Calendar Express 2.2 - User Manual

1) Overview
    1.1) Feature List
    1.2) Getting Support
    1.3) Reporting a Bug
    1.4) Sending Suggestions and Feedback
    1.5) Rating This Product

2) Getting Started
    2.1) Installation
    2.2) Upgrading from the version 1 series
    2.3) Product Components
    2.4) Logging in as Administrator

3) Using the Administration Panel
    3.1) Adding a new Calendar
    3.2) Managing Calendars
    3.3) Adding a new Category
    3.4) Managing Categories
    3.5) Managing Events
    3.6) Approving Suggested Events
    3.7) Adding a new User and Administrator
    3.8) Managing Users and Administrators
    3.9) Adding a new Location
    3.10) Managing Locations
    3.11) Changing Configuration

4) Using the My Events Control Panel
    4.1) Adding a new Event
    4.2) Managing Events
    4.3) Adding a new Location
    4.4) Managing Locations
    4.5) Adding a new Contact
    4.6) Managing Contacts

5) Customization
    5.1) Changing Colors
    5.2) Templates and Languages
    5.3) Mini Calendar Rollover
    5.4) Editing the Graphics
    5.5) Linking to your Calendar
    5.6) Using the Addons
    5.7) Setting up the Event Reminder Feature

1) Overivew

1.1) Feature List

Unlimited Calendars

Create and Manage unlimited number of Event Calendars. Assign unique graphics and icons to each Calendar.

Unlimited Categories

Arrange Calendars into unlimited number of Categories.

Intuitive, Easy to Use Interface

Improved Navigation system throughout the Calendar View allows you to browse through the calendars and events easily and effectively.

Multiple view formats

View Calendars individually, by Category or all Calendars combined. View events by Day, Month or Year.

Search Events and Calendar

New and improved search system also includes the new Advanced Search mode.

Export Events

Synchronize an event with Outlook, Palm, or other hand-held devices.

Calendar Subscriptions

Calendar Users have the ability to subscribe to selected calendars and receive event reminders and notifications via email.

Printer Friendly View - NEW!

Day, Month and Year views can be transformed into printer friendly views for hard copy output.

My Events Control Panel

All new My Events Control Panel (formerly known as Event Control) allow registered Calendar Users to login and easily manage all their events, locations and contacts.

Recurring Events

Users have the options to choose from upto 11 different types of event recurrence when adding an event. All new recurrences include: Tue, Thu of Every Week, Mon, Wed, Fri of Every Week, Every Weekday and Every Weekend.

WYSIWYG Rich Text Editor - NEW!

Enter Event descriptions using our full featured WYSIWYG Editor.

Event Location and Contact Information

Users have the ability to assign unique locations and contact information to every event.

Visitor Contributions

Visitors can add events or register to become a User, pending administrator apporval.

Multiple Administrator

Ability to setup multiple Administrators

User Management

Manage and view all User information. Ability to send email messages and newsletters to all registered Users.

Event Management

Ability manage and view all events and locations added by registered Users

Customize Settings

Easily customize and configure all settings.

Automatic Installation

Easy to use Automatic Database Installer included with every purchase.

Customize Look and Feel

New Template-based interface provides the ability to customize the look and feel of the product. Easily change colors using the stylesheet to allow the product to blend in with your website. Multiple style pack support allows you to switch between style packs easily.

Addons for your Web Site - NEW!

Display a Mini-Calendar, upcoming events list or week's events list at any part of your website and link directly to your Calendars.

Integration

Easily integrate calendar with PHPBB2 Forum software.

Table of Contents

1.2) Getting Supports

Support for Calendar Express is available Free.

Send all your support questions to support@phplite.com

Table of Contents

1.3) Reporting a Bug

We do our best to ensure that all our products are bug free.

But if one does slip through let us know by contacting us at: feedback@phplite.com

Table of Contents

1.4) Send Suggestions and Feedback

We always welcome any suggestions and comments, to help improve this product.

Let us know what you think and what new features you'd like to see by contacting us at: feedback@phplite.com

Table of Contents

1.5) Rate this Product

If you like this product you can let others know what you think by rating it on some of the popular script directories.

Table of Contents

2) Getting Started

Once you have purchased and downloaded your copy of Calendar Express 2, unzip the package calendarexpress2.zip to extract the 'calendarexpress2' directory. Upload this directory and its contents ensuring that the directory structure remains intact. You may rename the directory to 'calendars' or any other name of your choice.

Table of Contents

2.1) Installation

Before proceeding with the installation you will have to ensure that the proper file permissions for the files config.php and settings.php are set (CHMOD them to 666), so that the installer can freely read and write to them. A MySQL database will also be required.

To begin, point your browser to the 'setup' directory. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the required database tables and create your Administration and User Accounts.

Table of Contents

2.2) Upgrading from the version 1 series

Before proceeding with the upgrade, ensure that all existing calendar files and database are all backed up.

You will need to rename the file config.php from version 1 to config_old.php. Copy config_old.php to the new Calendar Express 2 directory. Ensure that the proper file permissions for the files config.php and settings.php (in the new Calendar Express 2 directory) are set (CHMOD them to 666), so that the installer can freely read and write to them.

Direct your browser to the 'upgrade' directory. Follow the on screen instructions to complete the installation.

Table of Contents

2.2) Product Components

Calendar Express consists of the following main components:

Calendar View: This is the section, which your visitors will be able to view.
Administration Panel: This Panel allows you to manage, calendars, users, locations, settings and administrators.
My Events Control Panel: This Panel allows Users ( set by the Administrators) to add, modify and delete events, locations and contacts.
Addon Package: This package consists of four small scripts that allows you to integrate a calendar search box and a mini-calendar into your homepage (or any other webpage you choose).

Table of Contents

2.3) Logging in as Administrator

To log in to the Administration Panel, point your browser to the admin directory (within your calendarexpess directory).

For example: http://www.yourdomain.com/calendarexpress/admin

Once there you will see the log in page. Log in as an Administrator use the user name and password you set during installation of the product.

Table of Contents

3) Using the Administration Panel

3.1) Adding a new Calendar

To Add a new calendar simply click on the Add Calendar, link on your Admin Panel and fill out the New Calendar form. You will be able to select an existing Category to add the calendar to, or create a completely new Category. Click Add a new Calendar to add the new calendar.

Table of Contents

3.2) Managing Calendars

To view all the calendars that are available go to the Calendar List section by clicking on the Calendars link on your Admin Panel. The Admin Panel will allow you t delete calendars, edit calendar details or move calendars to a different category.

To delete a calendar, click on the Delete link on the calendar list or on the Calendar Details page. Click on the calendar names to view the calendar details. The Calendar Details page will allow you to edit all calendar details or move the calendar to a different category

3.3) Adding a new Category

New Categories can only be added when creating a new calendar or moving an existing calendar.

Table of Contents

3.4) Managing Categories

To view all the categories that are available go to the Calendar List section by clicking on the Calendars link on your Admin Panel. Click on the Category name to view the Category Details page.

To delete a Category, click on the Delete link on the Category Details page. WARNING: Deleting a category will cause all Calendars and events under that Category to be deleted as well. Also, deleting all calendars from a Category will cause the Category to be deleted as well.

Table of Contents

3.5) Managing Events

The Admin Panel allows you to view, edit or delete all events that are added by your Users.

To view an Event details, click on the Event name.

You can delete events by clicking on the Delete link on the Event list or on the Event Details page.

Table of Contents

3.6) Approving Suggested Events

To view Events suggested by visitors, click on the Unapproved Events link.

To view an Event details, click on the Event name.

You can approve events by clicking on the Approve link on the Event list or on the Event Details page. Once approved the events will appear in the Calendar.

You can reject events by clicking on the Reject link on the Event list or on the Event Details page. Rejected events are deleted.

Table of Contents

3.7) Adding a new User and Administrator

Users that are added through the Admin Panel will have the access to their own My Events Account and will be able to add, edit and delete their own locations, contacts and events.

To add a new User or Administrator, click on the Add User link on your Admin Panel and use the New User form. To provide the user with access to the Admin Panel, select Administrator from the Status select box. Select the Calendar Privileges from the list of calendars. The user must have Calendar Privileges to certain calendars in order to add events to them.

Note: Administrators will have have Global privileges to all Calendars.

Table of Contents

3.8) Managing Users and Administrators

Click on the Users link to view the User List. All user accounts can be viewed from the User List on the Admin Panel. Detailed information of a user can be viewed by the clicking the Details link.

When viewing the details of a user you can add or remove calendar privileges easily. To Add a new calendar privilege, click on the Add More link and follow the on screen instructions. To remove a calendar privilege simple click on the Remove Privilege link beside the calendar name.

To Delete a User click on the Delete link.

Table of Contents

3.9) Adding a new Location

To add a new location click on the Add Location link on the Admin Panel and fill out the New Location form.

Table of Contents

3.10) Managing Locations

Locations that are available to users can be viewed by going to the Location list by clicking on the Location link. This sections allows you to modify and delete locations.

Table of Contents

3.11) Changing Configuration

Inorder to change the product configurations, the file settings.php must be writable. Calendar Configurations:

Site Name: Enter the name of your Web Site. This will appear on the calendar.
Calendar URL: Enter the URL of the calendar directory.
Site Administrator Email address: Enter the main administrator email address.
Time Zone: Enter the Time zone value. This will only be used as part of the vCalendar feature
Time Display Format: Select your default hour display format
Calendar View Date Format: Select the date format for the dates that will appear on the Calendar View.
My Events Date Format: Select the date format for the dates that will appear on the My Events Control Panel.
Weekly, Monthly, day display format:Select the date format for the dates that will appear for each day on the Weekly and Monthly Calendar View.
Start of Week Select the start of the week for you calendar display
Number of Rows per Page in Lists Specify the number of rows that will be displayed per page for lists.
Emails per Interval: Specify the number of emails that will be sent out in every interval.
Email Signature: Specify the email signature that will appear on every Administrator Email that are automatically sent out.
Allow Guest Post: Select whether to allow visitors (non-registered users) to suggest events.
Allow User Registration: Select whether to allow visitors to sign up and register.
Month View Type: Select the default Monthly Calendar view.
Allow Text Time: Select whether to allow users to specify text along with their time entries, when posting events.
Event Sorting: Select the type of sorting to use during event list display.
Allow Event Recommendations: Choose whether to allow users or visitors to send email recommendations to friends for events.
Display Date Suffix ("st", "nd", "th"): Select whether to display date suffix.
Show Calendar Image in Calendar View Header: Select whether to display calendar image in the Calendar view header.
Show Calendar Name in Event List: Select whether to display the calendar name when listing events.
Show Event Location in Event List: Select whether to display the event location when listing events.
Show Event Time in Event List: Select whether to display the event time when listing events.
Show Calendar Icon in Event List: Select whether to display the calendar icon when listing events.

Table of Contents

4) Using the Event Control Panel

Table of Contents

4.2) Managing Events

You can view, modify and delete events you have posted by going to the View Events section. To view details of the event click on the event name. For the details page you can make additions and modifications to the event details.

Table of Contents

4.3) Adding a new Location

You can add a location only when posting an event.

Table of Contents

4.4) Managing Locations

You can view the locations you have added by going to the View Location section.

Table of Contents

4.5) Adding a new Contact

You can add a new contact only when posting an event.

Table of Contents

4.6) Managing Contacts

You can view the contacts you have added by going to the View Contact section. This section will allow you to modify or delete your contacts.

Table of Contents

5) Customization

5.1) Changing Colors

The product allows you to change and customize colors for both the Calendar View and the My Events Control Panel by editing the style.css stylesheet residing in the templates/defaultblue/styles directory. Following are the definitions of the stylesheet classes and ids:

.header: header style

.table: basic table style

#nav: header navigation panel style

.theader: table header style

.tminicalendar: mini-calendar table style

.tyearcalheader: mini-calendar table style for the Yearly View

.tdatecell: mini-calendar basic date cell

.teventcell: mini-calendar event highlighted cell

.ttodaycell: mini-calendar today's date highlighted cell

.monthemptycell: empty cell style for the block Monthly View

.monthdatecell: basic date cell style for the block Monthly View

.montheventcell: event highlighted cell style for the block Monthly View

.monthtodaycell: today's date highlighted cell style for the block Monthly View

.tablebody: table body style for the block Monthly View

.tyearbox: year select box style

.eventheader: event list header style

.tevents1: event list body style

.hrbar: horizontal bar style

.selectbox: basic select box style

.subheader: subheader style

.bigtext: large text style

.mediumtext: medium text style

.basictext: basic text style

.littletext: little text style

.tinytext: smallest text style

.errortext: error message text style

.textbox: text box style

.button: button style

a.navlink: common navigation link style

a.listinglink: common listing link style

a.orderbylink: list "Order by" link style

a.basiclink: basic link style

a.smalllink: small link style

a.editlink: event edit link style

a.eventaddlink: event add link style

a.datelink: minicalendar basic date link

a.todaylink: minicalendar today's date link

a.eventlink: minicalendar event date link

a.tableheaderlink: table header link style

a.monthviewlink: Block Monthly View event list link

Table of Contents

5.2) Templates and Languages

The all new Calendar Express version 2 has a completely template based presentation layer. This provides webmasters with the flexibility to modify and customize the Calendar View and My Events to blend in with their websites.

The template system works using Style Packs. Style Packs are directories containing the template files, graphics and stylesheets. They are kept in the templates directory.

Calendar Express comes with only one Style Pack called defaultblue.

You can created unlimited number of Style Packs and place them in the templates directory. You can switch Active Style Packs from the Configuration page in the Administration Panel.

The Calendar View templates are available at the templates/defaultblue directory.

The My Events templates are available at the templates/defaultblue/myevents directory.

The Email templates are available at the templates/defaultblue/emailtemplates directory.

The templates can be used to easily translate the interface into a different language. To complete a translation edit the file lang_settings.php found in the main directory.

Table of Contents

5.3) Mini Calendar Rollover

To setup the minicalendar rollover effect you will have to open the file rollover.js (residing in the templates/defaultblue/styles directory) in your text editor and follow the commented instructions to edit the variables.

Table of Contents

5.4) Editing the Graphics

The graphics associated with the interface can be found in the templates/defaultblue/graphics directory. You can edit them using a graphics editor.

Table of Contents

5.5) Linking to your Calendar

Note: The following directions assume that your Calendar Express directory is named calendar.

To link to the Calendar List, place a link to the calendar directory.

For example: http://www.yourdomain.com/calendar

To link directly to a certain calendar use the following format:

http://www.yourdomain/calendar/week.php?cid=CALENDAR_ID http://www.yourdomain/calendar/month.php?cid=CALENDAR_ID http://www.yourdomain/calendar/year.php?cid=CALENDAR_ID http://www.yourdomain/calendar/today.php?cid=CALENDAR_ID

Replace the text 'CALENDAR_ID' with the proper calendar ID.

To link directly to the All calendar view:

http://www.yourdomain/calendar/week.php http://www.yourdomain/calendar/month.php http://www.yourdomain/calendar/year.php http://www.yourdomain/calendar/today.php

Table of Contents

5.6) Using the Addons

This script comes with four addons. The Mini Calendar, The Week Event Box, The Upcoming Event Box and The Search Box. The addon files are avialable in the addons directory. You can include these features at any part of your Web Site and link directly to your Calendar Installation.

Configuring and Installing the Mini Calendar:

Open the file minicalendar.php in you favorite text editor and edit the variable $calendar_id with the calendar ID of the calendar you selected. (Note: you can get the calendar ID of a calendar by using the Calendar Control on your Administration Panel).

To embedd the addon to your site you could either copy the entire code and paste it into your webpage code or include it using a php include statement. If you choose the former, you will have to edit the $calendar_path variable with the path to the calendar directory.

To get the rollover effect you will need to copy the contents of templates/defaultblue/styles/rollover.js file to your webpage and paste it between the head tags.

Configuring and Installing the Search Box:

Open the file searchbox.php in you favorite text editor and edit the variable $calendar_id with the calendar ID of the calendar you selected.

To embedd the addon to your site you could either copy the entire code and paste it into your webpage code or include it using a php include statement. If you choose the former, you will have to edit the $calendar_path variable with the path to the calendar directory.

Configuring and Installing the Week Event Box:

Open the file weekbox.php in you favorite text editor and edit the variable $calendar_id with the calendar ID of the calendar you selected.

To embedd the addon to your site you could either copy the entire code and paste it into your webpage code or include it using a php include statement. If you choose the former, you will have to edit the $calendar_path variable with the path to the calendar directory.

Finally copy the contents of templates/defaultblue/styles/rollover.js file to your webpage and paste it between the head tags.

Configuring and Installing the Upcoming Event Box:

Open the file upcoming.php in you favorite text editor and edit the variable $calendar_id with the calendar ID of the calendar you selected. To embedd the addon to your site you could either copy the entire code and paste it into your webpage code or include it using a php include statement. If you choose the former, you will have to edit the $calendar_path variable with the path to the calendar directory. Edit the $num_days variable to indicate the number of days to display in the addon.

Finally copy the contents of templates/defaultblue/styles/rollover.js file to your webpage and paste it between the head tags.

Table of Contents

5.7) Setting up the Event Reminder Feature

To setup the event reminder feature, create a Cron Job or a Windows Task that runs the file reminder.php once every day. The file reminder.php can be found in the crons directory. For more details on how to setup a Cron Job or a Task contact your web host or Network Administrator.