Migrating to version 4

A guide to help developers port their code from libical v3.x to libical 4.0.

Conditional compilation

To continue supporting the 3.0 version you can use conditional compilation, like so:

#if ICAL_CHECK_VERSION(4,0,0)
<...new code for the libical 4.0 version ...>
#else
<...old code for the libical 3.0 version ...>
#endif

you can handle code that no longer exists in 4.0 with:

#if !ICAL_CHECK_VERSION(4,0,0)
<...old code for the libical 3.0 version ...>
#endif

C library

Modified functions

• icalrecurrencetype_from_string() was replaced by icalrecurrencetype_new_from_string(), which returns a struct icalrecurrencetype * rather than a struct icalrecurrencetype.
• The following functions now take arguments of type struct icalrecurrencetype * rather than struct icalrecurrencetype:
  • icalproperty_new_rrule()
  • icalproperty_get_rrule()
  • icalproperty_set_rrule()
  • icalproperty_vanew_rrule()
  • icalproperty_new_exrule()
  • icalproperty_set_exrule()
  • icalproperty_get_exrule()
  • icalproperty_vanew_exrule()
  • icalrecur_iterator_new()
  • icalvalue_new_recur()
  • icalvalue_set_recur()
  • icalvalue_get_recur()
• The following functions now return a value of type struct icalrecurrencetype * rather than struct icalrecurrencetype:
  • icalproperty_get_rrule()
  • icalproperty_get_exrule()
  • icalvalue_get_recur()

New functions

The following functions have been added:

• icalrecurrencetype_new()
• icalrecurrencetype_ref()
• icalrecurrencetype_unref()
• icalrecurrencetype_clone()
• icalrecurrencetype_encode_day()
• icalrecurrencetype_encode_month()
• icaltzutil_set_zone_directory()
• icalcomponent_clone()
• icalproperty_clone()
• icalparameter_clone()
• icalvalue_clone()
• icalcluster_clone()
• icalrecur_iterator_prev()
• icalrecur_resize_by()
• icalrecurrencetype_new()
• icalrecurrencetype_ref()
• icalrecurrencetype_unref()
• icalrecurrencetype_clone()
• icalrecurrencetype_from_string()
• icalcomponent_set_x_name()
• icalcomponent_get_x_name()
• icalcomponent_get_component_name()
• icalcomponent_get_component_name_r()
• ical_set_invalid_rrule_handling_setting()
• ical_get_invalid_rrule_handling_setting()
• icalparser_get_ctrl()
• icalparser_set_ctrl()

Removed functions

• icalrecurrencetype_clear() has been removed.
• These deprecated functions have been removed:
  • caldat()
  • juldat()
  • icalcomponent_new_clone()
  • icalparameter_new_clone()
  • icalproperty_new_clone()
  • icalvalue_new_clone()
  • icalcluster_new_clone()
• No longer publicly visible functions:
  • icaltzutil_fetch_timezone()
  • icalrecurrencetype_clear()

Removed data types

• These data structures have been removed (as they were never used):
  • struct icaltimezonetype
  • struct icaltimezonephase

Migrating from 3.0 to 4.0

bool return values

A number of function signatures have been changed to use 'bool' rather than 'int' types.

This is implemented using the C99 standards compliant <stdbool.h> header.

Clone functions

Replace all ical*_new_clone() function calls with ical*_clone() . ie, use icalcomponent_clone() rather then icalcomponent_new_clone().

icalrecurrencetype now passed by reference

The way struct icalrecurrencetype is passed between functions has been changed. While it was usually passed by value in 3.0, it is now passed by reference. A reference counting mechanism is applied that takes care of de-allocating an instance as soon as the reference counter goes to 0.

Code like this in libical 3.0:

struct icalrecurrencetype recur;
 
icalrecurrencetype_clear(&recur);
 
// Work with the object

changes to this in libical 4.0:

struct icalrecurrencetype *recur;
 
// allocate
recur = icalrecurrencetype_new();
if (recur) {
 
    // Work with the object
 
    // deallocate
    icalrecurrencetype_unref(recur);
} else {
    // out of memory error handling
}

icalgeotype now uses character strings rather than doubles

The members of struct icalgeotype for latitude ('lat) and longitude ('lon) have been changed to use ICAL_GEO_LEN long character strings rather than the double type.

This means that simple assignments in 3.0 must be replaced by string copies.

geo.lat = 0.0;
geo.lon = 10.0;

becomes

strncpy(geo.lat, "0.0", ICAL_GEO_LEN-1);
strncpy(geo.lon, "10.0", ICAL_GEO_LEN-1);

and

double lat = geo.lat;
double lon = geo.lon;

becomes

double lat, lon;
sscanf(geo.lat, "%lf", &lat);
sscanf(geo.lon, "%lf", &lon);

Working with icalvalue and icalproperty

Code like this in libical 3.0:

icalvalue *recur_value = ...;
struct icalrecurrencetype recur = icalvalue_get_recur(recur_value);
 
// Work with the object

changes to this in libical 4.0:

icalvalue *recur_value = ...;
struct icalrecurrencetype *recur = icalvalue_get_recur(recur_value);
 
// Work with the object
// No need to unref

C++ library

Modified methods

• The following methods now take arguments of type struct icalrecurrencetype * rather than const struct icalrecurrencetype &:
  • ICalValue.set_recur()
  • ICalProperty.set_exrule()
  • ICalProperty.set_rrule()
• The following methods now returns a value of type struct icalrecurrencetype * rather than struct icalrecurrencetype:
  • ICalValue.get_recur()
  • ICalProperty.get_exrule()
  • ICalProperty.get_rrule()

icalrecurrencetype.by_xxx static arrays replaced by dynamically allocated ones

I.e. memory short by_hour[ICAL_BY_DAY_SIZE] etc. are replaced by

typedef struct
{
  short *data;
  short size;
} icalrecurrence_by_data;
 
struct icalrecurrencetype {
  ...
  icalrecurrence_by_data by[ICAL_BY_NUM_PARTS];
}

Memory is allocated in the required size using the new icalrecur_resize_by() function. It is automatically freed together with the containing icalrecurrencetype. As the size of the array is stored explicitly, no termination of the array with special value ICAL_RECURRENCE_ARRAY_MAX is required anymore. The array is iterated by comparing the iterator to the size member value.

Migrating icalrecurrencetype.by_xxx static arrays usage from 3.0 to 4.0

Code like this in libical 3.0:

icalrecurrencetype recur;
...
recur.by_hour[0] = 12;
recur.by_hour[1] = ICAL_RECURRENCE_ARRAY_MAX;

changes to something like this in libical 4.0:

icalrecurrencetype *recur;
...
if (!icalrecur_resize_by(&recur->by[ICAL_BY_HOUR], 1)) {
  // allocation failed
  // error handling
} else {
  recur.by[ICAL_BY_HOUR].data[0] = 12;
}

GLib/Python bindings - changed ICalGLib.Recurrence.*_by_* methods

i_cal_recurrence_*_by_xxx* methods have been replaced by more generic versions that take the 'by' type (day, month, ...) as a parameter.

Migrating ICalGLib.Recurrence.*_by_* methods from 3.0 to 4.0

Code like this in libical 3.0:

recurrence.set_by_second(0,
recurrence.get_by_second(0) + 1)

changes to something like this in libical 4.0:

recurrence.set_by(ICalGLib.RecurrenceByRule.BY_SECOND, 0,
recurrence.get_by(ICalGLib.RecurrenceByRule.BY_SECOND, 0) + 1)