iCalendar

iCalendar is a file format that is used to show events in a calendar. A limited version of the Open Meal data can be published in iCalendar format according to the following specification. It makes the meal information usable in a large number of applications, like Microsoft Outlook, Apple Calendar and Google Calendar.

Implementation of the iCalendar feature is optional but strongly recommended for data providers. If the iCalendar feature is implemented, the URL to the iCalendar should be made availale via the distributor.

Calendars

Each iCalendar file will be formated according to RFC 5545 and RFC 5546.

Property	Description	Value
VERSION	The version of iCalender that is used. This should be the first property of the Calendar.	2.0
PRODID	A unique identifier for the product that is creating the iCalendar file. It is the responsibility of the publisher of the file to create a global unique identifier. For more information read §3.7.3 in RFC 5545.	Example: -//ABC Corporation//NONSGML My Product//EN
CALSCALE	What type of calendar that is used	GREGORIAN
METHOD		PUBLISHED
X-WR-CALNAME	The name of the calendar, it is recommended that it contains information about the type of meal as well as the name of the distributor	Example: Lunch at the South School
X-WR-TIMEZONE	The timezone of the calendar	Example: Europe/Stockholm
X-WR-CALDESC	A description of the calendar	Example: Lunch menu at the South School in Leeds

Meal

The meal of a day is described a VEVENT object with the following properties:

Property	Description	Value
DTSTART	The date the meal is served. In the format YYYYMMDD. Note that the time for the meal is not specified.	Example: 20150501
DTEND	The date the meal is served. In the format YYYYMMDD. Note that the time for the meal is not specified.	Example: 20150501
DTSTAMP	Date and time when this VEVENT object was created. In the format YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS. Note that it is not allowed to use UTC offset when the time is specified.	Example: 20140618T110000
UID	A global unique identifier for this event. For more information on how to create this value read §3.8.4.7 in RFC 5545.	Example: 19960401T080045Z-4000F192713-0052@example.com
CREATED	Date and time when this VEVENT object was created. In the format YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS. Note that it is not allowed to use UTC offset when the time is specified.	Example: 20140618T110000
SUMMARY	A short description of the courses served in the meal. Should only contain the one or two courses with the lowest order in order to keep the text as short as possible. A course should be described with the text in the courses description property with one course per line. Each line should be ended with "\n". For more information about the property of a Course see the List Meals method	Example: Wokkyckling med pasta, grönsaker och tomatsalsa\nKöttbullar och spagetti
DESCRIPTION	A longer description of the meal, with all courses. One course description per line, each line should be ended with "\n"	Example: Wokkyckling med pasta, grönsaker och tomatsalsa\nKöttbullar och spagetti\nGrönsakssoppa
LOCATION	The name of the location the meal will be served	Example: Katedralskolan, Linköping
LAST-MODIFIED	Date and time when this event object was last updated. In the format YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS.Note that it is not allowed to use UTC offset when the time is specified.	Example: 20140618T110000
SEQUENCE	The version number of this event object, starting at 0. If an event is updated the value of this property needs to be incremented.	Example: 0
TRANSP	Specifies if the calendar event affects users accessibility for other events.	TRANSPARENT

For all text properties (Summary, Description, Location etc) special characters like commas, quotation marks, colons have to be escaped according to §4.3.11 in RFC 2455. For example this means that commas should be written "\," and backslashes "\".

Example

    BEGIN:VCALENDAR
    PRODID:-//ABC Corporation//NONSGML My Product//EN
    VERSION:2.0
    CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
    METHOD:PUBLISH
    X-WR-CALNAME:Lunch: Katedralskolan, Linköping
    X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/Stockholm
    X-WR-CALDESC:Lunchmeny från Katedralskolan i Linköping.
    BEGIN:VEVENT
    DTSTART:20140701
    DTEND:20140701
    DTSTAMP:20140618T110000
    UID:19960401T080045Z-4000F192713-0052@example.com
    CREATED:20140618T110000
    SUMMARY:Wokkyckling med pasta, grönsaker och tomatsalsa\nKöttbullar och spagetti
    DESCRIPTION:Wokkyckling med pasta, grönsaker och tomatsalsa\nKöttbullar och     spagetti\nGrönsakssoppa
    LOCATION:Storskolan, Örebro
    LAST-MODIFIED:20140618T110000
    SEQUENCE:0
    TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
    END:VEVENT
    END:VCALENDAR

This is an example of an iCalendar feed available for subscription for the school ”Engelbrektsskolan” in Örebro, Sweden. The page is in swedish but the subscription link is called ”Kalender” and is located at the bottom of the page. Copy the link for use in your calendar software or just click it, most devices will ask you if you want to subscribe. This is what it can look like: