EventCalendar 3.0 Beta

Date

The release candidate of EventCalendar 3.0 is now available. The main new feature is a piece of JavaScript (AJAX) wizardry that allows you to flip backwards and forwards through the calendar without refreshing the entire page. The 'Forthcoming Events' list is also far more flexible. Many many other requested features have been added.

Update!

EventCalendar 3.0 has now been released.

Latest version:http://blog.firetree.net/wp-content/plugins/eventcalendar30.zip

Read thelatest documentation.

Beta Documentation:

EventCalendar 3.0 is compatible with WordPress 1.5.1.3. No hacks or source code editing are required. If you have trouble, first make sure you are using the very latest Wordpress code.

Please try this beta plugin, and let me know what you think. If you find a bug, then first check in the list below to see if it's already been reported or fixed. If not, then please report it by posting a comment.

Template Changes: CALENDAR

Add the following code to your sidebar.php:

<li>
  <?php ec3_get_calendar(); ?>
</li>

If you are using an older template, then you should check that your HTML header contains the following tag: <?php wp_head(); ?>

Template Changes: EVENT LIST

The template function: ec3_get_events() shows a list
of upcoming events. Add the following code to your sidebar.php:
<li><?php _e('Events'); ?>
  <?php ec3_get_events(5); ?>
</li>

The function takes several parameters:

  • limit.
    The maximum number of future events to list.
  • template_event (OPTIONAL) DEFAULT=<a href="%LINK%">%TITLE% (%TIME%)</a>.
    A template for the formating of each event. The following placeholders are available:
    • %TITLE% - the title of the event.
    • %LINK% - the URL of the event post.
    • %TIME% - the time of the event.
    • %AUTHOR% - the post's author.
  • template_day (OPTIONAL) DEFAULT=%DATE%:.
    A template for the formatting of a header for each day. If you don't want this header, then
    set this to an empty string. The following placeholders are available:
    • %DATE% - The date of the post.
    • %SINCE% - Time until the event (Only available when Dunstan's 'Time Since' plugin is active).
  • date_format (OPTIONAL).
    A PHP date format string used to calculate the value of %DATE%.
    If this option is not provided, then Wordpress' normal date format is used.

Publish a vCalendar

The vCalendar feature is now fully integrated into the plugin. This allows you to view the event calendar in iCal, Sunbird and other modern calendar applcations. You can now subscribe to the
calendar at the address http://your.site.url/?ec3_vcal

New Features

  • Live Calendar updating without the need to refresh the whole page. (Thanks to Jon Abad for the inspiration of hisLiveCalendar.)

  • Keep Events Separate mode. Keeps event posts off the front page. Turns the Event category page
    into a properly ordered listing of forthcoming events. This feature is off by default. Activate it on the Event Calendar Options page.

  • Custom Popup replaces the usual tooltip with a popup that lists each event on its own line. The popup is always positioned below the calendar, to ensure that you can still see the whole month.

  • There is no need to edit your CSS files. All essential stylesheet definitions are now part of the plugin.

  • Plus many more minor usability issues.

Planned features

Some enhancement haven't made it into this first release candidate, but they are planned for the future:

  • Multiple-day events.
  • Repeating events (good for birthdays).
  • Make day links also restrict to event category if only events shown in calendar. (fixed in rc4)

Bugs So Far

  • Times are displayed without leading zeros in calendar tooltips. (fixed in rc2)
  • Post titles that contain a single-quote character cause the month switching to crash. (fixed in rc2)
  • Next & Previous month links do not work properly when JavaScript files can't be found. (fixed in rc3)
  • Next month link not properly aligned with some templates. (fixed in rc3)
  • Next & Previous month links do not work when URL is not exactly the same as specified in WP options. Example: a web-site with addresses www.example.com and example.com will only work properly from one address. (fixed in rc4)
  • ec3_get_events() does not correctly group events by day. (fixed in rc5)
  • HTML entities are not properly displayed from JavaScript. Link - go back a month and then hover over the calendar title. (fixed in rc6)
  • JavaScript errors on pages that do not contain a calendar. (fixed in rc6)
  • HTML entities in event titles are not properly loaded from XML. This means that the XmlHTTPRequest fails if a post contains non-ASCII characters. (fixed in rc7)
  • 'Next month' link sometimes positions nav links incorrectly. (fixed in rc7)
  • Popups are incompatible with Nicetitles. You can now disable popups (in rc8)
  • Popups don't display properly in Opera.(fixed in rc9)