Oracle Calendar: Working Offline, Text Searching, and Multiple Users

[Nov 23, 2009 14:09] Web access to Microsoft Live@edu accounts now works.

As of January 15, 2008, Oracle Calendar (also known as CorporateTime) will no longer be the centralized calendar solution at UVa. Microsoft Exchange is replacing it. More information about UVa's move from Oracle Calendar to Microsoft Exchange.

Working Offline

Oracle Calendar provides you with the option to work offline, if you do not have a regular connection to a network or modem. You may work offline as often as you like; however, you must be online to setup your account to work offline. When you first install and run Oracle Calendar, you will be prompted to create local storage of your offline files.

Special Online/Offline Issues:

  1. If you change from one time zone to another and then switch to the off-line mode, your online and offline time zones will not be synchronized.
  2. If you make modifications to your agenda Options while you are online, the Display Hours and Start Week Options will not be saved when you go offline.
  3. If a user logs out while working offline, and a second user logs in, decides to work offline and selects Cancel in the Different Local Storage dialog box, Oracle Calendar will close.
Workaround: Do not click Cancel in the Different Local Storage dialog box, but select a location for your Offline Agenda instead.

Set Offline Options:

While online, you should configure your offline Options before choosing to work offline for the first time.

  1. Go to Tools > Options and expand the Offline options category.
    Offline Options
  2. Highlight the Download sub-menu on the left and use this option to choose the date range of agenda items to download and whether or not to be prompted before downloading your agenda for off-line use.
  3. By default, only your own agenda is downloaded, but you may choose to download the agendas of others from the People/Resources sub-menu. Keep in mind that the more agendas you download, the larger your off-line storage will be.
  4. The Groups sub-menu allows you to choose whether or not to include group lists to be downloaded with your agenda. This option does not download agendas, but rather the lists of groups you manage.
  5. Lastly, the Reconciliation sub-menu allows you to choose how you would like your Agenda to reconcile conflicting Entries. You can also ensure that your on-line and off-line Agendas are identical by selecting Update off-line Agenda after upload option.

To Work Offline:

Important: If this is the first time you have worked offline on your computer, you will first need to download your agenda to local files. How this process occurs is determined by the Options you set for Downloading files in the Set Offline Options steps above, with options to: Automatically download, Prompt before download, or Do not download.

By default, the Download option is set to Do not download. Choosing File > Download Local Files will download your agenda to your local offline location, if downloading does not otherwise initially occur when choosing to Work Offline. You must be Working Online in order to download your agenda files. Downloading to local files may take a few minutes.

  1. Click on the File menu and select Work Offline.
  2. When working offline you will not have access to everyone else’s agendas, but you can make as many changes as you would like to your own agenda.
  3. When you are ready to go back online, select Work Online from the File menu. Any changes you made will be automatically updated.
    Note: make sure you are connected to the Internet before selecting Work Online

Text Searching

You can search Agendas for a string of words or attendees within a date range you specify. The Search Agenda feature is under the Tools menu.

To perform an agenda search, you will be asked to specify your search parameters in the Search dialog box.

Search Agenda View

Search Criteria Tab

  • If you are searching for a string of words, as in a meeting title, enter them in the Search for field. If you are searching for attendees, leave this field blank.
  • In the Add Attendees to search for edit box, type in the attendee's name, or click the magnifying glass icon to search the directory. If you wish to add one or more users from a group, click the Group icon.
  • The results of your search will contain the Entries to which any of the attendees listed in the Search Attendees list edit box are invited.
  • Modify the period you want to search by typing in the date, clicking the arrows to the right of the date box to scroll the date up or down or by clicking the calendar.

Search Options Tab

  • Select the types of entries and the fields you want to search.

Search Data Source

  • This section displays the name of the person whose agenda will be searched.
  • To select a name for the Agenda of edit box, type the name directly into the box or click the magnifying glass icon to find the person or resource you are looking for.
  • When you have entered all of the necessary options, click Search.
  • View an entry by highlighting it and clicking the Show button or double-clicking it. View the next and previous set of results for the search by using the back and forward arrow buttons, if they are enabled.

If you are not able to see all of the relevant results for your search request:

Each request will be interrupted when any of the server-side limits are reached. If the server finds more than the maximum number of entries that it allows, it will display as many of them as possible in the Search Results list box, and the Forward Arrow Button will be enabled to allow you to view further results.

Multiple Users

When a second user attempts to log on to Oracle Calendar on a Windows machine, a dialog box is displayed prompting the user to select another location for his/her offline agenda. The original user's offline files are stored in C:\Windows\. The four files are Xtmlocal.dat, Xtmlocal.ndx, Xtmparam, and Xtmzone.

The second user, as well as subsequent users, can create a folder for their files in C:\Windows\. All users will need to remember the path to their offline files. The original user can maintain his/her files in C:\Windows\ or create a folder for them.

If you are logging on to Oracle Calendar following another user, you will be prompted to create or identify your location for offline files. If only one person uses Oracle Calendar on a machine, there are no prompts for a storage location. The files will always be rewritten to C:\\Windows.

Macintosh users will find the four offline files, Oracle Calendar Data, Oracle Calendar Time Zones, Oracle Calendar Index, and Oracle Calendar Params, in the Oracle Calendar folder on their hard drive. Additional users will be prompted to make folders for their files in the Oracle Calendar folder.

© 2009 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia.

The information contained on the University of Virginia’s Department of Information Technology and Communication (ITC) website is provided as a public service with the understanding that ITC makes no representations or warranties, either expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, reliability or suitability of the information, including warrantees of title, non-infringement of copyright or patent rights of others. These pages are expected to represent the University of Virginia community and the State of Virginia in a professional manner in accordance with the University of Virginia’s Computing Policies.