New EA user: several questions

[clashley1976]

Hello. I just purchased and installed EA earlier tonight. My website is structured heavily around integration with a Facebook page, and the recent Facebook API changes rendered my existing event import routine dead in the water.

My organization’s Facebook page has an event section with a few hundred events in the region; about 35 are events that the page has created, and the rest have been created by other organizers and added to the page.

Since I am new to EA, there are some behaviors that I’m not used to, but I don’t know if it is inherent to the plugin, or is just fallout from the Facebook API uproar:

Event image import seems inconsistent: I’ve successfully imported about 200 future events from my Facebook page. Of all of the imports, only about 23 of the events imported images, and all of them were very far in the future. This isn’t a deal-breaker, but it is confusing. Any ideas why this is happening?

When using a Facebook page import, EA always displays my organization name as the Event Organizer, even if the imported event was created by a different Facebook entity. When using an Facebook profile iCal import, the organizer is left blank. The plugin I used before would create a new Event Organizer based on the name of the Facebook event host, but it seems EA uses the Facebook page name as the organizer for the entire import. I’m not sure if this inherent to EA, or if this an API issue, but I do want to find a fix for this. This could create ambiguity for site visitors about correct POCs for events.

When importing from a Facebook page, EA leaves the venue blank if the Facebook event is a hand-typed address (not a tag). However, it does import the hand-typed values when importing from a personal Facebook iCal link. Without addresses, the map does not work as intended. I was able to manually update the missing venues by creating a one-time import of my personal Facebook event calendar iCal file, and then cross-referencing the events with blank venues, but there are some drawbacks:

• It’s very time-consuming to reconcile the iCal and page imports by hand
• iCal import creates duplicate entries
• iCal import seems to extend only about 5 months into the future, even though I have about 10 months of events on my personal profile
• Overall, I’m very pleased with TEC and feel it adds a lot of value to my organization’s website. The Facebook integration is key to my existing strategy, and I’m hope to smooth it out with EA, but need a better understanding of what to reasonably expect.

[clashley1976]

Another issue I realized with iCal imports is that all of the iCal events are imported into UTC, instead of the local timezone of the event. Our coverage region spans two timezones, so some events are located in neighboring timezones. It seems the iCal method is not going to be viable for me at all, so I’m down to three issues:

-Inconsistent importing of event images
-Event organizer defaults to the name of my Facebook page, not the actual event organizers
-Event venue is not populated if the Facebook event is manually-typed (not a tag), which means the events do not populate on the map (a primary feature for my userbase)

As stated before, I’m not clear which of these behaviors are related to the Facebook API situation vs. the nature of the EA plugin.

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Cameron,

Welcome and thanks so much for reaching out!

Facebook recently announced a range of changes (https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/04/restricting-data-access/) to their APIs (the protocols we use to ‘speak’ to their servers and retrieve event information) which are having an affect on a number of our users.

We are currently figuring things out as they continue to evolve with the Facebook Privacy Policy. For now, the best places to check in on the status of our plugin’s access to Facebook are https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/ea-fb-privacy-policy/ and https://theeventscalendar.com/event-aggregator-status/.

If your imports are still working, I would keep things set up the way that you have them, however it is not usual for things to be out of whack for right now.

Let me know if you have any other questions on this topic, and also if you’d like to troubleshoot the iCal issue as well.

 

Thanks,

Jaime

 

 

[clashley1976]

I know the facebook API is being constantly revised. I had set up a scheduled hourly Facebook import from my page through EA. That worked OK until sometime last night; when I logged into this morning, it showed that the import routine had started failing and then began running every nine or ten minutes or so; with over 100 attempts overnight (it shouldn’t have run more than a dozen time or so). I simply deleted the hourly job since it wasn’t actually importing anything, and was concerned that my webhost could complain about processor load.

I did a preview of a manual iCal import from my personal Facebook feed this morning, and that still functions, but there are some drawbacks:

Events are all imported in UTC, not the timezone of the event
Events are only imported until mid-September 2018, but my calendar has events through January of 2019

I’m not sure if it is a matter of the UTC offset, or the fact that the iCal import is a different source, but proceeding with the iCal import creates duplicate events. Right now, iCal is not a viable option for me, and the Facebook feed is not working reliably due to the Facebook API. At this point, I’m hand-jamming new entries in my calendar, which defeats the purpose of the EA.

If the iCal issues can be solved, it would help.

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Cameron,

As a first troubleshooting step, could you please provide us with your complete system information in a private reply using the instructions found in the following link?

https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/sharing-sys-info/

Let me know if anything else comes up in the meantime!

 

Thanks,

Jaime

[clashley1976]

This reply is private.

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Cameron,

Thanks for providing me with that information.

Events are all imported in UTC, not the timezone of the event

It looks like your site is set up with a different timezone (New York), so events should import in that timezone.  I believe you already have the timezone set to use the local timezone under Events Settings < General and Show Timezone, is that correct?  If not, try using this setting instead.

Events are only imported until mid-September 2018, but my calendar has events through January of 2019

Can you try changing your import date range under Events Settings < Imports to something further in the future, or set Import Limit Type to Do not limit and save changes.

I’m not sure if it is a matter of the UTC offset, or the fact that the iCal import is a different source, but proceeding with the iCal import creates duplicate events.

Can you try changing your Event Update Authority under Events Settings < Imports to Overwrite my event… and Save Changes.

https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/event-aggregator-import-settings/

After making these changes, try your import again and let me know what you see.

If you still see the issues, can you provide me with the URL that you are trying to import, so that I can do some testing on my end?

Also, can you enable and check the Event Log under Events < Help to see if you see anything unusual?

Right under that is your Event Aggregator Status. Can you take a screenshot of what you see there?

Let me know how that goes!

 

Thanks,

Jaime

 

 

 

[clashley1976]

Thanks for providing me with that information.

Events are all imported in UTC, not the timezone of the event

It looks like your site is set up with a different timezone (New York), so events should import in that timezone. I believe you already have the timezone set to use the local timezone under Events Settings < General and Show Timezone, is that correct? If not, try using this setting instead.

*** I have changed the option to “Use the site-wide time zone everywhere”. Now, when the iCal import comes in, the edit event screen shows the start/end time in UTC, however, viewing the event shows it in EDT (the site-wide timezone). It seems that that iCal is not importing timezone information with the event. My concern is that I have events that are based in two different timezones (Eastern and Central), so this workaround will not be accurate for Central-time based events.

Events are only imported until mid-September 2018, but my calendar has events through January of 2019

Can you try changing your import date range under Events Settings < Imports to something further in the future, or set Import Limit Type to Do not limit and save changes.

*** I set the import limit type to “Do not limit.” The preview of a one-time iCal import showed all expected events (254 in total), so this seems to be resolved.

I’m not sure if it is a matter of the UTC offset, or the fact that the iCal import is a different source, but proceeding with the iCal import creates duplicate events.

Can you try changing your Event Update Authority under Events Settings < Imports to Overwrite my event… and Save Changes.

*** I’m very hesitant to change the Event Update Authority, as I have spent several hours making adjustments to individual events (particularly in updating venues and organizers), however, I can show you an instance of a duplicate of an event based on the import source:
http://artesianccc.org/eventcalendar/accc-cruise-to-dairy-queen-albany-to-sylvester-3/ – imported from Facebook Feed
http://artesianccc.org/eventcalendar/accc-cruise-to-dairy-queen-albany-to-sylvester-2/ – imported from iCal feed
It seems that the iCal import is not attempting to update an existing event, but is creating a new one.

https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/event-aggregator-import-settings/

After making these changes, try your import again and let me know what you see.

If you still see the issues, can you provide me with the URL that you are trying to import, so that I can do some testing on my end?

*** This is the iCal link I am attempting to import. It is the calendar of my personal Facebook profile. The events on this calendar are the same as my desired Facebook Page feed (https://www.facebook.com/ArtesianCityCarClub/events/)

Also, can you enable and check the Event Log under Events < Help to see if you see anything unusual?

*** The event log section only says “The selected log file is empty or has not been generated yet” regardless of which Logging Level option is selected.

Right under that is your Event Aggregator Status. Can you take a screenshot of what you see there?

Let me know how that goes!

*** Screenshot is attached.

[clashley1976]

Sorry, accidentally left out the iCal link in the message above: webcal://www.facebook.com/ical/u.php?uid=100000535717384&key=AQBCP1g-MCPOO0Pe

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Cameron,

Thanks for providing me with that information.

I actually meant that you should keep the setting to preserve the local timezone for each event.  Can you change that back?  Sorry for the confusion!

Also, your iCal imports will update events that have been imported by that source, so it will not update another event that was added by Facebook, even if it is the same event.  Does that make sense?

So the only issue you are still experiencing here is the timezone issue, is that correct?  Can you check the timezone that is set in the source and make sure that it is the correct timezone?

Let me know how that goes!

 

Thanks,

Jaime

[clashley1976]

This is what I’m seeing with the iCal imports and timezones. When the option is set to preserve the local timezone, the iCal events display in UTC, because the iCal events are importing that the events are held in UTC (see attached screenshot).

I am also noticing that the iCal import does not populate the event organizer at all, nor is it importing event images.

I understand now that the import source of the event will determine if an event already exists and needs to be updated, or if it should be created. Most of the existing events in my calendar were imported from my Facebook Page before the Facebook API lockdown, and I have already manually validated the venues and organizers for each of those existing events. Unfortunately, it seems that those entries in my calendar are now static, since I cannot update them from the Facebook page, and an iCal import of the same event set will create new entries alongside the existing ones. It also appears that the new entries will be missing Timezone, Organizer, and image information (and any adjustments I had made the venue information may need to be re-corrected).

If I can get the iCal part to behave correctly, it could be a viable workaround for the Facebook API issue, but the timezone and organizer pieces could be deal-breakers. The featured images would be nice to have, but those are less critical than the first two items.

[clashley1976]

Ugh. Try this attachment instead. Need more coffee 🙂

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Cameron,

If the iCal events are set to UTC, then no matter what setting you change on your site, the events will be imported with UTC time.  The settings on your site can change the appearance of the event times on the front-end, but they will still be in UTC.

You can see that is the case by looking at the source data in this iCalendar Validator.  You will see a “Z” appended to the time, which indicates UTC.

The iCal link doesn’t work for me currently, so I am unable to import and test it out.  Does it work for you currently?

So the other things that are missing are Organizers and Featured Images, correct?  Is this with all of your events, or only some of them?

Let me know!

 

Thanks,

Jaime

[clashley1976]

That’s informative. The iCalendar Validator returned this for my iCal link (this is a sample of the three events at the top of the list, it actually pulled in about 264 events, including some previous events).

Looking at the data, I can see that the timestamps uniformly are delivered in UTC (Z code). There is a Location tag, but it is only the name of the location specified in the Facebook event; I’m not seeing any that shares geographic data. Additionally, I don’t see anything that seems to indicate image data. I do see that there is an “Organizer” field (although all of the addresses seem to refer to “[email protected]”), so hopefully at least the organizer names can be imported via iCal.

Judging from the data here, it seems I’m stuck with UTC times and venue names (but not map-able data), and images will not likely be possible via iCal imports. If we can get Organizers to work with iCal imports, that would be helpful.

I really appreciate your diligence in helping me work through this and understand my options.

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Facebook//NONSGML Facebook Events V1.0//EN
X-WR-CALNAME:Cameron Lashley's Facebook Events
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT12H
X-ORIGINAL-URL:/events/
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20180315T031134Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180315T031134Z
CREATED:20150821T001652Z
SEQUENCE:80967282
ORGANIZER;CN=Import Face Off:MAILTO:[email protected]
DTSTART:20190210T130000Z
DTEND:20190210T220000Z
UID:[email protected]
SUMMARY:Import Face-Off Gainesville, FL - 2/10/19
LOCATION:Gainesville Raceway
URL:https://www.facebook.com/events/496920137139807/
DESCRIPTION:The Import Face-Off national car s
 how and drag racing series will be
  in Gainesville\, FL on February 11
 th\, 2018  ! ALL EVENT INFO AND CON
 TACT ON WWW.IMPORTFACEOFF.NET\n\nGat
 es open 8am\, racing starts at 10\, 
 eliminations around 1\, event ends 
 around 5pm. Car show and stereo re
 gistration from 9am to noon\, absol
 ute latest 2pm. Awards ceremony ar
 ound 4:30.\n\nEVENT ACTIVITIES:\nCar/
 truck/bike show\, 1/4 mile drag rac
 ing\, burnout contest (time permitt
 ing)\, low car limbo\, 2 step/rev ba
 ttle\, DJ\, stereo contest\, vendors.
  \n\nPRICES\nSpectator $17 online\, $1
 8 with flier at gate\, $20 without 
 flier\nChildren 10 and under FREE\nC
 ar Show Entry $35 at gate $25 onli
 ne (does not include free passenge
 r pass).\nStereo Contest $35 at gat
 e $25 online (does not include fre
 e passenger pass).\nTest and Tune D
 rag Racer $35 at gate $25 online (
 open to any make/model)\nCompetitio
 n Drag Racer $35 at gate $25 onlin
 e (imports and sport compacts only
 )\nBurnout Contest FREE\n*Free pit s
 ide parking for spectators if purc
 hase tickets online\n\nIf you would 
 like to help pass out fliers while
  making some extra cash\, please em
 ail your 1) full name\, 2) complete
  mailing address\, and 3) amount of
  fliers you'd like (envelope of 20
 0 or box of 500) to importfaceoff@
 hotmail.com Promoters are assigned
  a number and are paid on commissi
 on\, $2 for every flier that comes 
 in with your number on it. Spectat
 ors bring in the fliers because of
  the $2 off admission coupon. Chec
 ks are mailed out within a week af
 ter the event. The program pays we
 ll if you get enough fliers out. T
 here are successful\, repeat promot
 ers every year at every location.\n
 \nhttps://www.facebook.com/events/4
 96920137139807/
CLASS:PUBLIC
STATUS:CONFIRMED
PARTSTAT:TENTATIVE
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20180313T223936Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180313T223936Z
CREATED:20171208T145358Z
SEQUENCE:8235938
ORGANIZER;CN=Gateway Classic Cars of Atlanta:MAILTO:[email protected]
DTSTART:20181229T140000Z
DTEND:20181229T170000Z
UID:[email protected]
SUMMARY:December Cars & Coffee Atlanta
LOCATION:Gateway Classic Cars of Atlanta
URL:https://www.facebook.com/events/141749989814249/
DESCRIPTION:So far we have had some Great turn
 outs\, but we want to keep on growi
 ng!  Hang out with Gateway Classic
  Cars on the last Saturday of ever
 y month for Cars & Coffee!  Enjoy 
 delicious donuts\, coffee\, & all or
  our newest arrivals!  No Admissio
 n fee and kid friendly.  All makes
  and models are welcome to cruise 
 in and if you dont have a cruiser 
 we still want you and your family 
 to come.  \n\n250+ classics & exotic
 s!\n\n1870 McFarland Parkway\nSuite 3
 00\nAlpharetta \, GA 30005\nP: 678-89
 4-4833\natlanta@gatewayclassiccars.
 com\n\nhttps://www.facebook.com/even
 ts/141749989814249/
CLASS:PUBLIC
STATUS:CONFIRMED
PARTSTAT:TENTATIVE
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20180314T053727Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180314T053727Z
CREATED:20180103T210624Z
SEQUENCE:5992263
ORGANIZER;CN=Artesian City Car Club:MAILTO:[email protected]
DTSTART:20181213T230000Z
DTEND:20181214T010000Z
UID:[email protected]
SUMMARY:ACCC Monthly Business Meeting
LOCATION:Blackbeard's-B & B Bar-B-Que
URL:https://www.facebook.com/events/128276701302980/
DESCRIPTION:NEW LOCATION - Effective January 2
 018\, the monthly business meeting 
 will be held at Blackbeard's B & B
  Bar-B-Que\, at 2209 N Slappey Blvd
 \, Albany\, GA 31701\n\nMonthly Busine
 ss meeting for the Artesian City C
 ar Club. Dinner is at 6:00 PM\, and
  meeting begins at 7:00 PM.\n\nhttps
 ://www.facebook.com/events/1282767
 01302980/
CLASS:PUBLIC
STATUS:CONFIRMED
PARTSTAT:ACCEPTED
END:VEVENT

[Jaime Marchwinski]

Hi Cameron,

Unfortunately, it looks like we do have a current bug report on the issue to import Organizers via iCal import, which explains why your Organizers are not being imported, despite being visible in the source data of your URL.

In that case, if you download the .ics file from the same iCalendar and do a manual import, then it should import (and create) the organizers.

I will set this thread’s status as “Pending fix” and link it to the report. This way, we will notify you once a fix is released.

We apologize for the inconvenience and we appreciate your patience while we work on this.

Please let me know if you have any other questions in the meantime!

 

Thanks,

Jaime

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