1 ##master-page:HelpTemplate 2 ##master-date:Unknown-Date 3 #format wiki 4 #language en 5 6 == EventAggregator == 7 8 The !EventAggregator macro for !MoinMoin can be used to display event calendars or listings which obtain their data from pages belonging to specific categories (such as CategoryEvents). 9 10 == Creating Events == 11 12 The easiest way to create an event is to hover over a day number in a calendar and to follow the "New event" link. If you do not have a calendar set up, take a look at the instructions for [[#PreparingACalendar|preparing]] and [[#ShowingEventCalendars|showing]] calendars first. 13 14 Each event must be created on a new page belonging to the appropriate event category. The following action can be used to create a new event page (using !EventAggregatorNewEvent) without looking at a calendar: 15 16 (!) <<Action(EventAggregatorNewEvent,Add an event)>> 17 18 Since each event is represented by a page, creating a new page based on an appropriate template is also sufficient. For pages belonging to CategoryEvents, you can do this by filling out and submitting this form (which uses EventTemplate): 19 20 <<NewPage(EventTemplate,Add an event page)>> 21 22 The event page describes the event in more detail, and the start and end dates of the event must be specified in a definition list so that they can be read from the page and displayed by the !EventAggregator. The EventTemplate provides some guidance, and all you need to do is to replace the `YYYY-MM-DD` placeholders with actual year, month and day values. For example: 23 24 {{{ 25 Start:: 2009-06-28 26 End:: 2009-07-04 27 }}} 28 29 You can add text which is more readable for humans provided that the `YYYY-MM-DD` format values are present somewhere in each entry. For example: 30 31 {{{ 32 Start:: Sunday 28th June 2009 (2009-06-28) 33 End:: Saturday 4th July 2009 (2009-07-04) 34 }}} 35 36 Obviously, duplicating the date information introduces a risk of this information becoming inconsistent, so beware! 37 38 === Adding Time Information === 39 40 In addition to date information, !EventAggregator understands time information; this is specified using the `HH:MM:SS` format (`HH` for hour digits in a 24-hour clock scheme, `MM` for minutes, and `SS` for seconds). The hour and minute details are mandatory; the seconds are optional. For example: 41 42 {{{ 43 Start:: 2009-06-30 10:30 44 End:: 2009-06-30 11:00 45 }}} 46 47 With no additional information, this indicates a time period from 10:30 (10:30am) until 11:00 (11am) without specifying a time zone. Consequently, such a period could be interpreted as applying ''in any location'' or ''in an agreed but unspecified location''. Where such things could lead to confusion, such as in the planning of an Internet meeting where people may join the meeting from many different places, time zone information can be specified. For example: 48 49 {{{ 50 Start:: 2009-06-30 10:30 UTC+0100 51 End:: 2009-06-30 11:00 UTC+0100 52 }}} 53 54 This indicates that the time is defined in a zone one hour ahead of UTC, thus defining a UTC period of 09:30 (9:30am) until 10:00 (10am). It is also possible to drop `UTC` and the last two minute digits where appropriate: 55 56 {{{ 57 Start:: 2009-06-30 10:30 +01 58 End:: 2009-06-30 11:00 +01 59 }}} 60 61 For an event occurring in British Summer Time (BST, GMT/UTC+01) this is a satisfactory means of describing the associated period. However, it can be more convenient to define an event in terms of the wall-clock time at a particular location. Sometimes, a regular meeting may occur at a particular time regardless of the introduction of daylight saving (or summer) time, and people can find it awkward to remember and choose the appropriate time zone, and thus the correct UTC offset. So instead, a time "regime" can be given. For example: 62 63 {{{ 64 Start:: 2009-06-30 10:30 Europe/London 65 End:: 2009-06-30 11:00 Europe/London 66 }}} 67 68 This indicates that in Britain (a "regime" defined for London, Europe) on the specified day, at 10:30am wall-clock time - that is, in the time zone reflected by properly adjusted local clocks - the event will begin, concluding at 11am according to the same clocks. 69 70 For most events, specifying a "regime" should be sufficiently accurate and unambiguous. However, some potential issues with specifying time information in such a way are [[#TimeProblems|described below]]. 71 72 === Supported Event Properties === 73 74 As well as the start and end dates of an event, the following properties are also recognised as being part of an event description: 75 76 Title:: the preferred name of the event in the calendar 77 Summary:: a synonym for title 78 Topics:: a list of topics related to the event - use a comma (`,`) to separate topic names 79 Categories:: a synonym for topics - note that this means "event categories", not "page categories" which are a distinct concept 80 Location:: the location of the event 81 82 These properties may be incorporated into representations or summaries of events. 83 84 Textual properties can be quoted in a limited way using the verbatim or monospaced text Wiki syntax. For example: 85 86 {{{ 87 Summary:: <<Verbatim(EuroPython)>> 2009 88 Topics:: Python, <<Verbatim(EuroPython)>>, Zope 89 }}} 90 91 === Listing Many Events on a Page === 92 93 Sometimes, it can be useful to list many events or event occurrences on a single page. For example, unlike something like an annual conference where a different event page makes sense for each occurrence of the conference, something like a regular meeting of a group of people might merit its own event page, but it would be inconvenient to make a new page for every single meeting occasion. 94 95 It is therefore possible to list many event occurrences on the same page by adding a new set of properties for each occurrence. For example: 96 97 {{{ 98 Start:: Monday 1st February 2010 (2010-02-01) 99 End:: Monday 1st February 2010 (2010-02-01) 100 Summary:: MoinMoin User Group Meeting 101 102 Previous meetings: 103 104 Start:: Monday 4th January 2010 (2010-01-04) 105 End:: Monday 4th January 2010 (2010-01-04) 106 Summary:: MoinMoin User Group Meeting 107 }}} 108 109 To start a distinct event, just define a property that has already been recorded for the previous event on the page, if any. Usually, the start and end dates will be the most suitable properties for this purpose. 110 111 Be careful ''not'' to start a distinct event with a property that was ''not'' recorded for the previous event: the result will be the property being added to the previous event, even if the property appears adjacent to the rest of the new event definition. 112 113 <<Anchor(TimeProblems)>> 114 === Occasional Problems with Times === 115 116 In most circumstances, specifying a time "regime" should result in an appropriate time zone being deduced and thus defined for an event. In some circumstances, however, such wall-clock times can be ambiguous or ill-defined. For example: 117 118 {{{ 119 Start:: 2010-03-28 02:30 Europe/London 120 End:: 2010-03-28 02:45 Europe/London 121 }}} 122 123 In this example, the given times (2:30am and 2:45am) do not exist as wall-clock times: since British clocks observe GMT/UTC until 2am and then switch to BST (GMT/UTC+01), times between 2am and 3am do not really appear on clocks on that particular day. !EventAggregator will indicate a problem with events specified in such a way, but will still produce [[HelpOnEventAggregatorSummary|event summaries]] assuming that the intention was to schedule such a period as starting 30 minutes after 2am in GMT/UTC and ending 45 minutes after 2am in GMT/UTC, pretending that the time zone preceding the zone change has remained in force for the sake of the event. 124 125 Where the wall-clock time is effectively repeated, !EventAggregator will also indicate a problem with events defined using such ambiguous times. For example: 126 127 {{{ 128 Start:: 2010-10-31 02:30 Europe/London 129 End:: 2010-10-31 02:45 Europe/London 130 }}} 131 132 In this example, the given times (2:30am and 2:45am) ''do'' exist as wall-clock times, but such times appear ''twice'' on clocks: since British clocks observe BST (GMT/UTC+01) until 3am and then switch to GMT/UTC, times between 2am and 3am are visited twice by clocks on that particular day. For [[HelpOnEventAggregatorSummary|event summaries]], the assumption will be made that the intention was to schedule such a period as starting 30 minutes after 2am in BST and ending 45 minutes after 2am in BST, pretending (as above) that the time zone preceding the zone change is the correct zone. 133 134 Naturally, without explicitly specifying a time zone (as an offset from UTC), it is not possible to schedule the above event for the period from 2:30am until 2:45am in the GMT/UTC time zone. However, when !EventAggregator indicates a problem with the event specification, an organiser can be alerted to the problem and thus fully specify the event times. Where !EventAggregator provides an implicitly assumed time (and where the organiser ignores the warnings or does not want to specify the time zone), no-one will be late for (or miss) the event: the earliest possible time will have been chosen, giving participants the opportunity to return at the "correct" time should the assumed time have proven to be "incorrect". 135 136 <<Anchor(PreparingACalendar)>> 137 == Preparing a Calendar == 138 139 Before trying to show a calendar or trying to create any events, first decide on a category for your events. You can create a new category for this purpose by filling out and submitting this form: 140 141 <<NewPage(CategoryTemplate,Add a new category,,Category%s)>> 142 143 It is not strictly necessary to have a dedicated category for events, but having such categories can make event management easier by preventing event pages getting mixed up with other kinds of pages. And since pages can belong to more than one category, you can still assign event pages to other categories and yet isolate the event pages via their own category when you need to. 144 145 <<Anchor(ShowingEventCalendars)>> 146 == Showing Event Calendars == 147 148 To show a calendar, use the !EventAggregator macro with a list of event categories. For example: 149 150 {{{ 151 ## Show Events and Training categories. 152 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,CategoryTraining)>> 153 }}} 154 155 The calendar, shown by default, is automatically filled out with the details of each event in the specified category (or categories), colouring each event period in an automatically generated colour. 156 157 Specific periods can be defined using the `start` and `end` parameters. For example: 158 159 {{{ 160 ## Show June and July 2009. 161 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,start=2009-06,end=2009-07)>> 162 }}} 163 164 By using specific month values, a fixed window of time can be presented, displaying only events occurring within that period. It is possible to omit `start` or `end` in order to show all events up to (by omitting `start`) or starting from (by omitting `end`) a particular month. 165 166 There are special values which are significant. The `current` value refers to the current month and can be used with the minus and plus operators to refer, respectively, to months before and after the current month: 167 168 {{{ 169 ## Show this and next month. 170 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,start=current,end=current+1)>> 171 ## Show this and last month. 172 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,start=current-1,end=current)>> 173 }}} 174 175 In addition, the `yearstart` and `yearend` values refer to the first and last months of the current year: 176 177 {{{ 178 ## Show this year's events. 179 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,start=yearstart,end=yearend)>> 180 ## Show events from last December to next January. 181 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,start=yearstart-1,end=yearend+1)>> 182 }}} 183 184 === Event Naming === 185 186 The default calendar view shows event names once per week. However, you can choose to show an event name on each day an event occurs: 187 188 {{{ 189 ## Show the name on every day. 190 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,names=daily)>> 191 ## Show the name once per week. 192 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,names=weekly)>> 193 }}} 194 195 === Navigation Controls === 196 197 The above examples have all provided fixed views of known events. However, a set of controls can be added to a calendar in order to let users navigate different time periods. This is done by providing a `calendar` parameter, indicating the name of the calendar, and by specifying a period of time: 198 199 {{{ 200 ## Provide a navigable calendar. 201 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,start=current,end=current,calendar=monthly)>> 202 }}} 203 204 Without any time period, the calendar would show all events, and there would be no real need to provide navigation, since there would be no events outside the displayed period to navigate to. It is possible to omit either the `start` or the `end` parameter and still provide navigation, however. 205 206 === Assigning Templates and Parent Pages === 207 208 New events can be added to a calendar by following the "New event" links provided when hovering over each of the day numbers; this opens the form provided by the !EventAggregatorNewEvent action. For all events belonging to a particular calendar, it can be convenient to assign a default template page, so that the information provided by such events is consistent. Thus, it is possible to specify such a template page using the `template` parameter. For example: 209 210 {{{ 211 ## Specify a particular template page as the default event page template. 212 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,template=SpecialEventTemplate)>> 213 }}} 214 215 It can also be convenient to add new event pages under a common parent page. This can be achieved by specifying such a page using the `parent` parameter. For example: 216 217 {{{ 218 ## Specify a particular parent page as the default container for new events. 219 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,parent=Events)>> 220 }}} 221 222 Creating an event called '''Meeting''' under a parent called '''Events''' will make the page '''Events/Meeting''', and this will be shown as '''Meeting''' in the calendar. However, if a different parent is chosen, such as '''Meetings''', then the full path to the page will be shown in the calendar: '''Meetings ?? Meeting'''. 223 224 == Showing Event Lists and Tables == 225 226 A more plain view of events can be displayed by specifying the `mode` parameter as follows: 227 228 {{{ 229 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,mode=list)>> 230 }}} 231 232 The `list` value causes a list view to be employed. 233 234 Another alternative view can be chosen by specifying the `mode` parameter with a value of `table` as in the following example: 235 236 {{{ 237 <<EventAggregator(CategoryEvents,mode=table)>> 238 }}} 239 240 This collects all appropriate events into a single table, applying colouring to the cells belonging to a particular event based on that event's topic (or category) information. By default, only the following topics (or categories) cause cell colouring: 241 242 * `conference` - using the `event-table-category-conference` style 243 * `special` - using the `event-table-category-special` style 244 * `training` - using the `event-table-category-training` style 245 246 To define your own topic colours, edit the `event-aggregator.css` file which is provided with the !EventAggregator distribution, and then reinstall that file for each of the Wiki themes of interest. Topics involved in event colouring should be mutually exclusive: more than one such topic should not be specified for any given event. 247 248 === The Default View and Switching Views === 249 250 The `calendar` value for the `mode` parameter causes the default calendar view to be employed, but you can switch the view - effectively changing the `mode` - using the links provided below the view produced by this macro. 251 252 == See Also == 253 254 * HelpOnEventAggregatorNewEvent - an action providing a form for creating new events conveniently 255 * HelpOnEventAggregatorSummary - an action producing iCalendar event summaries