mdouglass@bedework.com URI: http://bedework.com
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