eCalendar is designed to be used as a plug-in with iMIS eEvents and provides a monthly calendar interface to event listings and event registration. Easy to install and configure, eCalendar features:

• Filter by meeting type or location
• VCAL file creation for each event for integration to Outlook (and other supporting programs)
• Customizable filter for default event display
• Registered meeting indicator
• Customizable style sheet
• Show/hide meeting details such as Notes, Address, Directions, Description, Meeting Coordinator
• Links to meeting registration or meeting detail
• Support for external event databases through ODBC

One instance of eCalendar can be used to provide a variety of calendars to your membership using the meeting type filter. Show calendars based on chapter, location, public events versus private events, course type or customer type.

Customers can download event details directly to their Outlook (or other supporting programs) using the VCAL file format.

eCalendar can be customized by using the module config file to turn on or off features or functions. Use the provided stylesheet to customize the calendar interface to your website’s look and feel.

Provided with eCalendar is an Access database, or setup scripts for a SQL table for publishing events that are external to iMIS. Use this database or setup your own. Using ODBCs, eCalendar supports up to two external databases for event listings. Use an external calendar database for notifications, timelines, reminders, board or committee meetings, or any other event that does not require setup in iMIS but you would like to post to the calendar for your members and/or customers.

Installation Instructions

1. Unzip the eCalendar.zip file
2. Copy the /source/calendar folder to the source directory in the eSeries site
3. Copy the /source/moduleconfig/eCalendarConfig.txt file to the /source/moduleconfig/ folder in the eSeries site
4. eCalendar is now installed and ready to configure

Configuration

There are two ways to choose from to configure eCalendar:

1. Login as an Administrator to eSeries and go to Admin --> Style Form --> Edit Config Files and choose the eCalendarConfig.txt file. Modify the file and “Submit Changes” when you are complete.

2. Open the eCalendarConfig.txt in a text or HTML editor such as ColdFusion Studio. Make the edits as required and save the file to the server.

Variables inside the eCalendarConfig.txt are commented for ease of use. Changes made to the eCalendarConfig.txt file will be immediately visible on eCalendar. The calendar can now be viewed on the site: http://www.yoursite.com/eseries/source/calendar/ (Replace the URL and path to eSeries as required above)

Additional Notes

eCalendar Dates

Meetings are shown on the web based on the start and end dates in iMIS. A one day meeting will show on eCalendar as a link on the day the meeting occurs. A multi-day meeting (defined by the start and end dates) will show the link once on each day the meeting occurs. If a meeting is ongoing and does not have an end date, such as an online course or an examination, setup the meeting with a start date and no end date. A meeting with no end date will display once on the start date.

External Databases

The sample access database or sql setup script provided contains 1 table called “Events”. The event table is structured as follows:

Although a sample database is provided, eCalendar can connect to any ODBC datasource to obtain additional event information. Use Variables.Source.AdditionalODBCSQL[1] in the module config file to provide the necessary SQL query and aliases to pull the data using the field names as provided above.

For example, in an external database you may use Start_date instead of Begin_date. Using SQL aliasing your query may look something like this:

Select ID, Meeting, Start_date as Begin_date, End_date, Title, URL, “ExternalVendor” as Source

In the style sheet, external event links are controlled by the ExtLinks class of anchor tags.