iCal - Initial Startup
How to start iCal and what to do if things go wrong
Starting iCal from the Start Button
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Once iCal has been installed it can be started by clicking the
Start Button/Programs/iCal Web Calendar/Start iCal vx.x Web Calendar.
This will start the iCal server and it will wait for web browser requests.
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Settings on the iCal property box
Status Tab |
Listener Tab |
About Tab |
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Status Tab
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One button toggles between Start Server and Idle Server. You
must start the server before iCal will respond to browser requests.
You must idle the server before you can make changes on the Listener
or About Tabs. The "X" minimizes the property box to the system
tray. To shutdown the iCal server you must click the Shutdown button.
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Listener Tab
Note: You must first click the Idle Server button on the
Status Tab before changes can be made.
- IP Address: The default value for this is 0.0.0.0 and is
the preferred setting for 95% of the installations. 0.0.0.0 instructs
iCal to bind to the IP address assigned to the system running
iCal. The only time a specific IP address needs to be entered
in this field is when the host system has multiple IP addresses and
the desire is for iCal to respond on only one of the IP addresses.
- Port Number: The default value for this is 80 which is
the default port for any web server. When the host system is running an
existing web server such as IIS then this number will need to
be changed. The port range of 8000 and above is a safe value.
- Start Calendar: This is the name of the calendar for iCal
to access when no calendar is specified on the URL line. This can
be changed to any other calendar you might have in your system. Although
this entry can be changed here, it can also be changed on the Global
Administration Security menu. (This is available with your browser)
- Data Directory:This is the path to the folder that contains all
of the dynamic data used by the iCal system. The default location is
a folder named data located beneath the iCal installation folder.
This is the folder to include in your backup procedure.
- Auto Start Listener: When checked, the iCal server will
immediately start and wait for a browser request.
- Start Minimized: When checked, the iCal property box will
be minimized to the system tray.
- Auto Start Browser: When checked, iCal will automatically
pull up your browser when you start the iCal program and will present
either the Tutorial page or the Start Calendar. (see above)
- Show Tutorial: When checked, iCal will present the tutorial.
Unchecked will present the Start Calendar.
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About Tab
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The About Tab is where you enter your Registration Codes. The
Idle Server button must be clicked on the Status tab before
you can enter your codes.
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How you and others access iCal calendars
When iCal is first started the default settings will bring up your
browser and take you to the iCal tutorial web page. You will notice
that the URL in your browser will be http://localhost.
localhost is a convention instructing your web browser
to make a connection to your machine.
Others on your network can also access your
instance of iCal. The URL they enter must provide the IP address
of your machine. eg http://123.123.123.123 if
this is the IP address assigned to your machine.
- To find your IP address, go to a command prompt and enter the command
ipconfig will display your IP address
Appending the calendar name to a URL will take you directly to
the calendar. E.g. http://localhost/default
When a port number other than 80 has been assigned this needs
to be included on the URL. For example, using port 8000 would
make the URL http://localhost:8000/default
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Error: iCal could not be started. Try changing
the port number on the Listener tab ...
This error message is received when trying to start the iCal server,
and can be very confusing to someone new to the system. The full error
message also includes the words, Try changing the port
number on the Listener tab, then click the Start Server button again.
When iCal starts it performs a bind with the IP address and the port number
listed in the Listener Tab (A 0.0.0.0 IP address indicates that the IP
address assigned to the host machine will be used) The error message occurs when
the IP address and the port number are already in use by the system. Here are the
most common reasons this is happening and how to fix the situation.
- You can not start iCal twice from the same install directory
on the same host. Look in your system tray on the bottom right. You should
not see more than one iCal icon. If you see more than one bring up
the property box for each and click the shutdown button on the Status Tab.
- There will be a conflict if you have an existing web server like Microsoft
IIS running. Since the web server will be binding to port 80 you will
need to change the iCal port number. This is done on the
Listener Tab of the iCal property box. If you change the port
number to 8000 you would then access iCal with a URL like:
http://localhost:8000.
- iCal may already be running as a system service and is causing the
conflict. It is a good thing to run iCal as a service but if you
don't know it is running it will cause confusion. iCal is installed
as a service by clicking the Start Button/Programs/iCal and then
the option iCal install as a service. This will cause
iCal to run as a background task whenever the system is restarted. It
will also cause a conflict error when you try to start iCal manually.
Check your services dialog box to determine if you have the service
running. The services dialog box can be access from the Control Panel
and then Administrative tools. If iCal is running as a service,
you will see an entry named, iCalService.
When iCal is run as a service there is no need to start it manually.
Simply open your browser and enter the URL required to access
your specific instance of iCal.
Occasionally you may need to make changes on the iCal property box.
When iCal is run as a service the property box is not visible. You
can stop the service, then run iCal from the Start Button, make
your changes, shutdown iCal and then restart the service. The
service will pick up the changes.
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