Has anyone been able to use the Backend to gather booking data from another website using iCal?

[Rebecca_Holaway]

Has anyone else received this error when trying to use Backend to receive iCal for a Booking website?

TypeError: (0 , t.syncBatchIcal) is not a function

[noahlovell]

It’s difficult to say what’s happening and what the error might be without seeing the code you’re using.

Are you able to share the code?

[Rebecca_Holaway]

This is the Backend code -

import wixData from 'wix-data';
import { fetch } from 'wix-fetch';

const BATCH_SIZE = 10;

// Helper: Parse iCal Events
function parseIcalEvents(icalText) {
    const events = [];
    const eventBlocks = icalText.split('BEGIN:VEVENT').slice(1);

    eventBlocks.forEach(block => {
        const uidMatch = block.match(/UID:(.+)/);
        const dtStartMatch = block.match(/DTSTART(?:;VALUE=DATE)?:(.+)/);
        const dtEndMatch = block.match(/DTEND(?:;VALUE=DATE)?:(.+)/);

        if (uidMatch && dtStartMatch && dtEndMatch) {
            events.push({
                uid: uidMatch[1].trim(),
                start: dtStartMatch[1].trim(),
                end: dtEndMatch[1].trim()
            });
        }
    });

    return events;
}

// Helper: Convert iCal date to JS Date (date only)
function parseIcalDate(str) {
    if (str.length === 8) {
        return new Date(`${str.slice(0,4)}-${str.slice(4,6)}-${str.slice(6,8)}`);
    } else {
        return new Date(str.replace(/(\d{4})(\d{2})(\d{2})T(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{2})Z/, "$1-$2-$3T$4:$5:$6Z"));
    }
}

function toDateOnly(date) {
    return new Date(Date.UTC(date.getFullYear(), date.getMonth(), date.getDate()));
}

// Main backend function: batchIndex = 0 for first 10, 1 for next 10, etc.
export async function syncBatchIcal(batchIndex = 0) {
    let synced = 0;

    let villasResult = await wixData.query("Villas")
        .ne("icalUrl", "")
        .ascending("_createdDate")
        .limit(1000)
        .find();

    let villas = villasResult.items;
    let batchVillas = villas.slice(batchIndex * BATCH_SIZE, (batchIndex + 1) * BATCH_SIZE);

    for (let villa of batchVillas) {
        if (villa.icalUrl) {
            try {
                const response = await fetch(villa.icalUrl);
                const icalText = await response.text();
                const events = parseIcalEvents(icalText);

                for (let event of events) {
                    const uid = event.uid;
                    const checkIn = toDateOnly(parseIcalDate(event.start));
                    const checkOut = toDateOnly(parseIcalDate(event.end));

                    // Upsert by villa, check-in, check-out
                    const existing = await wixData.query("Bookings")
                        .eq("villasReference", villa._id)
                        .eq("checkInDate", checkIn)
                        .eq("checkOutDate", checkOut)
                        .find();

                    if (existing.items.length > 0) {
                        await wixData.update("Bookings", {
                            _id: existing.items[0]._id,
                            villasReference: villa._id,
                            uid: uid,
                            checkInDate: checkIn,
                            checkOutDate: checkOut,
                            source: "iCal Import"
                        });
                    } else {
                        await wixData.insert("Bookings", {
                            villasReference: villa._id,
                            uid: uid,
                            checkInDate: checkIn,
                            checkOutDate: checkOut,
                            source: "iCal Import"
                        });
                    }

                    synced++;
                }
            } catch (err) {
                console.error(`Error syncing iCal for villa ${villa.villaName}:`, err);
            }
        }
    }

    return synced;
}

export const public = {
  syncBatchIcal
};

[Rebecca_Holaway]

Apart from a slight error in the code which has now been corrected. it is because I was trying to use the web.js file as recommended to use by WIX Studio. There is a bug with that code and I have now found it works using .jsw file.

Not sure how many other people are experience problems with web.js

The AI Bot is programmed to say there is a bug with the new file type.

[noahlovell]

Awesome! Glad to hear you resolved the bug.

In regards to .jsw and .web.js. .jsw is deprecated and I’d highly recommend moving to .web.js.

I imagine the reason it wasn’t working is the way you are exporting the method to be used in the frontend. .web.js uses webMethod so will need a small change in syntax.

Your:

export async function syncBatchIcal(batchIndex = 0) {
  // other code
}

would become:

export const syncBatchIcal = webMethod(Permissions.Anyone, (batchIndex = 0) => {
  // other code
});

Docs for it are here - Web Method | Velo