The Calendar Tool provides cross-user access to the calendars it manages. It also provides access to the group calendars that contain the meetings scheduled for user groups.

2.3.5.1. Viewing Other User's Calendars

To gain access to the calendar of another registered user, the current user selects `Other User ...' from the `View' menu. In response, the system displays the dialog shown in Figure 36.

Figure 37 shows the user having selected the `Nickname' search field and entered the nickname "jimb".

When the user presses the `View' button in Figure 37, the system responds with a new display window as shown in Figure 38.

Exeuction of the `View Other User' command is independent of the windowing mode in that the system always opens a new window for each different user being viewed. Once the initial window for another user is open, the windowing mode affects subsequent viewing commands in the normal way, as described in Section

The visibility of items in other users' calendars is controlled by the security settings established by each user. As introduced originally in Section , the four security levels are the following:

• public -- other users can see all details of a scheduled item
• title only -- other users can see the title, time, date, and duration of the item, but no other information
• confidential -- other users can see the time, date, and duration of the item, but no other information; the item title shows as "Unavailable" to other users
• private -- other users can see no information at all about the item

To the current user, public items appear in displays as they appear to the other user, except:

1. The other user's items are not editable in item-level views.

2. All display option settings are those of the current user; the other user's option settings have no effect from the current user's perspective. This means that the initial view of the other user's calendar is based on the setting of the current user's initial view option (see Section ).

3. Filtering is based on the current user's filter settings, if any; the filter definitions of the other user have no effect from the current user's perspective.

The category definitions of public items, including their coloring, are those of the other user. The current user's category definitions have no effect when viewing another user's calendar.

`Title only' and `confidential' security apply only to appointments and meetings, not to tasks or events. Appointments and meetings with either of these securities are viewable at the month, week, and day levels, not at the item level. For `title only' security, the title of the item appears at its scheduled date, time, and duration. For confidential security, the title "Unavailable" appears. Since the category is not visible for `title only' and `confidential' items, the text of their titles appear in black type only. At the item level of calendar viewing, `title only' and `confidential' items are skipped in the next/previous traversal (see Section ).

To the current user, the precise effect of `private' security is to filter an item out of view, in exactly the same manner as if it had been filtered out with a custom filter definition. At the day, week, and month level, this means that private items are not visible at all. At the item viewing level, private items are not visible and are skipped in the next/previous traversal.

Per the operational details just described, the contents of Figures 38 , 39, and 40 reflect the following settings in the calendar of James L. Brandon:

1. There is a category named "school" colored red.

2. There is a category named "industry" colored blue.

3. There are public recurring appointments titled "101 lecture" and "101 lab", scheduled MWF 3-4 and 4-5, starting September 21, of the "school" category.

4. There is a non-recurring public appointment titled "Microsoft lunch", scheduled 12-1:30 September 23, category "industry".

5. There is a public recurring meeting titled "faculty meeting", scheduled biweekly Tu 11-12, starting September 22, category "school".

6. There is a title-only meeting "Microsoft rep", scheduled 1:30-2:30 September 23, category "industry" (but appears in black type because it is title-only).

7. There is a recurring confidential appointment titled "racket ball", scheduled TuTh 8-9 AM, starting September 1 (but appears as "Unavailable" because it is confidential).

8. There is a public recurring task titled "prepare for faculty meeting as necessary", scheduled biweekly Mon 9 AM, category "school".

9. There is a public recurring task titled "review lecture notes", scheduled Mon 11 AM, category "school".

10. There is a public non-recurring task titled "prepare for Microsoft day", no due time September 22, category "industry".

11. There is a private event titled "my birthday", scheduled September 24 (but does not appear because it is private).

The figures show how the banner of the display window is altered to indicate that the calendar of another user is displayed. The format of the banner is the following:

-- USER: full-user-name

When the user selects the `Group ...' item in the `View menu', the system displays the dialog shown in Figure 41.

All of the rules described in the preceding section for viewing other users' calendars apply to viewing group calendars. In addition, the following rules apply specifically to viewing group calendars:

1. only meetings appear in a group calendar;

2. the only meetings that appear are those scheduled by a leader of the group

Figure 43 shows how the banner of the display window is altered to indicate that the calendar of a group is displayed. The format of the banner is the following:

-- GROUP: full-group-name