Events Module - Enabling a full events implementation in any site

To power the front-end of your website or intranet, we provide a whole range of standard events web controls to suit almost any circumstance.  We take a look below at some of the standard controls that are available to any web user in just two clicks.

The Events Calendar

The Events Calendar control is generally used within a full-blown Events section on your site.

The data displayed can be filtered to a particular section or filtered based upon any metadata assigned.

RSS and Atom are standard and the control provides a simple mechanism for navigating to different months and years -something that is a must when you have a lot of news.

 

 

ICalendar Support

The control provides ICalendar support as standard.

This means that you can syndicate events or even a sub-set of your events to any ICalendar-enabled software.

With just two clicks you can have your events inside an application like Microsoft Outlook.

Examples include Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal and Apple iPhone to name a few. A full list is maintained on wiki .

 

 

The Events Combo

The Events Combo Control will often be used on home pages, as it shows the main events with thumbnails, and then another set following with a simple mini-list.

The numbers of items in each set can be configured.

The example shows the Events Combo Control in use with the default Simple theme. 

RSS and Atom Feeds

Most Contensis controls come with the option to generate an RSS feed or an Atom feed.

Events is no different - the RSS is categorised by either taxonomy or tags, and the body of the article is present, which can be really useful for syndication purposes.

 

 

 

The Mini Listing

The Mini Listing is used in all those places where you want to be able to provide a simple list of news. Often the mini list will be filtered to a particular section of a site, so that in the Features section, let's say, we would only show feature-based news.

The Mini Listing can be rendered as either an unordered list or an ordered list, and as with most other events controls, the date format is configurable.

The Events Ticker

The Events Ticker does, quite literally, what it says on the box. It simply ticker-tapes events and as with all other events controls, the data source is configurable so if you just want to ticker Events for tradeshows, just set the relevant filter. We have shown an Events Ticker of our Control Gallery section on this site, below.

The Events Record

The Events Record control is the control that is used to display the full Event itself when the user clicks on any of the listing control to get to it.

As with most other Structured Content modules, the record can have any webcontrols of your choice embedded, so if you want to add Flash video, or even a bespoke banner control, it is no drama.

The Events Portlet

The Events Portlet is typically used on a portal-style homepage.

It has the functionality to allow users to configure the view of the events to suit their needs. If, for example, you are only interested in seminars, you can click the Edit option which will reveal the edit panel, allowing you to configure the News categories as you wish.

Once you have chosen the categories that are of interest to you, the system will remember the selection for your next visit.

The Editor

Creating a new event can be achieved in just three clicks. All you need do is login to Contensis and then simply click the Create New Event option.

As with most Contensis modules, the Events Module comes with a set-up wizard, which means that, assuming you have already created your general Contensis templates, you can have the full Events Calendar up and running in less than 5 minutes.

Editing is simple and intuitive.

You don't need any technical skills and new editors can be up and running creating new events in minutes.

We aim, at every stage of the process, to keep the editing environment consistent. If you have created an event, for example, you will immediately understand how to create a news article.

 

Because it uses the Contensis WYSIWYG editor, we are guiding users down the path of creating accessible content without them even realising it.

As with all Contensis content, a full QA check is available and if the content does not meet the relevant criteria, then the page can be prevented from being submitted or approved, depending upon how you configure the QA module.

 

As standard, you will have keywords and description meta-data to complete, but any other meta-data can be entered if configured. When entering keywords the system will auto-suggest other keywords that have already been used.

It is often also useful to configure a meta-data element for categorising the content under a particular topic. When this is done the listings will then be able to be filtered and categorised by this topic or category.

 

As you can see from the screenshot of the Events Portlet, using categories to organise data such as events gives you flexibility in then personalising the data to meet the needs of your end-users.

The Events portlet shown is user-configurable; once users have selected the categories they are interested in it will then save their choices, so every time they visit the homepage, for example, they will see events that are relevant to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Events is an integrated content type within Contensis. This ensures that all of the same rules apply to this as to any other types of content.

 

 

From an administrator's perspective, you will need to initially configure the module and assign workflow and permissions.

Once this is done there should be no need for any involvement, other than just sitting back and letting the users create content.

Hopefully you have seen the depth and breadth of the controls available to implement events onto your site.

All of the controls have configurable options which allow for customisation to suit your needs, but sometimes this may not be enough, you may have specific requirements that are not included in the standard control set.

If you are using .Net then you can simply inherit from any of the standard controls and extend them to suit your needs, or you can use the same framework we use to develop new controls that meet your specific requirements.

If your idea is something that would be beneficial to all Contensis customers, then just run it past us, as we often will extend the system and provide new functionality based upon user specifications and ideas.

If you attend our developer training course, then you will be able to create any extra functionality or controls just like we do.

Typical customer implementations