Overview

Customers report that when they add valid URLs to Jive Events, it displays the following error upon opening them from the exported .ics file (calendar file).

Invalid URL

This article diagnoses the cause of this issue and provides a workaround to solve such error occurrences in Jive Events.

Information

Environment

Jive - Hosted / Cloud / AWS Version - Any

Diagnosis

The issue occurs when the users add aesthetic elements to the URL such as the <span> tag.

• The <span> tag is used to add styling to the HTML elements.
  
  
• This tag embeds the URL within the parentheses, however, the end parenthesis ")" is also considered to be a part of the URL.
  
  
• Eventually, on opening the URL from the .ics file (using Microsoft Outlook), the URL becomes invalid.
  
  
  • URL embedded in a <span> tag:
    
    
    
    
  • Parentheses added to the URL within the <span> tag:
    
    

Workaround

• The issue is not specific to the .ics file generated by Jive or the behavior of Microsoft Outlook.
  
  
• This is in general how the URLs are handled when embedded in a <span> tag.
  
  
• To work around with the issue, use the <div> tag which is one of closest alternative of the <span> tag.