Events Module
The events module is a flexible powerful tool which allows you to create calendars for particular events. Some examples are lab bookings, meetings, weekly reminders and online events.
Different website impliment the events module slightly differently according to the specific requirements of that site, but they all share a few common features.
Calendars
Each website using the events module has one more more calendars. These are basically collections of events and is a useful way of separating different types of events from each other. In most cases, there will only be one calendar for a website and all events appear on the same calendar.
Calendar Options
Each calendar has a number of options that relate to how the information about events is displayed on the website. The options are:
Name - Every calendar should have a unique name. When adding events, you select the calendar by its name.
Description - optional field - allows tou to add a short description about the calendar
Show Past Events - when selected, the website will display details of previous events on it's calendar
Show future events - similar to above, but allows future events to be displayed. If both past events and future events is deselected, then no events will be visible on the website
Show recurring events - some events can be made to be recurring. In this case, they can be displayed using this option.
Public - in unchecked, then only logged in members of the website can view the events in this calendar
Published - only published calendars are displayed on the website. If the calendar is unpublished, then all events in the calendar are also unpublished.
Events
Events can be added by clicking on 'add event' in the module, or in the events list page, you can click on 'add event' at the bottom of the list. The options for events are as follows:
Calendar - each event must be placed in a calendar. Once an event has been created, it is possible to move it to different calendars using the dropdown on the event details page
Event Name - descriptive title of the event. This is displayed in the calendar or list of events that appears on the website. It is also used for the metatags of the events page.
Type - this field allows you to define what type of event it is. Options are AGM, Appointment, Course, Event, Meeting, Reminder, Room booking, Seminar, Social Event, Trade Show or Workshop. Not all websites make use of this field.
Location - address or location of the event. It is possible to put google maps embed code here to create an embedded map on the page.
Event Organiser - optional field Person or institution organising the event.
Description - Rich text area allowing you to create a full description of the event, with links, pictures and rich media.
Agenda - Another rich text area allowing you to create timetables, with links and embedded images if required
Link - if there is a link in this field, then clicking on the event will take you to the page that is in the link.
Start Date - required field - start date and time of event
End Date - required field - end date and time of event. The end date cannot be set before the start date
Recurring Event - if selected, you can set the event to recur at regular intervals. Click on the checkbox to open the recurring event panel. Events can repeat, daily, weekly, monthly or annually and operates in the same way as recurring events in the calendar in outlook.
Book Online - click on this checkbox to open the online booking panel. Not all websites support online booking, but for those that do, you can specify things like registration fee, number of places, registration link (for external payment systems), registration start and end dates, and which fields to include in the booking form.
Event files - you can upload files to appear in the events page on the website using the file manager module. Upload a document and set it's type to 'event file' and it will appear in this list of files on the event module.
Published - published events will appear on the website. You can remove single events by unpublishing them. If you delete an event, it cannot be restored, so if an event has bookings, the bookings data will also be lost. Therefore it's usually safer to unpublish events rather than delete them.