Change batch of recurring all-day events reminder times? - Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General

Hi folks,
I've spent the last 8 hours organising all of my contacts getting their email addresses, phone numbers and birthdays all up-to-date on my Google Apps 'Contacts', and synced via Exchange to my mobile. Lovely jubbly. However, their birthdays never got transferred into my phone's calendar (which kind of defeated the point of me adding them all to the contacts!). So I downloaded and ran 'B2C' (Birthday to Calendar) which worked beautifully.
Only there's one issue - the reminder time that's been set for all of these recurring all-day events is 2 hours, which would mean that I'd only be reminded about each persons' birthday at 10pm the night before (which, to be honest, isn't ideal when a card and present are in order!).
So I was wondering if there was any way of changing the reminder time of each and every recurring all-day event in my calendar (since the birthdays are the only recurring all-day events I have in there) to 3.5 days instead of 2 hours? Can I run a batch script or something to do the job?
Trying to avoid having to use Outlook if I can, since I'm on a Mac and it'll be a pain in the arse trying to get all of that set up and working properly on my VM.
Cheers!

Related

Contacts and Birthdays

Hello all,
It seems that TD2 does not insert birthdays from contacts in the agenda. The solutions would be that you manually add them to the agenda (of course not a real option) or sync contacts with Outlook, which will put them into agenda as well. I personally would prefer not to use Outlook for my contacts.
Is there a fix that birthdays are automatically put in agenda as well?
Thanks!
Am I really the only one who is waiting for an answer?
The TD2 does not, as you say, add birthdays into the Calendar, but Outlook does, and these birthday calendar entries then get synchronized back to the TD2.
The only way I can see a "fix" coming is by programming an app for the TD2 which scans contacts and inserts the birthdays into the calendar, checking of course that they're not already there - I guess this would need to be run manually every time you add a new birthday into a contact, or at least periodically (maybe it could run in background once per day), but as far as I know no such app exists yet.
To my mind, synching with Outlook is the best way, because not only does it solve the problem very well, it also means you have a backup of all your contacts and calendar entries. To me it's a no-brainer.
I've just had a quick check on my calendar and all my contacts birthdays are in there. Even anniversarys are showing
Graffen said:
I've just had a quick check on my calendar and all my contacts birthdays are in there. Even anniversarys are showing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep - you synch with Outlook, correct?
I am syncing with outlook, I have been for some devices now. So the birthday reminders are showing up as allday appointments in my calendar. The reminder time for all those birthdays is 2 days in advance, the calendar shows all that correctly. However, I never get one of those reminders!! All other appointment reminders work fine and so do the task reminders, so there's nothing wrong with my notification queue. But the birtday reminders aren't popping up. On my old cruise I got a reminder two days in advance AND on the birthday itself. Now I get none of them.
What's causing this? Can anyone confirm that you have or don't have birthday reminders? I'd appreciate any reactions.
I've found this information in the blackstone forum. I can see that D2 is adding "calendar.exe /allday" notifications to the queue too. I guess memmaid, which I'm using, deletes those notifications.
It was indeed Memmaid that caused the problem, deleting the /allday notifications. I e-mailed their support, hoping they'll fix it. In the mean time, I excluded all notification queue maintenance from the cleaning schedule and recreated the notifications for all my birthdays via ActiveSync.
Gsfg46 said:
Hello all,
It seems that TD2 does not insert birthdays from contacts in the agenda. The solutions would be that you manually add them to the agenda (of course not a real option) or sync contacts with Outlook, which will put them into agenda as well. I personally would prefer not to use Outlook for my contacts.
Is there a fix that birthdays are automatically put in agenda as well?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm really annoyed with this problem too. The bigger problem is I'm using an Apple macbook to sync, so using Outlook is out of the question. Looks like I'll have to add all the reminder myself
Having a look around the forum, there appears not to be a quick and easy solution to this.
It's not ideal to have birthdays in your contacts and then separately add them in your calendar as appointments (like others, I think it defeats the objective).
There is a software, not yet tried it: http://www.xoddy.com/products/
but it says its only for WM5, not sure if WM6 will support.
Looking forward to an answer or someone to develop a simple software that will resolve the issue - apologises I don't have the knowledge to do this.
Tidaku said:
I'm really annoyed with this problem too. The bigger problem is I'm using an Apple macbook to sync, so using Outlook is out of the question. Looks like I'll have to add all the reminder myself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's one of the penalties of not using a single-vendor solution. If you used Microsoft Outlook with your Microsoft WM phone, you'd be fine. Using an Apple computer with a Microsoft phone OS, you're bound to hit some snags.
I'm sure it's the same for people using iPhones with Windows PCs. Manufacturers tend to make their own products work better together than they do with the competition's products, which makes sense!
Tidaku said:
I'm really annoyed with this problem too. The bigger problem is I'm using an Apple macbook to sync, so using Outlook is out of the question. Looks like I'll have to add all the reminder myself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use syncmate to sync ical and address book, within ical prefs, you can show birthdays, these will then sync onto phone
I used to sync with outlook, but it had a habit of changing appointment/birthday dates, usually makes them a day earlier, but only for some, have had no probs with syncmate
Hi
I'm working on a program which will provide various notification related functions not normally included on Windows Mobile.
1) Will add contact's birthdays and anniversaries into the calendar.
2) Will give audible alerts at regular intervals like most mobile phones for text messages/missed calls/emails to get your attention.
3) Option to silence the alerts during the night at a schedule you can select, plus also turn the phone off over night and turn on the next day, good for battery life.
I'll post when it is finished.
Regards
Phil
sounds great!!!
sounds great ... Have you just begun or are you about to finish?
Hi
It is almost finished, I'm just testing it at the moment. It's based an application I did for the Kaiser.
Regards
Phil
Sounds good PhilipL!
I already programmed a solution for this, which will add all birthday reminders to your calendar (without the need for outlook) but it's in german. I'll translate and upload it shortly.
Here it is BirthdaysToCalendar, derived from a sample application included in MS Visual Studio 2008. It will add all or selected birthdays to your calendar.
The program offers a few choices, either add all birthdays to the calendar in one go or let it ask in single steps for each contact's birthday to be added or not. Set the reminder time (time you will be informed prior to the birthday) in minutes. 1 day would be 1440min. , 2 days 2880 min. and so forth. On top you can have the birth year added to the subject, so you will know how old they'll be.
No duplicates will be generated if the program is run again. However, if you have a birthday alert set up manually yourself, but they are not in the the same form (John Doe's Birthday or Birthday John Doe) they will be duplicated.
Get it here:
http://mytd2.blogspot.com/2009/08/birthdaystocalendar-in-english.html
.
.
is this PhilipL's app?
georgeono said:
is this PhilipL's app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, this is my app -

Calendar + Changing Times

Anybody got a solution to fixing the MS Calendar?
When i make appointments, lets say i sync'd the appointments to GMT+9, then next week i go to GMT+10, all my appointments are shifted 1hr forward.
Any fixes that will prevent that from happening? i just want to schedule my appointment Via 1 timeline regardless of timezone.

[Q] Any good calendar apps for repeat appointments?

I'm using Android WITHOUT a data plan on my Verizon xv6900 smartphone. The one annoying problem I have is the lack of a good calendar function. Since I'm not using data, I can't sync with Google calendar etc.
I have tried probably 15-20 different calendar apps and they all have one annoying trait in common: I can't schedule repeat appointments on the days of the week, ex. on every 2nd Tuesday. Almost all allow you to repeat appointments on the numerical day (ex. the 8th of every month), but not on the day of the week.
Does anyone know of a good calendar app that can schedule repeat appointments on the day of the week, not on the number?

HD2 and Birthdays -- a desaster!?

First off:
I own an HD2 with original HTC StockROM 3,14.
additionally I have installe Manila Birthday.
The device is synced with 2 PCs.
1) the birthdays from the (Outlook-)contacts are transferred automatically to the calender as "complete day" appointments.
2) with Manila Birthday you can also transfer the birthdays into the calender
Problem:
At first I have removed all of the original entries from the calender (see #1)Then I got all birthdays transferred by Manila Birthday.
But, whatever I do -- after a few sync cycles the originial entries reappear. This means I have now 2 entries for each birthday in the calender.
=> it's a nuisance, but not critical.
The difficulties start on travels. I am regularly on business trips to UK (1 h time shift). Now all the 1 day Birthday entries become 2 day events. (grrrr...).
When I return from the travel, this does not swith back (still two day events) (grrr no. 2.) But really irritating is, that also the data in the contact become manipulated. Meaning: all birthdays are either a day earlier or later. But NEVER correct. If you call then the jubilee - well you are always on the wrong day (and you look really stupid...).
Question:
1) is it possible (with ManilaBirthday or the HTC calender or the contacts) to set it up in that way, that the original entries to the calender are no longer made?
2) How can I manage that the Birthdays in the contacts are not manipulated during travels?
3) since I didn't find anything about this points... am I really the only one who experienced this problem????
Hugo the JungleDyret
I've noticed this as well. I'm using EnergyROM and everytime I update and then sync with outlook, I get 2 entries for each birthday. If I don't delete them from outlook before a new sync, they can start to build up. No idea how to stop this though apart from only sync either your contacts or calendar.
known issue with outlook happens on other platforms as well
I've got another situation, but it adds up to the same problem.
1. Original registration of birthdays is done in Outlook.
2. Synced in WinMo using activesync.
3. Synced WinMo with g-mail account.
4. Booted into Android, synced agenda and contacts with g-mail.
5. Changed Android build and synced that with g-mail.
By now every birthday is shown twice, some are quadrupled.
Don't really know how to solve this.

Syncing problems and appointment deletion

Hi,
I have a problem with syncing and I've put the background to the problem as well as my main question. If you think you can help, go straight to "QUESTION". Thanks.
BACKGROUND
Okay, since the 12th of December I've not been able to directly sync my phone's contacts and appointments (using my phone's wi-fi connection) with my Microsoft Account at Windows Live / Outlook.com. I thought it had something to do with the end of the World, but it turns out it doesn't. E-mail and tasks sync just fine and using the connection steps here, I have a good connection to the Windows Live ("m.hotmail.com") server. My phone is currently running the latest EDGE swift ROM, so Windows Mobile 6.5.
After a little digging and process of elimination (of the ActiveSync errors), it seems most (but not all) of my contacts and appointments (on my phone) are out of sync. Waaaaay way out of sync. I'm talking hours, some of them even days. Hence Live/Outlook.com refusing to sync some of these items. My problem is mainly related to the appointments stored in my phone and those in my Windows Live Calendar.
I've been travelling around the World for some time and I think due to the constant PIM backups, restores and syncs between my phone and Live during differing time zones to that of when the original data (appointments in particular) was created, the phone has juggled these things around so much that they have strayed from their original timestamps. For example, I run an amazing app on my phone called PhoneLog which records SMS messages and phone calls into appointments and puts them in the calendar, timestamping the call and it's duration. Comparing between my phone and Live, one log says a call was made at 12:12 but the appointment in my phone is at 17:12 and the one on Live is at 11:12.
QUESTION
My Microsoft Account has most of my original appointments, as I said, up until the 12th of December. Then because of the failure to sync, no more entries have been recorded online. However, I have them in my phone up until the current date.
What I want to do is delete all my previous calendar appointments in my phone before the 12th so that the problematic items no longer cause a sync failure, allowing me to sync up the new entries I've created since that date.
The trick is, how to do this without deleting in the process, all the new appointments?
I cannot delete all these entries manually one after another from the phone. There are thousands and it would just simply take too long.
Any help on how to bulk delete selective appointments would be greatly appreciated.

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