CalDAV: An In-Depth Overview

CalDAV

TheCalendaring Extensions of WebDAV is an extension or protocol which allows a client to obtain all schedule type information from a remote server. It uses Apple’s iCalender (Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification) format for data scheduling. It is a standard communication protocol that used HTTP protocol for data manipulation.

How it works

CalDAV is generally designed for implementation in any groupware. Be it any client or server with the requirement to access and maintain a collection of events. The architecture of this protocol organizes the various data i.e. events, notes, tasks into various directories.  .This is where multiple resources exist which can be modified by one or more users. This is done by using standard HTTP or DAV protocol. Which helps to make changes, manipulate existing data and provide locking if necessary.

Here is a quick rundown on how to sync your CalDAV to the cloud

  1. First of all, you will need to have CalDAV  Account with your added domains.
  2. Then depending on your OS which may be either of iOS or Android, you will need to go to settings and then select Accounts in the Mail, Contact, Calendar.
  3. Then select ADD ACCOUNT and click on Other.
  4. In iOS, you may need to click on the Calendars menu whereas  Android users can easily select the CalDav Sync Adapter.
  5. Then enter the Domain URL with all your administrative details.
  6. And then tap Sign in.

Here is a simple descriptive table  of all the CalDAV settings :

Setting Names Description of all Setting Names
Display Name  The account name is being displayed on the device.
Host Name  This is the web server address of the hosting account.
Host Port number This here is the port number that connects to the host server.
Principal URL  The base URL for a user’s calendar. The user is required to provide a password for auto-synchronization.
Username The user’s login name.
 Password The user’s password.
Use SSL to Communicate  The SSL  which is used to communicate with the calendar protocol’s servers.

Horde, specifically the Kronolith and Nag modules for calendaring and tasks management, support CalDAV in two ways: it can be used as a server for external calendar clients, providing a central cloud storage for multiple devices of the users. And it can use an external server as a calendar client on its own, to display this server’s events inside Horde.

–John Schneider, WikiHorde

So How it is Related to WebDAV

It is basically a calendar extension to WebDAV. It helps to share calendar information on the WebDAV server. Users can easily choose the calendar info that they want to share from the drop-down menu. So, in short, you can say that the calendar is a WebDAV collection.

This calendar extension is one of the many features of the WebDAV protocol. To learn more about such features you can simply jump into WebDAV.io and learn all the necessary features and functions of WebDAV.

 

References
  • https://wiki.horde.org/CalDAV
  • https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30048720/whats-the-difference-between-webcal-and-webdav-caldav
  • https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CalDAV


 


 


 


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