Info Blocks: Events

Create and configure events

The info block file for events is a special type of info block.  There is only one file per site and it is located in the root under the setup folder.  Below learn how to create local events and also use the editor to configure connections to the Campus calendar data.

Event data sources

You can pull events from two main places, Campus Calendar and local events.  The recommended place for events is in the Campus Calendar using 25Live to enter data.  This allows events to show up not only in your sites, but also shared with the whole Campus community.

25Live Events

Entering events into 25Live requires additional access and training.  IT Training periodically hosts training sessions where you will learn the process and can request access to various calendars to post events.

IT Training Websitelink opens in a new window

The Event Editor

Local events use a special format of info block to create the data.  Just as with other info block types it will default to showing 10 items, but you can increase that using the page properties up to 50.  There is only 1 events file per website, if you find that you are creating more than 50 events we suggest investigating the use of 25Live instead.

To get started putting in a local event simply find a free edit space, or you can always repurpose an out dated event.  Old events will not display on the public facing pages automatically.  There is no automatica deletion of data from the info block file. 

To delete events, simply open the editor, select all, and delete.  Save and publish the file again.

Event Fields

To help make events easy to enter we us the styles to dictate what data is used for.  Styles are broken down into 6 areas.  

Event Basics (Required)

The basics requires you to enter a title, start date / time to create the event.  Reocurance is optional.

• Title: the main title of the event
• Event Description: text to describe event purpose
• Start Date | End Date: enter dates with a pipe " | " character spaced between them.  Dates should be entered as MM/DD/YYYY format where years are entered as four digits
• Start Time | End Time: enter the start time with a pipe " | " character spaced between them.  Times should be entered as HH:MM am/pm  
• Reocurance: allows you to set an event to repeat over the course of several days or weeks.  The days use three characters Mon = Monday for example, and then either comma separate or hypen for continual spans of days.  Mon-Wed would include Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

Description Info (optional)

The decription info fields allow you to better create infomation that is listed next to the header information.  This makes it conform to how the Campus Calendar events look so users are familiar with where to quickly find event information.

• Group/Organization: The group or organization that is responsible for hosting the event
• Event Sponsor: If there are specific sponsors who contribute but do not directly host the event
• Audience: lets users know if the event is limited to a specific group or user type.  This is free form so if its students only you can specify
• Categories: allows you to add categories to your events, at this time they do not create filters but could in the future
• Event Image: provides you with the image that will be displayed in the header of the event information section

Specifics (optional)

Specifics will display under the description information in the header.  It is formatted for users to quickly find links and costs that might get lost in a larger description.  

• Location: text format for where the event is held
• Cost To Attend (several options): text format for cost, there are several user types here to help distinguish based on different roles.  Use general for public attendees
• RSVP Required: text format
• Registration Link: create a hyperlink to the registration site, remember to add good link text so users know they are going away from the site
• Virtual Link: allows you to add a zoom, chat, or other online service if the event is being hosted virtually
• Video Link: allows you to add a resource which could be a YouTube or Vimeo or other link where people interested can see more about the event

Attendance & Dress Code (optional)

• Students, Faculty, Staff: several options which are text formatted to help explain who can attend, or if there are requirements for instances only biology majors can attend
• Open To The Public: text format to help general public know if they are welcome to attend
• Dress Code: text format to provide code of conduct type information

Contact Info (optional)

• Contact Name: text format for person or group to contact
• Email: email link to help users send email messages to
• Phone: text based but use the proper phone format
• Website Link: create a hyperlink to organization or site for more information, remember to use good descriptive text for the link so users know what they are linking to and do not use the URL for the text

Import Event Data (may require consulation)

You may have a 3rd party which provides information about events that isn't coming from 25Live.  We can usually make this work as long as there is a publicly available feed in RSS, XML, or JSON format.  

• Event Feed URL: use the correct format type and this would be the text version of the URL not a hyperlink
• JS Processing Function For Feed: this is something the IT Web Team will work to create so that incoming feed data can merge with local or Campus Calendar data

Add to page helper

Open the events page from within the _setup folder.  Built into the top of the edit mode is the Add To Page Helper whick is collasped by default.  Show the editor to help you craft the codes needed to sync pages with your data.

Adding a connection, not an event

Think of the process like adding a data listener to your page rather than just a single bit of text.  As new events are created they will automatically be added without additional settings on the pages where you use it.  

To make this work we need to develop a connection string so your pages know what to listen for.  The helper will create this string for you as you check boxes and choose options.  Simply copy and paste the connection string where you want to use it.

The add to page helper does not save connection data, if you want to change or modify an exisiting one you will need to reconfigure it again.

The Connection Process

The add to page helper has instructions at the top which help you understand the process once you have selected all your sources.  This is three easy steps that are required to make events start appearing on any page.

1. In the page properties, set the data object to "Events, Hours, RSS or Javascript"
2. Data Source: either 'events' or 'hours-events' if you want both
3. Copy the connection string into Filter/Extra Data on the section properties 

Create the connection options

There's nothing you need to write in the connection string, it will be built automatically as you work through the options.  

There are three areas you can choose to for your connection: time frame, ignore local events, and Campus Calendar data sources.

Time Frames

The first option is the time frame.  How far out in the future do you want to see events.  This drop down menu has options for:

• Today
• 2 days
• 5 days
• 7 days
• Two weeks
• Three weeks
• Month
• Two months
• Three months
• Six months

The time frame can be edited once you make a selection.  It posts a "days:" values to your connection string which you can change to any number of days you want.  

Ignore Local Events

The default status for your connection is that local events are used in every case.  If you do not want to have a local data pulled into the connection use the check box to Ignore Local Events.

Calendar Feeds

Calendars where the data is entered into 25Live appear as check box options below.  There are two types of feeds: the first show up on the Campus Calendar website, and the second set are private calendars.  These can be used by any website you just need to include all that you want to have display.

Remember that calendar feed data will display data that you may not directly control so content changes and updates may require you to contact someone outside your office.

If you are creating a calendar connection and want to eliminate or add calendars you will need to manually update the connection.  The Add To Page Helper does not save connection strings.

Tags (Campus Calendar Data Only) 

- New for 5.24 release - 

If you are pulling in a calendar with many events you can scope the results to a specific tag.  These tags are entered when the event editor creates them in the 25Live interface.  

Tags are added to the filter using " tag: name, name, name" remember to add a semi colon after each main filter item.