link EC with custom database table

[Erik]

Hello,

We have a mysql table with locations (that is part of a bigger database). We also use the EC. I want to be able to query our locations table and list all the EC-events that take place on a given location.

Therefore I have to link EC with our custom locations table somehow. I was thinking of adding the ID’s of our location table to the location info in the EC. Do you there is a possibility to do that with the PRO version, eg by adding a custom ID-field to the locations-info?

Regards,

Erik Wanrooij

[George]

Hey Erik,

Thanks for reaching out!

Your goal is an interesting one, and after thinking about this for a bit I have some good news to share and some bad news.

The bad news first is that, even if you were to buy a Pro license, what you’re seeking to do is possible but is not something we would be able to provide meaningful assistance with. It would require a good deal of custom coding and tinkering to get things working just right.

With that being said, however, there is some good news here in the sense that what you’re trying to do is possible without needing to upgrade to Pro or anything.

Why? Well, the “Venues” post type within The Events Calendar is what is used by default for event locations and all of that. So if you’re essentially trying to “hijack” the normal Venues post type with your own database tables, you could start working on this without paying a dime for a premium plugin. You could just get to work with the core plugin, The Events Calendar → http://wordpress.org/plugins/the-events-calendar

In fact, I would very much recommend starting with the core plugin before buying any premium add-ons. Because if you get the Venue replacement done right with the core version, then all add-ons just hook into the core version and your workload for ensuring compatibility with add-ons from there would be minimal.

Apologies for the lengthy reply here, Erik. I just wanted to cover this issue as well as I could, and offer some suggestions on where to get started.

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To sum things up:
• yes, you can hook up your own database tables instead of using the default Venues post type.
• However, this is a quiet involved customization and thus even if you bought a premium license you would have to implement this customization on your own.
• With this in mind, then, I would recommend not buying any premium add-ons and just testing your ideas with the core, free plugin The Events Calendar.

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Let me know if you have any further thoughts on this or if there is anything else I can try to help with!

Cheers,
George

[Erik]

Thank you for your detailed answer, George! I think I have to learn a bit more about how WP (and the EC) works. I will try to keep it as simple as possible; perhaps I can even keep the Venues post type untouched and let it exist alongside our custom location-table, as long as I can create a link (join) between the two so I can query both the EC tables and our location database..

I’ll dive into it and will post my findings here. Of course I am open for suggestions/ideas.

Regards,

Erik

[George]

Sounds good, Erik—there is definitely lots of tinkering to do, and WordPress and its underlying technologies in general are quite flexible so there are many options for pulling off what you describe here…

I will close this thread to help keep things organized, but if you want to open a new thread any time for a support question or to share a solution to your problems or anything, please do so any time.

I wish you the best of luck with your project!

Sincerely,
George

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