Tweaking Event Aggregator Imports

tribe_aggregator_before_save_event

This filter hook allows you to modify the event data before it is saved in the database. This is for both when saving and updating events.

Location: the-events-calendar/src/Tribe/Aggregator/Record/Abstract.php:2059

$event = apply_filters( 'tribe_aggregator_before_save_event', $event, $this );

It accepts two parameters.

1. $event is an array of the event data to be saved. This is the one we can modify.
2. $this is the Importer record, an object, which contains a lot of contextual data, for example, the source URL and the origin (Google, Meetup, etc.) of the import. Note, when hooking into the filter you cannot use $this as the parameter name; you will need to use a different name.

tribe_aggregator_before_update_event

This filter hook allows you to modify the event data before it is updated. (It’s almost the same as the first one, but works only when updating events.)

Location: the-events-calendar/src/Tribe/Aggregator/Record/Abstract.php:2074

$event = apply_filters( 'tribe_aggregator_before_update_event', $event, $this );

Parameters like above.

tribe_aggregator_before_insert_event

This filter hook allows you to modify the event data before it is inserted into the database. (It’s almost the same as the first one, but works only when saving new events.)

Location: the-events-calendar/src/Tribe/Aggregator/Record/Abstract.php:2110

$event = apply_filters( 'tribe_aggregator_before_insert_event', $event, $this );

Parameters like above.

tribe_aggregator_after_insert_post

As the name suggests, this action hook runs after an event has been saved in the database. It allows you to do something extra after an event is saved, for example, changing the featured image.

Location: the-events-calendar/src/Tribe/Aggregator/Record/Abstract.php:2231

do_action( 'tribe_aggregator_after_insert_post', $event, $item, $this );

It accepts three parameters:

• $event an array of the event data that was sent and saved.
• $item is an array, the raw version of the event data that was sent to the site.
• $this is the Importer record, the object, like above.

$event

The event data to be saved in an array. In your snippet, you can access them like $event['post_title']. Here are the array keys:

• post_title
• post_content
• post_excerpt
• EventStartDate – in YYYY-MM-DD format
• EventStartHour – integer
• EventStartMinute – with leading zero
• EventStartMeridian – uppercase AM or PM)
• EventEndDate – in YYYY-MM-DD format
• EventEndHour – integer
• EventEndMinute – with leading zero
• EventEndMeridian – uppercase AM or PM
• EventTimezone – e.g. America/Detroit
• EventURL
• EventAllDay – boolean
• categories – array of strings
• tags – array of strings
• EventOriginalID – post ID on the source site; only for Other URL source
• EventCurrencySymbol
• EventCurrencyPosition
• EventCost
• hide_from_listings – boolean; only for Other URL source
• sticky – boolean; only for Other URL source
• Venue (array of strings)
• EventVenueID – post ID of the venue, if found on the site
• Organizer – array
  • OrganizerID – array of strings
• post_type – “tribe_events”
• ID – the post ID

$this

The importer record, an object. In your snippet the parameter name cannot be $this; you can use $data instead, like in the examples below.

The post attribute contains information about the current import record. You can access these values like $data->post['key']. The more important items are:

• ID – the post ID of the import record
• post_author – the ID of the user who set up the current import
• post_date – time when the import was created
• post_date_gmt – time when the import was created
• post_title – the type of import: manual/scheduled and the source type
• post_status – custom status. During the import, it’s usually “tribe_ea_pending”.
• post_type – “tribe-ea-record”

The meta attribute contains information about the current import process. (This will likely be more useful.) You can access its values like $data->meta['key']. Most of these items can be found and set before previewing the import. The more important items are:

• import_name – The name of the import, if set
• origin – the origin type; Can be: gcal, ical, url, meetup, eventbrite, ics, csv
• type – scheduled or manual
• keywords – the keywords used
• start – unix timestamp; events after this time are imported
• end – unix timestamp; events before this time are imported
• source – the URL where events are imported from
• post_status – the post status set for the imported events

$item

The raw version of the event data that was sent to the site. The existence of some of these values depends on what the source site supports.

• title – the event title
• description – the event description, sanitized.
• start_date – in YYYY-MM-DD format
• end_date – in YYYY-MM-DD format
• start_hour – integer
• end_hour – integer
• start_minute – with leading zero
• end_minute – with leading zero
• timezone – e.g. America/Detroit
• uid – unique ID, if provided by the source calendar
• unsafe_title – the event title, not sanitized
• unsafe_description – the event description, not sanitized
• venue – array of strings, depending on the source
  • venue – venue name
  • description
  • excerpt
  • address
  • city
  • stateprovince
  • country
  • zip
  • phone
  • website
  • image
  • latitude
  • longitude
• organizer – array of strings, depending on the source
  • organizer – organizer name
  • description
  • excerpt
  • slug
  • phone
  • email
  • website
  • image
• show_map – boolean, the “Show Map” checkbox value; for Other URL source
• show_map_link – boolean, the “Show Map Link” checkbox value; for Other URL source
• sticky – boolean, Sticky on month view; for Other URL source
• featured – boolean; for Other URL source
• currency_symbol
• currency_position
• cost
• categories – array of strings
• tags – array of strings

For the filter hooks:

(Change the hook name in the last line if you want to use a different one.)

/**
 * @param array  $event  Event data to save.
 * @param object $data   Importer record.
 *
 * @return array
 */
function my_custom_ea_filter( $event, $data ){
	// Code comes here

    // Return the event data to be saved.
    return $event;
}

add_filter( 'tribe_aggregator_before_save_event', 'my_custom_ea_filter', 10, 2 );

For the action hook:

/**
 * @param array  $event  Which Event data was sent.
 * @param array  $item   Raw version of the data sent from EA.
 * @param object $data   The record we are dealing with.
 */
function my_custom_ea_action( $event, $item, $data ){
	// Code comes here

}

add_action( 'tribe_aggregator_after_insert_post', 'my_custom_ea_action', 10, 3 );

Note, there is no return here, because this is an action hook, not a filter.

Limit code to a specific origin

Event Aggregator supports imports from the following sources:

• Google Calendar (gcal)
• iCalendar (ical)
• Meetup (meetup)
• Eventbrite (eventbrite)
• Other URL (another website running The Events Calendar) (url)
• .ics file (ics)
• .csv file (csv)

Scenario: you’re importing events from 2 different Google calendars, from a Meetup URL, and from an iCalendar feed. You want to do something with events that are imported from the Google calendars and from Meetup.

Use with: both hooks. It’s best to use this at the beginning.

/* START origin validation */

// Get the origin of the current import.
$current_origin = $data->meta['origin'];

// Define what origins the code should run on.
$valid_origins = [
	'gcal',
	'meetup',
];

// Bail, if the import is not from a valid origin.
if ( ! in_array( $current_origin, $valid_origins ) ) {
	return $event;
	// OR in case of the action hook:
	// return;
}

/* END origin validation */

Limit code to a specific source URL

Scenario: you’re importing events from 3 different calendars. You want to do something with events that are imported from two of them.

Use with: both hooks. It’s best to use this at the beginning.

/* START source validation */

// Get the source of the current import.
$current_source = $data->meta['source'];

// Define what sources the code should run on.
$valid_sources = [
	'https://awesomeevents.com/ical-event-calendar.php',
	'https://fantasticevents.com/calendar.ics',
];

// Bail, if the import is not from a valid souce,
if ( ! in_array( $current_source, $valid_sources ) ) {
	return $event;
	// OR in case of the action hook:
	// return;
}

/* END source validation */

Add tags to imported events – simple

Scenario: you want to apply a tag to the imported events.

Use with: tribe_aggregator_after_insert_post (because this doesn’t change the event content).

/* START apply tags */

// Define the tags. Can be an array of tags ...
$tags = [
	'Imported Events',
	'External',
];

// OR ... a string of tags separated by commas.
$tags = 'Imported Events, External';

// Add the tags.
wp_add_post_tags( $event['ID'], $tags );

/* END apply tags */

Add tags to imported events – advanced

Scenario: you are importing events from different sources and you would like to apply different tags depending on the source.

Use with: tribe_aggregator_after_insert_post (because this doesn’t change the event content).

/* START apply tags */

// Get the source of the current import.
$current_source = $data->meta['source'];

// Define what tags should be added to the events from the different sources.
$sources_and_tags = [
	'https://awesomeevents.com/ical-event-calendar.php' => 'One tag',
	'https://fantasticevents.com/calendar.ics'          => [ 'First tag', 'Second tag', ],
];

// Add the tags based on the source.
if ( array_key_exists( $current_source, $sources_and_tags ) ) {
	wp_add_post_tags( $event['ID'], $sources_and_tags[ $current_source ] );
}

/* END apply tags */

Assign a venue to imported events

Scenario: You are importing events from a source that doesn’t provide consistent information about the event venues.

Use with: tribe_aggregator_after_insert_post (because this doesn’t change the event content).

/* START add venue */

// Get the venue of the event
$venue_id = tribe_get_venue_id( $event['ID'] );

// If there is already a venue, then skip.
if ( ! empty( $venue_id ) ) {
	return;
}

// Define the venue ID you want to add to the event.
$venue_id = 999;

// Add the defined venue ID to the event.
update_post_meta( $event_id, '_EventVenueID', $venue_id );

/* END add venue */

Set a featured image

Scenario: You would like to set the same featured image (6697) for all events having “Coffee Hour” in their title. You want to set a different featured image (6575) for events with the exact title “Game Time”. And you want to set a generic featured image (2816) to everything else.

Use with: tribe_aggregator_after_insert_post (because this doesn’t change the event content).

/* START set featured image */

// Default featured image ID.
$featured_image_id = 2816;

// Partial match with title.
if ( is_int( strpos( $item->title, "Coffee Hour" ) ) ) {
	$featured_image_id = 6697;
}

// Exact match with title.
if ( $item->title == 'Game Time' ) {
	$featured_image_id = 6575;
}

// Set the featured image.
set_post_thumbnail( $event['ID'], $featured_image_id );

/* END set featured image */

Remove taxonomies from an event

Scenario: You would like to categorize the imported events differently, than they are categorized on the source site, so you don’t want to import categories and tags.

Use with: tribe_aggregator_before_save_event (because this changes event data).

/* START remove taxonomies */

// Remove categories.
unset( $event['categories'] );

// Remove tags.
unset( $event['tags'] );

/* END remove taxonomies */

Remove event URL

By default, when importing an event, and there is no website URL set up for the event, Event Aggregator will add the source URL as the website URL.

Scenario: you don’t want your events to link back to the source site.

Use with: tribe_aggregator_before_save_event (because this changes event data).

/* START remove event URL */

// Get the source of the current import.
$current_source = $data->meta['source'];

// If the event URL matches the source URL, remove it.
if ( $event['EventURL'] == $data->meta['source'] ) {
	$event['EventURL'] = '';
}

/* END remove event URL */