37

I'm creating a small app in ASP.NET MVC that generates ics (iCal) files based on certain criterias. The generated files are accessible through a permanent URL (http://myserver/some/criterias.ics).

I am looking for a way to display the calendar data on the page to give the user a preview of the generated file. Ideally, I'd like a Google Calendar type interface embedded in the page. Unfortunately, Google Calendar only seems to allow embedding calendars that have previously been added to their system.

Is there any free service or library that will allow me to embed a calendar for an arbitrary ics file on my site?

David Thibault
  • 8,638
  • 3
  • 37
  • 51
  • 2
    Since you are the one creating the .ics files, maybe it won't be too hard to also create a JSON format of the events and work with http://fullcalendar.io to display them – Mario Chueca Oct 28 '15 at 10:29
  • @MarioChueca not a bad idea. It might even be possible to extend fullcalendar to read ics files directly. – David Thibault Oct 29 '15 at 15:50
  • @D_S_toowhite has already done this and it works! See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9404685/import-ical-ics-with-fullcalendar – Fanky Apr 05 '19 at 17:47

3 Answers3

14

I've found InstantCal, which does what I want. The display it creates is not that great though. Also, it seems buggy in Chrome.

I'd like something similar, with a simpler, nicer interface.

David Thibault
  • 8,638
  • 3
  • 37
  • 51
  • 1
    InstantCal has been updated and now seems to work a lot better, so I'm accepting my own answer. – David Thibault Feb 04 '09 at 05:58
  • 10
    From their site: _"InstantCal is no longer actively developed. The service operates on an as-available basis."_ – Ingmar Hupp Jul 06 '12 at 11:45
  • It's what I also found and used for quite a while. It is no longer maintained though and does not support https so my page broke when I switched to https – Strategist Aug 07 '15 at 00:53
  • 2
    I created an open-source alternative to InstantCal: https://github.com/niccokunzmann/open-web-calendar – User Feb 18 '19 at 16:19
7

There's a program written in php that, IIRC, does this type of thing.

PHP iCalendar it is called.

Matthew Schinckel
  • 35,041
  • 6
  • 86
  • 121
  • Seems nice, however, it doesn't look like it can be embedded in another page, plus I'd need to setup php on my site just for this. I'd prefer a solution that works with what I already have. – David Thibault Nov 19 '08 at 04:44
  • 2
    The website is no longer available, but [the latest version can be found here](http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpicalendar/). – tricasse Nov 18 '13 at 08:44
2

You can import .ics files to Google Calender and view it there. Last Evening I exported a Calender from MS Outlook in CSV format and Imported that into Google Calender and I was able to share the same with my Colleagues.

The Procedure though is not very visible on the interface. I had to look for the Other Calenders section on the left panel and click on the Settings. I found an option that said Import on it, which when clicked, I could upload the MS Outlook exported CSV format file and see the Calender online on Google.

Malachi
  • 3,205
  • 4
  • 29
  • 46
  • 3
    Thank you. However, as stated in the question, I am automatically generating an ICS file and I want to show a preview of it on my web page to give the user an idea of the result. With Google Cal, I have to manually import the ics file in order to embed it, which will not work for my scenario. – David Thibault Apr 03 '09 at 14:10