Arantor

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Calendar
« on November 14th, 2012, 12:53 AM »
OK, OK, don't get your hopes up. It's NOT going back in the core. NO.

However, while I let other things simmer until they're done, I'm curious to hear what people would like to see in the calendar.

I am not going to share what I have added or are going to add, but I do want to know what people think it should have. Remember, it's not a core feature, so the usual rules are less strict in this case.

It's basically that it needs some love and I feel in a giving-love kind of mood ;)

(I'm posting it here because I didn't want to get people thinking it was already out etc. because it's not.)
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Powerbob

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #1, on November 14th, 2012, 07:16 AM »
Hi well it needs at least the ability to hold events, both single and recurring.

Farjo

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #2, on November 14th, 2012, 07:46 PM »
As above, and also events that run over a few days.

The ability have events every 3rd Thursday, or first / last Wednesday of the month would be grand.

Views: as well as the current views would be nice to have a list of upcoming eventrs to n days forward, as an option within the calendar and to place elsewhere in the forum e.g. the home page or atop the forum page.

But an OK calendar is better than no calendar :)

chilly

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #3, on November 14th, 2012, 08:55 PM »
what it should have... well... here is what I'd like to have in a calendar (reason and use vary a lot. have had a time where I could have used those functionality. trying not to repeat already posted idea's)
-personal calender? (per member?)
-event / meeting (call it what you like) owner + participant
-events linked to post / board (yeah... board!) (possible to link with blog stuff?)
-ability to specify time and not only date

have had more... currently not remembering all

I understand this thread to be a kind of brainstorming of what people could imagine to be within a calendar plugin. so this is my part ;)
(I'm well aware that making above things possible would rather be an extended plugin to what you are up to. it might be a lot but definitely not what a basic calendar plugin would be)

Arantor

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #4, on November 14th, 2012, 09:53 PM »
Guys, guys, guys. Two works for you: SMF Calendar. It already has half of this stuff. That means I already have half this stuff.

Storing events? Check.
Events over multiple days? Check.
Events linked to posts? Check.
Placing it on the front page/info centre? Check. Even including upcoming birthdays and events if I remember rightly.

What it needs?
Recurring events? Hell yes.
RSVP to events? Yes.
Personal calendar... I'm not averse to the idea of personal events, but I'm not convinced it's a necessity. IP.Calendar has this (I think, the UI is much confusing)
Specifying time? Yes. Though, as IP.Calendar shows me, that raises other things itself.

Anything else?

markham

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #5, on November 15th, 2012, 03:21 AM »
On the Admin page, have the ability to filter by month. Also provide the option for 2 scheduled tasks to be run only on January 1st, one would delete non-recurring public holidays and the other "events" that are not carried-forward to the new year.

Arantor

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #6, on November 15th, 2012, 03:26 AM »
Filter *what* by month? You can view the calendar by month...

I don't like the idea of scheduled tasks like that. Especially since the way holidays are set up, you can trivially make a holiday either be a one-off or recurring. Even SMF's is capable of that - for holidays that aren't on the same day each year, it creates a separate holiday for each instance.

Though, I might have something of an answer to the whole public holidays thing anyway... I'll keep you posted on this one.

Powerbob

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #8, on November 15th, 2012, 06:21 AM »
Now that looks cool Arantor :cool:

MultiformeIngegno

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #9, on November 15th, 2012, 11:02 AM »
Talk like a pirate day :P

Arantor

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Farjo

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #11, on November 15th, 2012, 01:09 PM »
"Wedge day 25th August" :lol:

That screen looks good as it's a pain deleting all the individual US holidays, far easier to switch them off.

As a suggestion you could make all holidays custom and then release country packs. Installing the pack would add that country's holidays to your Manage Holidays screen.

"Placing it on the front page/info centre? Check. Even including upcoming birthdays and events if I remember rightly." We use Simple Portal for this so I don't know if the SMF calendar is capable of doing this simply.

"Anything else?"
We have one board for all events, so would prefer to restrict the boards into which events can be posted e.g. by controlling the boards that appear in the "Post In:" dropdown.

And then a fanciful idea, to see if anyone else would like it and can suggest a better way of doing it... We have events where the planning starts a year in advance. It is a pain for the planner to keep everyone updated and to get everyone's opinions as the attendees do not constantly come back to the thread to see if anything's changed. So could there be a "Subscribe to this event" button? The thread starter (or mod / admin) could then create a post and then choose to email it to all subscribers e.g. via an extra item in "Additional Options".

Arantor

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #12, on November 15th, 2012, 02:50 PM »
I already anticipated that in fact, there are hooks already available for extending this screen ;) I haven't decided what to keep as 'core' yet though I might just keep these ones for now.
Quote
"Placing it on the front page/info centre? Check. Even including upcoming birthdays and events if I remember rightly." We use Simple Portal for this so I don't know if the SMF calendar is capable of doing this simply.
Check the calendar settings page, it's quite clear that you can put things in the info centre if you want ;)
Quote
We have one board for all events, so would prefer to restrict the boards into which events can be posted e.g. by controlling the boards that appear in the "Post In:" dropdown.
That's not actually a big deal to make happen.
Quote
So could there be a "Subscribe to this event" button? The thread starter (or mod / admin) could then create a post and then choose to email it to all subscribers e.g. via an extra item in "Additional Options".
Wouldn't you just use the normal notifications on this one?

What I'd do, though, is certainly tie it in with the RSVP stuff...

Farjo

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #13, on November 15th, 2012, 03:22 PM »
Quote from Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 02:50 PM
Check the calendar settings page, it's quite clear that you can put things in the info centre if you want ;)
OK cheers :)
Quote from Arantor on November 15th, 2012, 02:50 PM
Wouldn't you just use the normal notifications on this one?
Here's a thread:
OP: We'll be celebrating Wedge Day 25th August somewhere in the Midlands, put your name down if interested.
uA: Ooh Wedge Day! Me please.
uB: Will it be fancy dress?
OP: Not fancy dress, but you can wear wedge shoes if you like.
(weeks later)
OP: Due to the huge numbers of replies I've booked a hall in Midland Mansion, the cost will be 10. Do people want a band - it will cost an extra 5?

Now, the OP will want people to answer the question in the latest post, but the users will not want to be sent a message every time that the thread is replied to, or even every time that OP posts in the thread. So in this scenario it would be good if OP can say "email this post to all subscribers".

Arantor

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Re: Calendar
« Reply #14, on November 15th, 2012, 08:28 PM »
Oh, I see what you mean. What I'd do in that scenario is tie it more to people who've actually responded to the RSVP (in case they have to change)... would that work for people?