CalendarGuide

The following guide will explain the function of the Calendar module and how to use it.

What is the Calendar Module?

Adding and organizing events and important dates to your website is extremely easy with the Calendar module in phpWebsite. You can add events, dates, and times as well as descriptions, locations and any other information necessary. You also can set who is able to see events and add notifications to your home page of upcoming events.

How do you use the Calendar Module?

The first step towards using your calendar is to add a Schedule. To do this, go to your Control Panel, your Content tab and then click on the Calendar icon.

http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu/images/wiki/Calendar1.png

Once you are at your Calendar, you should be on the 'Schedules' tab. Now you simply need to select 'Create schedule'.

http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu/images/wiki/Calendar2.png

When you select Create Schedule a window will pop up with a few options. The first gives you the choice to select either Private or Public. If you select Private only you will be able to see the schedule and any events added to it. If you select Public, any visitors to your site will be able to view the schedule and events. Note: You can have more then one schedule and choose which you want to add specific events to. Also, if you change your mind about Public/Private you can always edit the schedule later. You can also set a Public schedule to be viewable on by certain users later as well.

http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu/images/wiki/Calendar3.png

Your next option is if you want upcoming events to create a Block announcing what events are coming up. You can choose to not use this feature, to show all events in the next week, in the next two weeks, or the next month. See image below
All that is left now is to add a title to your schedule and write a summary of what the schedule will be used for and then simple click Save. Note: For the summary you are able to use the FCKEditor to format and modify your text. For more information see the guide on the FCKEditor).

http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu/images/wiki/Calendar8.png

Once you have saved your new schedule, you should see a list of schedules you have created. From here you have several options for each schedule. You can view the calendar, add events, edit the schedule, or delete a schedule. Each action will be further explained below.

http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu/images/wiki/Calendar7.png

To view your calendar, simply select the title of the Schedule you want to look at. This will bring up an image of your calendar much like a traditional calendar with a block for each day of the month. Days with events will show the events title and if you click on the title, you will see any additional details.

http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu/images/wiki/Calendar4.png

The next action available is to add an event. This will put an entry into your calendar that can be used as a reminder or an announcement. When you click on Add event, a screen will pop up like shown below. On the new screen you can add a summary (title) to your event, a location, a link to the location, and finally a description of the event. You are also able to set the date and time of the event. When you have finished, simply click Save. More information below

http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu/images/wiki/Calendar5.png

  • Summary - The summary is primarily the title of the event. When you are viewing the calendar the summary will be displayed.
  • Location - If the event is occurring at a special location you can make note of it here.
  • Location link - If the location the event is at has a website with more information about it, or even how to get there, this is where to put it.
  • Description - Here you have more room to write a description of what the event is, where it is, when exactly it is, who is invited or should come, etc. This extra data will not be visible until the viewer selects the event, so make sure the Summary/Location/Time are descriptive enough that viewers will know what event they're trying to find with out having to open each event and read the description to find a specific one. Note: For the description you are able to use the FCKEditor to format and modify and format your text. For more information see the guide on the FCKEditor).
  • Date/Time - At the bottom of the page is the option to set the date and time the event starts at and when it ends. All events must have some duration (you can not have an event start at 12pm and end at 12pm for example). However you have several options for this. The first is the Start Date. Set this to when the event will be, or the first day if it is more then one. Next is the end date, if the event is one day, leave it the same as the Start Date, if it is more then one day, set it to end on the final day of the event. The next option is to select the time of the event. There is a start time and an end time as well as the option to set an event for all day.

The next important section of the Calendar Module is the 'Settings' tab. From here you have quite a few options for modifying your calendar and what other users can do with it.

http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu/images/wiki/Calendar6.png

  • Allow public event submissions - This option makes it possible for visitors to your site to post events as well. These submissions will have to be OKed by you in the Approval tab before they will be posted.
  • Allow personal schedules - This will allow users of your site to set up their own private schedules and post their own events on a schedule for themselves.
  • Only link days with events in the mini calendar - If you select this option, it is only possible to click on days that have events posted on the mini calendar that appears on every page of your website.
  • Cache month views (public only) - This option will create a cache an image of the month view of the calendar for public visitors so that the site does not have to build the calendar each time.
  • Week start date - here you can select if you want weeks to show from Sunday-Saturday or from Monday-Sunday.
  • Display mini calendar - This allows you to decide what pages or if you want your mini calendar to show up on your website. You can have it show up on all pages, just the home pages or not at all.
  • Default view - This allows you to change how the calendar will show up by default. You have the options of Month Grid, Month List, Day View and Week View.
  • Grid event view - This allows you to decide what is shown in each grid when there are events. You can select to 'show event titles' or 'show number of events. Showing titles shows the title of each event on that day and show number of events simply shows how many events are each day until the user selects a specific day. (Show number of events is useful for a schedule with a lot of events with several events each day.)
  • When you are done modifying your settings simply click 'Save settings'.

The final part of the Calendar Module is the Approval tab. This only comes into use if you have made it possible for public event submissions. If you have and someone adds an event, it will not show up until you go to the approval tab and OK the submission. The Approval tab will also let you look over the event to make sure it is okay.

Permissions

All modules have a set of permissions that can be set to allow a user/user group or users/user groups to have different access to each module. These options are available through the User Administration module and you can learn more about permissions in the Permissions Guide. The Calendar module allows you to give users none, restricted or unrestricted permission. If users are given unrestricted permission, they will be able to have full access to the module the same as you do as the site administrator. If they are given no permission, they will not be able to modify the module. Restricted access will give them limited access to somethings and usually requires approval from an admin before their changes are accepted. You can also individually check to give users the option to create/edit public schedules and edit a private schedule. If they are unrestricted you can give them the additional permission to change module settings and delete schedules.

Return to the Content Guide.

Return to the User Documentation main page.


Last modified 05/06/2008 10:28:01 AM by Matt McNaney

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