[turba] Multiple E-mail Addresses

[Ian Turner]

Hi folks,

I'm writing to enquire about the current state of multiple e-mail
addresses per contact. Currently (as of 5.2.16) it seems that by default
we still just get the one 'email' attribute. This must be affecting a
lot of people because if you type 'turba multiple' into Google, it will
suggest "turba multiple email addresses".

The FAQ <https://wiki.horde.org/faq/user/turba> suggests just creating
multiple contact entries and grouping them into a list. I can't imagine
that would work well with DAV or ActiveSync, nor with VCF import/export
for that matter. Is this still the preferred approach?

I noticed by browsing around that the kolab backend supports a
multiple-valued 'emails' attribute. Is there a reason this is not
supported by the localsql backend? Or if the kolab backend (really IMAP
it seems) is the preferred way to fix this, can someone give me a hint
on how to set that up with Dovecot IMAP? I gave it a shot but quickly
ran into bug 12449 <https://bugs.horde.org/ticket/12449>.

I also noticed while browsing around this HOWTO
<https://wiki.horde.org/TurbaExtraFields> on enabling extra fields in
the localsql backend. Is this the preferred approach to mulitple e-mail
addresses? And, if so, why is it not enabled by default?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice.

Regards,

Ian Turner

[Michael J Rubinsky]

Post by Ian Turner
Hi folks,
I'm writing to enquire about the current state of multiple e-mail
addresses per contact. Currently (as of 5.2.16) it seems that by default
we still just get the one 'email' attribute. This must be affecting a
lot of people because if you type 'turba multiple' into Google, it will
suggest "turba multiple email addresses".

This answer depends on how you want them configured. If you want a
single field capable of handling multiple addresses, you need to add
the 'emails' attribute to the localsql configuration, and add the
object_emails (or whatever you want to call it) row to the
turba_objects table. Be warned, however, that this type of field will
cause problems with protocols like ActiveSync.

If you want multiple fields each containing a single email address,
see my comment below.

Post by Ian Turner
The FAQ <https://wiki.horde.org/faq/user/turba> suggests just creating
multiple contact entries and grouping them into a list. I can't imagine
that would work well with DAV or ActiveSync, nor with VCF import/export
for that matter. Is this still the preferred approach?
I noticed by browsing around that the kolab backend supports a
multiple-valued 'emails' attribute. Is there a reason this is not
supported by the localsql backend? Or if the kolab backend (really IMAP
it seems) is the preferred way to fix this, can someone give me a hint
on how to set that up with Dovecot IMAP? I gave it a shot but quickly
ran into bug 12449 <https://bugs.horde.org/ticket/12449>.
I also noticed while browsing around this HOWTO
<https://wiki.horde.org/TurbaExtraFields> on enabling extra fields in
the localsql backend. Is this the preferred approach to mulitple e-mail
addresses? And, if so, why is it not enabled by default?

This is if you want multiple email addresses in separate fields. For
example, if you are using ActiveSync, that protocol does not support
more than one email address per-field, so the 'emails' attribute would
not work. The provided backends.php file is designed to be a simple,
example, default configuration that can be tweaked. The page you
mention is specifically to match the mapping of ActiveSync email
fields and, in fact, are actually already present in backends.php, but
commented out.

Post by Ian Turner
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice.
Regards,
Ian Turner
--
turba mailing list
Frequently Asked Questions: http://wiki.horde.org/FAQ

[Ian Turner]

Hi Michael, thanks for the quick reply.

Post by Michael J Rubinsky
This answer depends on how you want them configured.

Based on the seeming popularity of this question, is it worth setting up
a reasonable default to allow multiple addresses per contact?

Post by Michael J Rubinsky
If you want a single field capable of handling multiple addresses, you
need to add the 'emails' attribute to the localsql configuration, and
add the object_emails (or whatever you want to call it) row to the
turba_objects table.

If I go this path, what is the correct type to use for the new column?
Just varchar?

Post by Michael J Rubinsky
Be warned, however, that this type of field will cause problems with
protocols like ActiveSync.

Are you sure? This patch
<https://github.com/horde/horde/commit/3530a41e84bcd7616c5f52e14b1b8250a7c97184#diff-8c4998c505940c73677670c7bdb01b6a>
seems specifically oriented to make the emails field work with ActiveSync.

Regards,

Ian Turner

[Michael J Rubinsky]

Post by Ian Turner
Hi Michael, thanks for the quick reply.

Post by Michael J Rubinsky
This answer depends on how you want them configured.

Based on the seeming popularity of this question, is it worth setting up
a reasonable default to allow multiple addresses per contact?

Post by Michael J Rubinsky
If you want a single field capable of handling multiple addresses, you
need to add the 'emails' attribute to the localsql configuration, and
add the object_emails (or whatever you want to call it) row to the
turba_objects table.

If I go this path, what is the correct type to use for the new column?
Just varchar?

If the varchar size limit is high enough on your RDBMS, then that
would be fine. Otherwise, a 'text' type of field would work as well.

Post by Ian Turner

Post by Michael J Rubinsky
Be warned, however, that this type of field will cause problems with
protocols like ActiveSync.

Are you sure? This patch
<https://github.com/horde/horde/commit/3530a41e84bcd7616c5f52e14b1b8250a7c97184#diff-8c4998c505940c73677670c7bdb01b6a>
seems specifically oriented to make the emails field work with ActiveSync.

Huh. Haven't noticed that before :)

It's a workaround that maps *up to* 3 email addresses into the
ActiveSync Email fields. If you enter more than 3 email addresses into
the Turba UI, and then edit the contact on an ActiveSync client, this
will cause the loss of the email addresses over 3 when it syncs back
to Horde.

For best ActiveSync compatibility of multiple email addresses, it's
best to use the 'email', 'workEmail', and 'homeEmail' fields.