Confusion over "Recurring Events"

[Kary]

I just purchased your Pro calendar. I’ve been researching calendars for days and days now and can’t find a single one that suits the needs of one of my clients 100%. Your’s looked promising but unfortunately I’m stumped, right out of the gate.

I realize your Pro version has recurring events. But I have a single course that takes place over 3 days. It is also recurring in that the same 3-day course is held in different months at different venues. So “recurring events” is extremely misleading and the entire way the single course is displayed is very confusing. Because this one course is offered at different times of the year, it already is displayed multiple times in the calendar. That’s good.

What’s NOT good is the way the single 3-day event displays three times in the list view. It looks like three different classes for the same course. So if the course is offered twice a year, it should only display TWICE…not SIX times. Do you see how confusing that is?? I simply want to be able to create a course and set a start and ending time for each day. It’s not an all-day event that lasts three days (although that scenario is closer to accurate than “recurring.”) Please tell me that there is a way to do this. You are the third calendar I’ve set up and tested out. I have no hair left as I’ve pulled it all out from frustration. 🙁

[Kary]

Okay…thankfully I see in the admin area where I can turn off the repeated view of the same event. However, the list view is still confusing and I’m hoping I can tweak it with two changes to template files. However, I need help figuring out which template file to edit and if one of these changes is even possible.

The first one seems simple; I need to insert a bit of text that reads, “Class Starts:” in front of the date. You can see the attached image for what I’m talking about. This one would be easy because it wouldn’t matter if it’s a 1, 2 or 3-day class.

It’s the second addition that might be tricky, and I’m not certain if it’s possible. I’d like to replace “Recurring Event” with “3-Day Course”, “2-Day Course” or “1-Day Course,” depending on what type of course it is. “Recurring Event” is confusing and again I think someone might think the same course offered later in the month might be related to this instance of the course.

I’m just trying to make things as clear as possible. Can I do this? And if so, which template file(s) do I need to create in order to make these changes.

Thanks.

[George]

Hey Cary,

Thanks for reaching out. At this time, we unfortunately do not have support for multiple venues for the same event—whether the event is a recurring event or not. 🙁

Is this fact alone a deal-breaker for your needs? If so, let me know.

As for code customizations, we unfortunately cannot assist with modifying plugin code. Read more here → https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/what-support-is-provided-for-license-holders/

So, you mention wanting to make this customization:

I’d like to replace “Recurring Event” with “3-Day Course”, “2-Day Course” or “1-Day Course,” depending on what type of course it is.

To hopefully at least help you get started in the right direction, the best I can recommend here is to open a code editor that has a “Find in Folder” feature. Use this to search in the plugin files for instances of the term “Recurring %s” (the %s is used instead of the literal word “event” or “events” for the purposes of translation and such).

Where you find these instances of that term you can write your custom logic for determining if it’s a 3-day, 2-day, etc. course. If you cannot write this custom code yourself, then your best course of action would be to hire a professional developer to assist you. We have a list of great developers here → http://m.tri.be/18k1 (and we have no affiliation with any of these folks–they’re simply some well-respected names in the community that we’ve compiled).

Let me know if there is anything else I can try to help with!

Best of luck with your customizations,
George

[Kary]

I think there is some confusion here.

At this time, we unfortunately do not have support for multiple venues for the same event—whether the event is a recurring event or not. 🙁

This wasn’t really what I need/needed. My concern was that “recurring” events looked confusing when displayed with events that I was manually “repeating.” I’m fine with having to input the same course over and over at two different venues during the year. But they look confusing when displayed on the calendar as what should be (for example) two courses that take place over 3 days each…appear 6 times on the calendar. Multiply that by a few courses that do this several times a year, and it gets very muddled and confusing. That is what my second post was about.

Support is a rolling stone and gathers no moss. Of course while I waited for a reply here, I continued to tinker and try to figure out how to make the plugin work for my needs. I found solutions to some of my problems mentioned in this thread and fixed them. But ultimately I found a bigger issue I can’t fix, and I can’t live with.

I appreciate your response to my second comment related to this topic. In the end (based on another support question I had) I’m unable to use your calendar because of it’s lack of advanced filtering. I don’t need to get into this in this thread because I’ve already explained my issues elsewhere. But in the end, “yes,” the lack of filtering is a deal-breaker. I could have probably lived with the issues I mentioned in this thread. But I can’t use the calendar without an ability to filter events in a more drilled down fashion. But thanks for your help.

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by Kary.

[George]

Hi @Kary,

I’m sorry about the disappointing nature of our plugins for your needs. I have responded in your other thread with instructions for going about getting a refund, but just for some redundancy here, you can get a refund by following the steps on this page → https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/refund-policy/

Thank you for trying out our plugins to begin with. I wish you the best of luck with your site!

– George

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