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Status: Banned

machinari

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Registered: 03/22/04
Posts: 1512
I've just uploaded evList 1.1 for gl 1.4.1. enjoy!

evList is a calendar alternative/solution. It is an event list.
evList presents a well formatted list of events foregoing the bulky calendar tables, user friendly admin panels, numerous editor fields to ensure that no information is lacking, and a whole bunch more.
evList supports recurring events, categories, and event reminders (new to 1.1).

I haven't thought of any more features/options to fatten up this plugin. If you have ideas or code let me know.
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samstone

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Registered: 09/29/02
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This can be a very useful plugin. Does it use the GL permission feature?

I'll try it out soon.

Thanks,

Sam
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machinari

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Registered: 03/22/04
Posts: 1512
yes, the events make use of gl's permission system. It's just as easy to restrict events as it is gl articles. However, unlike gl's topic permissions, evList's category permissions do not filter down. In fact evList's categories do not make use of permissions simply because they act more like keywords or tags than topics. an event can belong to multiple categories.
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samstone

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Did a quick test and like it so far.

On the event list, I think the date should follow right after the event title before the summary because, when it comes to events, date and time give people a quick framework of time to decide whether they want to read on (that's why the calendar grid is helpful). And the fonts for the time is too small, that can be easily changed. And I think the phrase "This event begins:" is not necessary because it's expected.

So, I think the user would find it more comfortable seeing the event title (the current text is perfect), followed by date (with normal font size, maybe bold, preferably both date and time, and even better start and end times), then a summary (the current text style is perfect).

A minor bug:

I created a weekly recurring event and I got this line: "This event recurs weekly: and Sun." Where is the "and" from? Should it be "on?" And I think since we use a long leading sentence "This event recurs weekly" the day should come unabbreviated "Sunday"

Thanks,

Sam

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machinari

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Registered: 03/22/04
Posts: 1512
Thanks for the feekback!
Quote by: samstone

On the event list, I think the date should follow right after the event title before the summary .... And the fonts for the time is too small

These couple of things can be easily changed in the appropriate template file to suit the admin's preference. The template file in question here is the list_item.thtml file.
Quote by: samstone

And I think the phrase "This event begins:" is not necessary because it's expected.

The quick way to get rid of this is to edit the language file at $LANG_EVLIST02[3].
Quote by: samstone

So, I think the user would find it more comfortable seeing the event title (the current text is perfect), followed by date (with normal font size, maybe bold, preferably both date and time, and even better start and end times), then a summary (the current text style is perfect).

again, most of this can be dealt with in the template file. However, the reason that I only included the date in the list and used a smaller font for it is because the list, IMO, is to represent a summary of the event(s) only with the fuller details listed on the event page itself. A fuller description of the date and time wouldn't be suitable in every case anyway, for example, a split event has start dates and times, and end dates and times, twice. If I wanted to find out more about the event I would click readmore and likewise if I wanted to find out more details about the time, then I would click readmore. Well, that's why I did it that way anyway. But I do understand that a user may not want to or even realize that they can click further for more info so in that regard I guess at least a time would be better.
Quote by: samstone

A minor bug:

I created a weekly recurring event and I got this line: "This event recurs weekly: and Sun." Where is the "and" from? Should it be "on?"


Yes. oops. For whatever reason, I seem to have taken it for granted that weekly events not only occur weekly but more than once per week as well. So thanks for that. It's an easy fix.
At about line 155 in event.php, modify the loop to look like the following:
Text Formatted Code

                    for ($i = 0; $i < $daycount; $i++) {
                        if (!empty($daynumsA[$i])) {
                            if ($daycount == 1) {
                                $weekdays .= $LANG_EVLIST03[35] . $weekdaysA[$daynumsA[0]];
                            } else {
                                if ($i == $daycount - 1) {
                                    if ($daycount > 0 ) {
                                        $weekdays .= $LANG_EVLIST03[21];
                                    }
                                    $weekdays .= $weekdaysA[$daynumsA[$i]];
                                } else {
                                    $weekdays .= $weekdaysA[$daynumsA[$i]] . ', ';
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
 
and of course you'll have to add $LANG_EVLIST03[35] to your english.php file--mine now says "every ".
Quote by: samstone

And I think since we use a long leading sentence "This event recurs weekly" the day should come unabbreviated "Sunday"

I agree that it's a good idea to use the fuller forms. This can be changed in the language file. Look for $LANG_EVLIST12. This is the only place those abbreviations are used so nothing will break if you change them to their fuller forms or you could just make the call to the $LANG_EVLIST10 array instead, which has the fuller forms there.

Thanks for checking it out Sam!
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tgc

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Registered: 03/15/06
Posts: 82
I tried to install evlist. First problem was that I had to change all permissions of the evlist directories from 700 to 705. After that I could install it.
But now I get: An SQL error has occurred. Please see error.log for details.
When I accessed evlist through the admin control panel it opened but when I accessed it through the menu the error came up.
Here my error log:

Sun Oct 21 21:26:31 2007 - Inserting default data
Sun Oct 21 21:26:31 2007 - Registering evList plugin with Geeklog
Sun Oct 21 21:26:31 2007 - Successfully installed the evList plugin!
Sun Oct 21 21:26:50 2007 - 1044: Access denied for user 'xxxx'@'localhost' to database 'xxxx'. SQL in question: CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE evlist_temp_events

(LIKE gl_evlist_events)


Thank you
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machinari

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Registered: 03/22/04
Posts: 1512
A requirement of evList is that your database user has the "create temporary tables" privilege.
If you don't then you won't be able to run evList as it makes use of temporary tables to create and retrieve recurring events on the fly.
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tgc

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Registered: 03/15/06
Posts: 82
I went into phpMyadmin and edited the privileges.
I never had this problem before and I am not the data base guy so I was a little bit confused.
Thank you for your quick reply and this plugin. I am going to check it out now and will give you my feedback.

Frank
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beewee

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Registered: 08/05/03
Posts: 969
Location:The Netherlands, where else?
Nice plugin, Machinari! Great work, since the Calendar plugin is a bit too much for most of us. The templates need some work, but that's a nice challenge. What I can't solve since I'm a real php newbie is how to render a nice SEO $page_title for event.php and index.php, and how to add or change some time formatting options, in the Netherlands we use "26 oktober 2007" and in Germany they use "26. Oktober 2007". I've installed it on a test site for one of my new templates where it works like a charm!
Dutch Geeklog sites about camping/hiking:
www.kampeerzaken.nl | www.campersite.nl | www.caravans.nl | www.caravans.net
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machinari

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Registered: 03/22/04
Posts: 1512
re the pagetitles:
In index.php, find COM_siteHeader() around line 188 and do this:
Text Formatted Code
$display = COM_siteHeader('menu', $LANG_EVLIST00[2]);
 

In event.php, find COM_siteHeader() around line 1726 and do this:
Text Formatted Code
if (!empty($eid)) {
    $pagetitle = DB_getItem($_TABLES['evlist_events'], 'title', "id='$eid'");
    $pagetitle = COM_stripslashes($pagetitle);
}

$display = COM_siteHeader('menu',$pagetitle);
 

I hope that's what you meant by optimized page titles. I really don't know what search engines look for.

re the dateformats:
You can add your preferred date formats directly to the database table, $_TABLES['evlist_dateformat']. See sql/def_events.php for examples. Alternatively, prior to installation, you can add your preferred date formats to sql/def_events.php, which will then appear in the dropdown after installation.
The format you would use for the Netherlands then is, "%d %B %Y", and for Germany, "%d. %B %Y" without the quotation marks of course. I'm assuming that the locale setting will take care of the lowercase "oktober" for the Netherlands.

hope that helps.

Quote by: beewee

The templates need some work

Are they really that bad? You're not the first to say so. If you have any suggestions they are appreciated.
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beewee

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Registered: 08/05/03
Posts: 969
Location:The Netherlands, where else?
Quote by: machinari


Quote by: beewee

The templates need some work

Are they really that bad? You're not the first to say so. If you have any suggestions they are appreciated.



My opinion is that nobody should complain about templates but will have to make these the way he likes them. I'll adapt the templates to my needs, and thank you for your quick reply and efforts. Big Grin
Dutch Geeklog sites about camping/hiking:
www.kampeerzaken.nl | www.campersite.nl | www.caravans.nl | www.caravans.net
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casper

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Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 142
Location:Skien, Norway
Machinari,
Thanks for the new version. Been stuck at work the whole week, så sorry for my late feedback.
Tested it now, and changes we discussed works as wished.
Nice to put the options in the config, easy to set for all needs Smile
Again, good work!
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beewee

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Registered: 08/05/03
Posts: 969
Location:The Netherlands, where else?
Quote by: machinari

re the pagetitles:
In index.php, find COM_siteHeader() around line 188 and do this:

Text Formatted Code
$display = COM_siteHeader('menu', $LANG_EVLIST00[2]);
 

In event.php, find COM_siteHeader() around line 1726 and do this:
Text Formatted Code
if (!empty($eid)) {
    $pagetitle = DB_getItem($_TABLES['evlist_events'], 'title', "id='$eid'");
    $pagetitle = COM_stripslashes($pagetitle);
}

$display = COM_siteHeader('menu',$pagetitle);
 

I hope that's what you meant by optimized page titles. I really don't know what search engines look for.



Yep, that's exactly what I mean, the pagetitle is quite important for search engines, als log as it fits the content. Next step would be an editable EID but that's no so impotant. Thanks again! :banana:
Dutch Geeklog sites about camping/hiking:
www.kampeerzaken.nl | www.campersite.nl | www.caravans.nl | www.caravans.net
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machinari

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Registered: 03/22/04
Posts: 1512
Quote by: beewee

Next step would be an editable EID but that's no so impotant.

I just put it on my todo list.
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muntada

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Registered: 02/25/03
Posts: 34
caffeinated
This plugin is working great. I have some suggestions to improve.

Perhaps adding a MapIt functionality that passes the address to MapQuest.
Along this line, a link to the Weather Channel.

Biggest option though that I think would be great is a Printer Friendly Option

Last but not least, an input into Outlook or ics format option.

When you got something great, people just want to see more!

I am not a developer but can we find someone to give you a hand? :banana:
--------------------
MuntadaNet, Inc.
Web Hosting
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machinari

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Posts: 1512
Quote by: muntada

When you got something great, people just want to see more!

so you like it? :speechless:

The mapquest thing is easy enough and so is the printer friendly option. I'll add those to my todo list for the next version. The weather channel, I think is a bit over the top. The ics format looks straight forward enough at first glance, but I've not bothered with that before so no guarantees.
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muntada

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Posts: 34
The weather thing was because I was going to a state park that actually had a link on their site to the weather channel to show the weather for their area. But you are right, it is over the top. :-)
--------------------
MuntadaNet, Inc.
Web Hosting
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samstone

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Registered: 09/29/02
Posts: 820
I would like to see the start time shown in addition to the date in the "date_summary" of the list_item.thtml, because it gives the viewer a better summary of the event. I try to hack it myself, but haven't learned enough yet to figure out. I will appreciate if you can show me how.

In addition to this, I have a feature request that would make this plugin complete. That is to have an recurring option for events on a day of the week of the month, like the second Wednesday of the month, or even better, first and third Mondays of the month.

Thanks,

Sam
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samstone

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Figured out the first part.

The feature request still remains.

Thanks,

Sam
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machinari

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Registered: 03/22/04
Posts: 1512
Quote by: samstone

I have a feature request that would make this plugin complete. That is to have an recurring option for events on a day of the week of the month, like the second Wednesday of the month, or even better, first and third Mondays of the month.


the monthly by day option already exists, eg, 3rd friday every month.
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