[SyncEvolution] Google Contacts vCard Incompatibility (cardDAV)

[Patrick Ohly]

On Mon, 2014-02-17 at 15:51 +0005, Sunny Sigara wrote:

> I was trying to sync evolution contacts with Google using
> syncevolution on saucy.

It's unrelated to your problem, I'm just curious: did you use GNOME
Online Accounts or did you compile from source for Ubuntu Online
Accounts?

> 1) First I created a single contact (i.e. Tony Stark) in evolution.
> Now when I try to sync it syncs but not all the vcard fields. 
> For example, it completely ignores instant messaging fields.

With "it" you mean the Google web interface, right? Instant messaging
fields do get synchronized to the server and come back, but the server
probably doesn't understand the properties used by Evolution (X-AIM,
etc.) and SyncEvolution does not yet translate between Evolution and
Google.

My summary of the current status from the initial release still applies
because I haven't had the time to improve the data mapping:

        Support for Google CardDAV is new. Like Evolution, SyncEvolution does
        not yet support some of the advanced features of the server, in
        particular custom labels for phone numbers, emails and
        addresses. Likewise, some client properties are not supported by the
        server: CALURI, CATEGORIES, FBURL, GEO and ROLE are not supported. Of
        ORG, only the first two components are supported.  Currently,
        properties not supported by one side get lost in a full roundtrip
        sync.

Although not mentioned, instant messaging fields fall into the same
problem space.

> 2) If I add a msn address in google-contacts & then run the sync, it
> creates a duplicate in evolution/eds. 

The duplication shouldn't happen. I'll test that tomorrow, and/or you
can send me the syncevolution-log.html files (sync config and target
config) from such a sync. Best run the sync with loglevel=4.

> And even the duplicate doesn't have msn instant-messaging address. 

That's expected - SyncEvolution parses the vCard and only stores known
elements locally.

> 4) If I change anything on "Bruce Banner" locally, log says changes
> added but doesn't appear in Google(?).

Again, logs with loglevel 4 would be more useful than the sync ouput in
the shell window.

> While I don't expect to sync evolution related vcard properties (like
> X-Evolution-Callback, X-Evolution-Radio), It should able to 
> sync normal vcard extensions.

Yes, that's the goal. It's not there yet, unfortunately. I decided to
release SyncEvolution 1.4 anyway, because a limited sync may still be
better than none for some users.


-- 
Best Regards, Patrick Ohly

The content of this message is my personal opinion only and although
I am an employee of Intel, the statements I make here in no way
represent Intel's position on the issue, nor am I authorized to speak
on behalf of Intel on this matter.