Outlook 2003 can't open Oracle Corporate Time iCal attachments with multiple occurrences

  • Thread starter Thread starter Research Services
  • Start date Start date
R

Research Services

Outlook 2003 can't open Oracle Corporate Time iCal attachments with multiple
occurrences

(reposting this message here since we've seen some discussion about other
iCal problems and Outlook)


We are having a consistent problem receiving a specific type of email
message attachment from Oracle Corporate Time calendar (Oracle Calendar
Server 5.4 on Solaris 8 / Oracle Calendar Client for Windows 9.0.4). The
message has an iCal meeting request file (.ics) attachment which contains
multiple occurrences. These are received by Exchange 2000 Post-SP3 (Windows
2000 SP4) and using Outlook 2003 in MAPI Cached Mode (Windows XP SP1). The
Outlook client stops synchronizing the Inbox (however all other folders
synchronize successfully) when it gets to this particular message on the
server. The sync error is:

10:16:52 Synchronizer Version 11.0.5604
10:16:52 Synchronizing Mailbox 'Peterson,Jon'
10:16:52 Synchronizing Hierarchy
10:16:52 Synchronizing server changes in folder 'Inbox'
10:16:52 Downloading from server 'LOVELAND'
10:16:52 Error synchronizing folder
10:16:52 [8000FFFF-3EE-8000FFFF-560]
10:16:52 Unknown Error.
10:16:52 Microsoft Exchange Server Information Store
10:16:52 For more information on this failure, click the URL below:
10:16:52
http://www.microsoft.com/support/prodredirect/outlook2000_us.asp?err=8000ffff-3ee-8000ffff-560
10:16:52 Done
10:16:52 Microsoft Exchange offline address book
10:16:52 Download successful

Recreating the synchronization (.ost) file doesn't fix the problem,
recreating the Outlook profile doesn't help, and Detect and Repair on
Outlook and Office doesn't help either.

Right-Clicking on the Inbox, Selecting Properties and looking at the
Synchronization Tab shows that the Server Folder contains more items than
the Offline Folder. Outlook 2003 MAPI Cached Mode can never receive the
message since it causes a synchronization error. All messages received on
the server after the "bad" message are unable to be synchronized, so in
effect users stop receiving all new email messages. There is no message
filtering configured and no restrictions on attachments or file sizes for
synchronization.

Here are the headers from a "bad" message, once again they originate from
Oracle Corporate Time calendar and have an attached iCal meeting request
file (.ics) that contains multiple occurrences. Messages with iCal
attachments with a single meeting in them are readable and work properly in
Outlook as are all vCal attachments (single or reoccurring meetings).

Received: from lamar.colostate.edu ([129.82.103.75]) by
loveland.Research.ColoState.EDU with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6713);
Fri, 19 Dec 2003 09:50:22 -0700
Received: from bond.colostate.edu (bond.colostate.edu [129.82.103.7])
by lamar.colostate.edu (AIX5.1/8.11.6p2/8.11.0) with ESMTP id hBJGoMn14312;
Fri, 19 Dec 2003 09:50:22 -0700
Received: (from unison@localhost)
by bond.colostate.edu (8.11.6+Sun/8.11.6) id hBJGoL624572;
Fri, 19 Dec 2003 09:50:22 -0700 (MST)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 09:50:21 -0700
Reply-To: <[email protected]>
From: <[email protected]>
X-Oracle-Calendar: 1
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?B?VGVzdEpSVg==?=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="--Boundaryyy-908723--651209-MIME##00-CST--"
Return-Path: (e-mail address removed)
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 19 Dec 2003 16:50:22.0342 (UTC)
FILETIME=[314E8A60:01C3C650]

This message contains MIME formatting.
Your mail client does not support it.

----Boundaryyy-908723--651209-MIME##00-CST--
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

VGhlIGZvbGxvd2luZyBtZWV0aW5nIGhhcyBiZWVuIGFkZGVkIHRvIHlvdXIgQWdlbmRhLg0KDQpQ
cm9wb3NlZCBieTogSm9lIFZvbGVza3kNCkFjY2VzcyBsZXZlbDogTm9ybWFsDQpJbXBvcnRhbmNl
IGxldmVsOiBOb3JtYWwNCg0KVGhlIGZvbGxvd2luZyBpbnN0YW5jZXMgaGF2ZSBiZWVuIGFkZGVk
Og0KDQpUaXRsZTogVGVzdEpSVg0KTW9uZGF5LCBEZWNlbWJlciAyMiwgMjAwMw0KVGltZTogNTow
MCBwbSB0byA1OjMwIHBtIChNU1Q3TURUKQ0KDQpUaXRsZTogVGVzdEpSVg0KTW9uZGF5LCBEZWNl
bWJlciAyOSwgMjAwMw0KVGltZTogNTowMCBwbSB0byA1OjMwIHBtIChNU1Q3TURUKQ0KDQoNCg==

----Boundaryyy-908723--651209-MIME##00-CST--
Content-Type: text/calendar; name="event.ics"
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="event.ics"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

QkVHSU46VkNBTEVOREFSDQpNRVRIT0Q6UFVCTElTSA0KVkVSU0lPTjoyLjANClBST0RJRDpPcmFj
bGUvQ2FsZW5kYXINCkJFR0lOOlZFVkVOVA0KRFRTVEFNUDoyMDAzMTIxOVQxNjUwMDBaDQpDQVRF
R09SSUVTOkFQUE9JTlRNRU5UDQpPUkdBTklaRVI6bWFpbHRvOnZvbGVza3lAY29sb3N0YXRlLmVk
dQ0KQ0xBU1M6UFVCTElDDQpQUklPUklUWTo1DQpTVEFUVVM6Q09ORklSTUVEDQpEVEVORDoyMDAz
MTIyM1QwMDMwMDBaDQpTVU1NQVJZOlRlc3RKUlYNCkRUU1RBUlQ6MjAwMzEyMjNUMDAwMDAwWg0K
VUlEOjI5YiNiNzkxZCMxODYzNWIzOSYyNzc0WW05dVpBPT0uLg0KQVRURU5ERUU7UEFSVFNUQVQ9
TkVFRFMtQUNUSU9OO1JPTEU9UkVRLVBBUlRJQ0lQQU5UO0NVVFlQRT1JTkRJVklEVUFMO0NOPUQN
CiBlYW4gUiBXYWxsYWNlOm1haWx0bzpkd2FsbGFjZUBjb2xvc3RhdGUuZWR1DQpBVFRFTkRFRTtQ
QVJUU1RBVD1BQ0NFUFRFRDtST0xFPVJFUS1QQVJUSUNJUEFOVDtDVVRZUEU9SU5ESVZJRFVBTDtD
Tj1Kb2UgIA0KIFZvbGVza3k6bWFpbHRvOnZvbGVza3lAY29sb3N0YXRlLmVkdQ0KRU5EOlZFVkVO
VA0KQkVHSU46VkVWRU5UDQpEVFNUQU1QOjIwMDMxMjE5VDE2NTAwMFoNCkNBVEVHT1JJRVM6QVBQ
T0lOVE1FTlQNCk9SR0FOSVpFUjptYWlsdG86dm9sZXNreUBjb2xvc3RhdGUuZWR1DQpDTEFTUzpQ
VUJMSUMNClBSSU9SSVRZOjUNClNUQVRVUzpDT05GSVJNRUQNCkRURU5EOjIwMDMxMjMwVDAwMzAw
MFoNClNVTU1BUlk6VGVzdEpSVg0KRFRTVEFSVDoyMDAzMTIzMFQwMDAwMDBaDQpVSUQ6MjliI2I3
OTFkIzE4NjM1YjM5JjI3NzRZbTl1WkE9PS4uDQpBVFRFTkRFRTtQQVJUU1RBVD1ORUVEUy1BQ1RJ
T047Uk9MRT1SRVEtUEFSVElDSVBBTlQ7Q1VUWVBFPUlORElWSURVQUw7Q049RA0KIGVhbiBSIFdh
bGxhY2U6bWFpbHRvOmR3YWxsYWNlQGNvbG9zdGF0ZS5lZHUNCkFUVEVOREVFO1BBUlRTVEFUPUFD
Q0VQVEVEO1JPTEU9UkVRLVBBUlRJQ0lQQU5UO0NVVFlQRT1JTkRJVklEVUFMO0NOPUpvZSAgDQog
Vm9sZXNreTptYWlsdG86dm9sZXNreUBjb2xvc3RhdGUuZWR1DQpFTkQ6VkVWRU5UDQpFTkQ6VkNB
TEVOREFSDQo=

----Boundaryyy-908723--651209-MIME##00-CST----

If we open a "bad" message with Outlook 2003 MAPI not Cached, the message
can be seen in the Reading Pane but with no apparent attachments. If you
Select the message in the Arranged By Pane (but not open it), then Click on
the File Menu, you can see the (not grayed out) choices of Save As and Save
Attachments. If you choose Save Attachments, it displays a partial gray box
but is missing the attachment name so you can't save the attachment. If you
try to Save As the message or Delete it, an error message is displayed:
"Unknown Error." and either action fails.

If you Double-Click to Open the "bad" message in Outlook 2003 MAPI not
Cached, it generates an error message: "Could not open one or more
attachments."

Clicking the OK Button past this error message does open the message,
however, you cannot see or access the attachments. Also, you are unable to
Save the message (.msg), or Save Attachments from the message even though
these File Menu options are available (not grayed out), clicking on them
appears to do nothing. Curiously, there is no File Menu choice for Save As
which is present on all other messages.

Attempting to open the "bad" email message in Outlook Web Access (Exchange
2000 Post-SP3 / Windows 2000 SP4) displays an error message:
"The page cannot be displayed
HTTP 500 Internal server error
Internet Explorer"

All other messages open properly through OWA.

Attempting to delete the email message in Outlook Web Access (Exchange 2000
Post-SP3 / Windows 2000 SP4) displays an error message:
"Some items could not be deleted. They were either moved or already
deleted, or access was denied."

Any other message can be deleted successfully through OWA.

The only way we have been able to temporarily fix the problem (on a
case-by-case basis) is to delete the "bad" message - and we've only been
able to do this by configuring an IMAP mail client (Outlook Express) and
connecting to the mailbox and Deleting and Purging the "bad" message. Then
everything is fine until the next one of these messages comes into the
mailbox. Even Admin users on the local machine and Exchange server have
this issue.

It appears that either the multiple occurrence iCal file that Oracle
Corporate Time calendar generates is malformed or that Outlook 2003 is
having a problem displaying multiple occurrence iCal files. Because the
attachment can't be opened or displayed properly, synchronization fails for
Cached clients. We don't have any other 3rd party calendars to test various
attachments with - any ideas or suggestions?
 
Back
Top