[Bug] Can't add events

[leowys]

Can't add events to itsycal. When double-clicking the desired date in the calendar, the add info panel appears, but the fields can't be selected to add details. It's happening since MacOs Ventura update in my Mac Mini. Tried completely uninstall and reinstall but issue remains. In MacBook Pro M1, also with Ventura, ItsyCal works perfect. I don't know what to do. Take a look at the screenshot: https://a.cl.ly/jkuOdY2o
Thanks!

[sfsam]

@leowys Thanks for the bug report. Some users have also emailed me with the same issue. The common thread is that it is happening after updating to Ventura. Can you think of anything that is different between your machine where Itsycal works and the one where it doesn't?
I noticed that the popover has a translucent background instead of having the same background color as the calendar. Do you know if that is new behavior as well, or has it always been translucent for you? On your other machine, is it translucent?

[leowys]

Hi @sfsam Thanks for your answer. I can't tell the exact difference between those two macs, they have similar apps and so on... As you mentioned, the working mac has no translucent background in itsycal, no idea why...

[NeoNewman]

I’ve just installed Itsycal version 0.13.3 (2219) on my MacBook Pro 16 (2021, M1 Pro chip) with MacOs Ventura 13.0.1.
I’m facing a problem with adding a new calendar event by clicking the “+”:

1. Simply clicking the “+” will have no response at all;
2. Pressing the “+” and holding it will get me a popup box with the top three lines in grey color (uneditable), as the screenshot below;
3. I’ve authorized Itsycal to access my calendar— obviously I can see the calendar events on the bottom of Itsycal.
   I’d be very grateful if you could help me solve the problem by return.
   

[edelstone]

Maybe @leowys is using two different versions of Itsycal on the two machines?

Downgrading to Itsycal version 0.12.6 fixed the problem for me. I tried other, more-recent versions, but they have the same problem. So maybe the issue is somewhere between 0.12.6 and 0.13.0.

Obviously this causes you to lose any fixes and features added since the end of 2020 when 0.12.6 was released, but it does fix this particular problem for me. Version history is here, if you're curious what you'd be missing.

[mowgliiapps]

@edelstone Thanks Michael. I'll take a look.

[leowys]

@edelstone Downgrading as you suggest works perfect! Thanks for your help!

[edelstone]

@edelstone Downgrading as you suggest works perfect! Thanks for your help!

No problem @leowys. I'd recommend turning off "automatically check for updates" in the Itsycal settings so you are not bothered by update alerts. Additionally, keep an eye on this issue as a future fix would mean you could switch back to the most-current version.

[sfsam]

I made a test version to see if we can narrow down where the bug is coming from.

This version was recompiled on macOS Monterey with the latest Xcode with the macOS 13 SDK.

First of all, does simply running this version make a difference?

If it doesn't, could you try the following? By setting a flag, a portion of code is disabled. I'm hoping this code is the area where the bug is happening.

1. Quit Itsycal
2. Open Terminal.app
3. Enter the following:
   defaults write com.mowglii.ItsycalApp Bug211Flag001 -bool true
4. Launch Itsycal again

Does setting this flag make a difference?

Here is the test version:
https://itsycal.s3.amazonaws.com/Itsycal-0.13.3-Bug211-000.zip

Thank you.

[edelstone]

@sfsam No change after merely installing that test version, but setting the flag resolved the problem for me.

MacBook Pro 2021 Apple M1 Pro
MacOS Version 13.0.1 (22A400)

[sfsam]

@edelstone Thank you. That's helpful.
I should add that as this is a test version, you should revert to 0.12.6 for normal use until this bug is fixed.

[sfsam]

I made another test version to try to further zero in on this issue.

Like the previous test version, this one uses flags. This time there are 3 flags which progressively enable code to run. I also made some changes to a part of the code where I'm hoping the issue lies.

The test procedure:

1. Launch Itsycal.
2. Can you open the New Event popover?
   Can you toggle the "All-day" checkbox?
3. If the answers to the above questions are yes, close the New Event popover and enter the following in Terminal.app:
   defaults write com.mowglii.ItsycalApp Bug211Flag002 -bool true
4. Go back to 2.
   At step 3 if the answers are Yes again, increment the flag number by 1 in the Terminal command.

There are 3 flags in total (Bug211Flag002, Bug211Flag003, Bug211Flag004). Continue until all three are set to true or the bug occurs. Remember to close the New Event popover between each iteration.

At the top of the New Event popover is a debug message that indicates which flag the code is stopped at. When a flag is set to true, the code can proceed to the next flag. You should see the messages change as you enable each successive flag.

I hope that was clear. Please let me know if it wasn't. And thanks again. The help so far has been invaluable.

Here is the test version:
https://itsycal.s3.amazonaws.com/Itsycal-0.13.3-Bug211-001.zip

[edelstone]

@sfsam I was able to successfully open the new event dialog, toggle on the all-day checkbox, and create a new event, under all four scenarios (once without any flags, and then three with the progressively sequenced flags you indicated). I didn't experience the bug in any scenario.

As a side note, I noticed that the date of an all-day event has a weird syntax when viewing the event. For example, an all-day event set for December 10, 2022 shows a syntax of Dec 10-9, 2022. Not sure if that's a new thing in your test version, but it does not appear like that in 0.12.6.

[sfsam]

@edelstone Michael, thank you again for your help. I would still be completely in the dark on this without it.

This is good news that it didn't crash after you had set all 3 flags. To confirm, the debug message at the top said all three flags true?

The issue is related to the Alert popup in the New Event popover. In 0.13.0, I attempt to populate the Alert popup with the default alert for the selected calendar. For example, I have All-day events set to have a default alert one day before the event. When I open the New Event popover, the Alert popup has "None" selected, but when I activate the All-day toggle, the Alert popup selects "1 day before (9AM)" automatically.

Do you have a default alert set for your calendars, either for regular or all-day events? If so, does Itsycal properly select them in the Alert popup? Default alerts can be set in the Mac Calendar.app's preferences under the Alerts tab. Can you create a few more events, both regular and all-day, and confirm they look ok? Now that you've set all 3 flags, you can ignore them. All 3 set to true means no code is gated so we are testing the whole function. That's progress.

Regarding the weird date syntax: No, I haven't made other changes. I'm guessing that is a side effect of compiling against the Ventura SDK. Apple made huge changes to EventKit, the framework for calendar events. I will have to address that as a separate issue. Thanks for flagging. If possible, can you create a new Github issue for this?

[edelstone]

@sfsam Happy to help.

To confirm, the debug message at the top said all three flags true?

Yes, the debug message at the top of the dialog said all three flags were "true" when I was done with all the commands in Terminal. It currently says Bug211Flag002, 003, 004 all true.

Do you have a default alert set for your calendars, either for regular or all-day events?

I do use default alert times on my calendar for both all-day and hourly events. It is an iCloud calendar and the only calendar I use with Itsycal. My defaults are "15 minutes before" and "On day of event (9 AM)".

If so, does Itsycal properly select them in the Alert popup?

No, the default times I use are not pre-selected for either all-day or hourly events.

Can you create a few more events, both regular and all-day, and confirm they look ok?

I've made a bunch of both types of events utilizing all the possible fields, and everything looks good. The events appear right away in the Itsycal calendar widget as well as my Mac and iOS calendars. Delete works fine too.

If possible, can you create a new Github issue for this?

Certainly.

[sfsam]

@edelstone It's a bummer that the default alerts are no longer set. I am using a private API for that (I don't believe Apple exposes a public one) which has worked until Ventura. I will continue to look for a workaround, but for now I think just getting the New Event popover to function again is a "win".

Just wondering, when you open the New Event popover now, does it have the same background as the rest of Itsycal? In the screenshot at the top of this thread, as well as others I've seen in bug reports, it appears translucent. It should be solid/opaque like the rest of the app.

[edelstone]

@sfsam FWIW, I never cared about Itsycal knowing my default alerts, but I understand you likely put a lot of effort into that.

Just wondering, when you open the New Event popover now, does it have the same background as the rest of Itsycal?

As far as I can tell the new event popover – and all popovers in the app – have the same UI. I don't see it being any more transparent than anything else. See image.

[sfsam]

As far as I can tell the new event popover – and all popovers in the app – have the same UI. I don't see it being any more transparent than anything else.

Looks good. I think the alert issue was also screwing up other stuff. Glad to see it looks right on your end.

Once again, thank you for your prompt and thorough help on all this. I can't run Ventura so I'm operating blind. I couldn't have done this otherwise. I'm going to put together a test version soon and hopefully get more people to try it out on Ventura to see what other issues crop up.

[edelstone]

Hi @sfsam,

I noticed you released 0.13.4 on the Itsycal website.

Just wanted to let you know that I've been using it today and it appears to solve #211 as well as #213 for me.

Best,
Michael

[sfsam]

Thank you, Michael. It's pretty much entirely thanks to you. Since I can't run Ventura, all these issues were really getting me down. I really appreciate it.

[edelstone]

Not a problem.

@leowys @NeoNewman sounds like you can try updating to 0.13.14 to solve this, and get back on track with regular updates.

[leowys]

Thank you @sfsam and @edelstone !!! This version works perfect!
Keep the great job is this beautiful little app!!
Happy holidays!!

[michaelaye]

closeable? And I wonder if folks had realized that one needs to give a name before one can save it? :)