Import into 2 different Categories from 1 site

[serpcom]

Hi,

It looks like the iCal URL is the same for all categories on the site I am importing from; which does not appear to allow me to sync the correct category onto the site I am broadcasting too correctly, is this possible?

From a single site. I need to separate out two types of event listings… “Events” is one Category on the site I am importing from and “Sales & Promotions” is the other category.

But when I go to the category page; which is a unique URL; to import strictly the “Events” listings onto the site I am importing too…it gives me the same iCal URL which attempts to import both “Event Listings” and “Sales & Promotions” Listings.

I need to do this on 100+ sites, all built within our multi-site network with the same exact two categories set up on each site; but they need to import correctly into the site we are importing too correctly. It is a shopping destination site, so need to be able to sync the event category correctly into the site we are importing too; what we are calling the mothership event calendar for the whole property.

Any ideas or workarounds?

Here is example Event Category Page:
http://faneuilhallmarketplaceboston.com/anthem-kitchen-bar/events/category/events/

Here is example “Sales & Promotions Category Page:
http://faneuilhallmarketplaceboston.com/anthem-kitchen-bar/events/category/sales-promotions/

When I look at the source code of both pages they show this as the iCal URL:
http://faneuilhallmarketplaceboston.com/anthem-kitchen-bar/events/?ical=1

Which is not unique to the category. And when I upload that to the ical importer I have to choose Strictly one category for the events to be imported to. Therefor putting both sales and events into one category, instead of correctly posting them into their correct place on the ‘mothership”.

Then lastly, where I have 100+ of these to set up, is it possible to set up the recurring events import on sites that do not have an event post yet? We are in pre-launch so it would be great if I could set this up in advance without having to put over 100 fake events on the site; which will not look good for launch….

Your assistance is much appreciated. Thank You.

[Geoff]

Hey Jonathan, thanks for getting in touch!

This is an interesting use case and one that I honestly have not seen come up before.

iCal Importer is currently set up to fetch events from as many sources as it is provided. So, in this case, where there are two instances of the same source, iCal Importer recognizes that as two sources, which it them imports. iCal Importer is smart enough to know when an event is being imported twice, so that is why it is attempting to combine the two requests into one and merge the categories together rather than importing the same event twice.

Unfortunately, what iCal Importer is unable to do is fetch from a source and distinguish between different categories. If it pulls up the same event in multiple queries, then it will do its best to merge those requests together rather than perform duplicative imports. In other words, I’m afraid that the plugin isn’t well suited to fetch events in this particular way.

I’m sorry for the bad news, but does this at least help clarify things a bit? Please let me know.

Thanks,
Geoff

[serpcom]

Hey Jeff,

I actually figured it out this morning!!

I was able to make it work within the existing technology (possibly likely because it is a multi-site network) however.

What I found, was that if I set the Categories on the sites I am importing FROM; to be the same as how I want them appear on the site I am broadcasting TO….that if I leave the SELECT CATEGORY option BLANK within the import tool….it actually imports the source calendar into the correct categories for me!

So all I had to do was pull in the single URL and not set the category and it works!

On a seperate note, on these same lines what I have uncovered is a new issue related to the SAME type of thing.

Only issue with this; is that now on my widget displayed in the left rail of the site…I can not ONLY pull in Events. It pulls in all events from all categories.

Is there any way to select EVENT Categories in the Widgets options for the Event List Widget…rather then just the number of posts….Like the default wordpress blog post categories allows????

This way my widget could strictly pull in the events where desired…and/or the sales & promotions where desired?

[Geoff]

Oh man, that is AWESOME! Seriously nice work — that’s definitely going to be useful for others.

Is there any way to select EVENT Categories in the Widgets options for the Event List Widget…rather then just the number of posts….Like the default wordpress blog post categories allows????

Yes, but only in the version that comes with Events Calendar PRO. The list widget included in that version will allow you to filter events displayed in the list by a number of options, including category.

You are awesome for following up and providing that solution!

Geoff

[Support Droid]

This topic has not been active for quite some time and will now be closed.

If you still need assistance please simply open a new topic (linking to this one if necessary)
and one of the team will be only too happy to help.

[Author]

Posts