Subject: [VCARDDAV] General DATE property

From: Renato Iannella <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:51:17 +1000

Following up on the idea for a general typed Date property [1], I  
think this is a good move.
It would make the BDAY, DDAY, ANNIVERSARY properties more flexible and  
allow extensibility.

==============
7.2.x DATE
  Purpose:  To specify the dates of events related to the object the  
vCard represents.
  Value type:  The default is a single date value.  It can also be  
reset to a single
               date-time or text value

  Cardinality:  (0,n)

  Special notes:  The property can include the parameter "TYPE" to  
specify the specific
   significance of the event  The TYPE parameter values can include:  
"bday" to indicate
   the birthday, "dday" to indicate the date of death, "anniversary"  
to indicate the wedding
   anniversary (or equivalent).
   The default type is "????". These type parameter values can be  
specified as a parameter
   list (i.e., "TYPE=bday;TYPE=anniversay") or as a value list (i.e.,  
"TYPE= bday,anniversay").
   The default can be overridden to another set of values by  
specifying one or more alternate
   values.

ABNF:
   param = "VALUE=" ("date" / "date-time" / "text") / type-param / any- 
param
   value = date / date-time / text
   type-value-date = "bday" / "dday" / "anniversary" / iana-token / x- 
name

  Example:
    DATE;TYPE=bday:19960415
    DATE;TYPE=x-baptism;VALUE=text:Circa 1970
==============

(The above is an attempt at the replacement text....so needs some  
work....!)

Cheers...  Renato Iannella
NICTA

[1] http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/vcarddav/current/msg01014.html

---

From: Simon Perreault <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:58:41 -0400

Renato Iannella wrote, on 2009-06-28 23:51:
> Following up on the idea for a general typed Date property [1], I think
> this is a good move.

I violently object to this proposal.

If we were to take it to its logical conclusion, we'd have exactly one property
per vCard value type. (TEXT, URI, DATE, TIME, DATE-TIME, TIMESTAMP, BOOLEAN,
INTEGER, FLOAT, BINARY, UTC-OFFSET, LANGUAGE-TAG)

We would then need a parameter to tell us what real property this is, e.g.

DATE;property=BDAY:...
UTC-OFFSET;property=TZ:...

(The "property" parameter above is a simple renaming of the "type" parameter in
the original proposal.)

This is adding another layer of indirection for no good reason.

If you really want to be explicit with the value type, just reverse the value
and the property and you will end up with what we already have:

BDAY;value=date:...
TZ;value=utc-offset:...

Unless a specific problem that this proposal is attempting to fix is brought up,
this will not be considered for inclusion in the draft.

Simon
-- 
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---

From: Renato Iannella <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:16:59 +1000

> this will not be considered for inclusion in the draft.

As I indicated in my message, it was to be "more flexible and allow  
extensibility."

For example, Apple's Address Book supports:
  - Birthday
  - Anniversary
  - (any) Date with Custom tags

See attached screen image

---

From: Simon Perreault <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:16:24 -0400

> As I indicated in my message, it was to be "more flexible and allow

I don't see how it affords more flexibility and extensibility.

> For example, Apple's Address Book supports:

BDAY:...

>   - Anniversary

To be added per earlier thread:

ANNIVERSARY:...

>   - (any) Date with Custom tags

X-CUSTOM:...

Simon
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