Events Calendar
I have need for an event calendar. I had added a couple of events last year when I first setup this trial site. I've changed the dates on them to this year so they display on the current month as an example. But I'm not seeing where I can add more events. I'm going through all my options again now.
This is for a tandem bike club and they need their rides leader to be able to add rides with lots of details. They wanted to use Google Calendar and I was able to set that up using an iframe. But then I realized by it not being a Drupal module we lose the great benefit of having the next x number of rides displayed on the homepage which is a great feature.
Are there any really good event calendar modules or is using the default one the only option?
It's currently located here:
http://evergreentandemclub.org/drupal/?q=event/
Thanks,
Sheila
Figured it out
Geez...I'd turned OFF the menu items in navigation for adding content! DUH!
But I do still want any input on best event calendar solutions within Drupal.
Actually, here's a link to their old calendar:
http://www.evergreentandemclub.org/index.php?module=PostCalendar&func=vi...
They had a form that was filled out with a variety of categories. I suppose there's a way to do that with the events module. I haven't explored it thoroughly yet. But if anyone had an quick tips or links to ease the way it'd be appreciated. As you can tell I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box when it comes to this stuff!
The event module, which you
The event module, which you are using, is the "old" way of doing things - a single module that provides pretty well everything you need. If it works then - fine :-) .
The newer way of doing it, which provides more flexibility in the long run, is to use Calendar, Date and Views modules, but is rather more complex to set up. For a start, you have to create your own content type to represent events. Note that Date module's handling of repeating "events" is not yet as sophisticated as Event module's, tho' the maintainer (KarenS) has indicated that this will come in due course. There may even be an upgrade path from Event.
gpk
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www.alexoria.co.uk
thanks
Thank you for the speedy and helpful reply. I found this tutorial explaining the new way and we have nothing invested in the old way so maybe we'll give it a try:
http://www.drupaltherapy.com/node/76
Sheila
more questions re: event module
As far as I can see in my reading the only disadvantage of staying with the Event Module is the lack of ability to do recurring or spanning events? That's not an issue for us. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now with the prospect of setting up the newer approach. I may still get there in the meantime but I'd like some help to be able to work with this old module.
Does anyone know where I can find info about how to customize it? So far all I can do is add events to it. I'd like to be able to change the title at the top and may add an intro paragraph. I'd also like to specify colors for the weekends and setup color coding for different types of events. I haven't been able to find where to do that or any instructions on how. Your help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Sheila
It depends a bit on your
It depends a bit on your timescales as well and whether you are using D5 or D6 (I see you've tagged this post 6.x but I wondered). There is an event repeat module for event module which has been around a while, but event module has not been formally released for 6.x and developer activity looks fairy low (look at the View CVS messages option on the project page). There again the dev version may be fairly stable. The Date repeat API module is not quite ready for production use IMO even though it is at release 6.x-2.1 - I got bitten by a couple of bugs yesterday. Probably in a month or 2 it will be sound. On the other hand Date and Calendar are highly active projects - when maintainer KarenS is around (which is most of the time!). Also bear in mind that at this time event repeat module creates separate nodes for each instance of the repeating event, whereas Date repeat API doesn't, which is a limiting factor if you want to "override" a particular repeat with specific details (it can be done, but you have to specify the date on which the repeat doesn't happen and then create a new event for the override, so it's a 2-step process, which may be fine if you are in control of it yourself).
To customize your event content type you need to use CCK. Also see what the existing options are for modifying the content type (admin -> content mgt -> content types, then edit event). Suggest you get a book like Using Drupal which has quite a bit on CCK and Views (and a chapter on Date/Calendar! An investment for the future!). Other books may discuss Event.module I think.
Agreed, there is a fair bit of overhead setting up Date/Calendar. Given you have made a start with event you may want to stick with that pro tem. There appears to be an upgrade path to Date/Calendar.
You may be able to do much of the styling you want with CSS. However I suspect a bit of custom theming will be required, again any of the general Drupal books will have some stuff on this if you get bored paging through the online handbook here.
Good luck!
gpk
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www.alexoria.co.uk