Embed ical files in Eclipse Wiki

Problem Statement

Entering events (Eclipse Stammtisch, ...) into a personal calendars is important but boring and error prone. Through the use of ical files the pain can be reduced significantly.

However, iCal files (*.ics) may not be uploaded into the Eclipse wiki.

Suggested Workaround

Overview:

1. Prepare your *.ics file
2. Run the content of the *.ics file through an url encoder, such as this one
3. Convert the file into a data URI
4. Convert the (long) uri into an ordinary hyperlink using TinyURL or similar.

Example (iCal file):

 BEGIN:VCALENDAR
 VERSION:2.0
 PRODID:-//hacksw/handcal//NONSGML v1.0//EN
 BEGIN:VEVENT
 UID:stammtisch2013@bsiag.com
 DTSTAMP:20130515T160000Z
 DTSTART:20130515T160000Z
 DTEND:20130515T183000Z
 SUMMARY:Eclipse Stammtisch Zurich 2013
 LOCATION:Zurich
 DESCRIPTION:http://wiki.eclipse.org/Eclipse_Stammtisch_Zurich_2013_Mai
 END:VEVENT
 END:VCALENDAR

Encoded iCal file with prepended stuff (data:text/calendar,) to make this a data URI:

 data:text/calendar,BEGIN%3aVCALENDAR%0d%0aVERSION%3a2.0%0d%0a
 PRODID%3a-%2f%2fhacksw%2fhandcal%2f%2fNONSGML+v1.0%2f%2fEN%0d%0a
 BEGIN%3aVEVENT%0d%0aUID%3astammtisch2013%40bsiag.com%0d%0aDTSTAMP%3a20130515T160000Z%0d%0a
 DTSTART%3a20130515T160000Z%0d%0aDTEND%3a20130515T183000Z%0d%0aSUMMARY%3aEclipse+Stammtisch+Zurich+2013%0d%0a
 LOCATION%3aZurich%0d%0aDESCRIPTION%3ahttp%3a%2f%2fwiki.eclipse.org%2fEclipse_Stammtisch_Zurich_2013_Mai%0d%0a
 END%3aVEVENT%0d%0aEND%3aVCALENDAR

The iCal file as a standard URL

 http://tinyurl.com/d63znm2

Used here for Eclipse Stammtisch Zurich 3013