Recurring events records changed when Pro is updated

[crharrison]

This is a continuation of https://theeventscalendar.com/support/forums/topic/events-disappear/#post-1020296

I followed instructions and found that when Pro is updated, the recurring events records remain in the Dashboard events list, but they are no longer shown as recurring.

Therefore, a recurring event disappears from the front-end view of the calendar, and the back end shows the same event listed many times (say 104 times for an event recurring weekly for 2 years). This seems to be true when the original recurring event was created more than 2 years ago.

As we have many calendars installed in our WP multisite network, we’re having to revert to old versions (for the 4th time). Recreating records for recurring events on all calendars would take several days, during which time all calendars would be incorrect — not a real solution.

[Nico]

Hi @crharrison,

Thanks for getting in touch and sorry to hear this is still an issue. I reviewed the past exchange you had with George to be familiarized with the issue, but I still have a couple of doubts. Also, before jumping into the actual issue I would like to make a recommendation:

Can you please create a local instance of the site’s network? I mean running it in a local server in your computer like XAMPP. This will allow us to have a development environment where we can try to make this right for once and for all without disturbing your clients nor the site visitors.

We are migrating everything to a different hosting company in a few days. That will make it possible to test the updates on the calendar plug-in in a way that will not damage our relationships with our clients.

If this is still valid maybe there’s no need to run the network locally, if we have a safe development environment in this “new” server.

I followed instructions and found that when Pro is updated, the recurring events records remain in the Dashboard events list, but they are no longer shown as recurring.

I guess you are referring to the last instructions sent by George in the previous thread, right? Could you identify the version in which this breaks?

I followed instructions and found that when Pro is updated, the recurring events records remain in the Dashboard events list, but they are no longer shown as recurring.

Is normal to see that recurring events show multiple times on the back-end event list. If you enter the event to edit it do you see any recurrence settings or is it showing as a single event?

Hope we can make this right, I can imagine the hassle this is for you! I think it’s very important to have a development instance in which we can safely work on, and that it will surely help to get this finally done.

Best,
Nico

[crharrison]

Hi Nico,

The migration to the new web hosting company failed; they weren’t able to complete moving the network after 2 days, so we abandoned the idea.

I have no way to duplicate the network on a local server.

We have a lot of sites — about 80 — and most are in the multisite installation.

When other plug-ins need to be updated, all I have to do, usually, is click on an update link, and it’s done.

With the Events Calendar & Pro, I have to remove old versions (after spending an hour deactivating them all on the sites on our network that use them) and then install new versions.

I have tried stepping up to the next version, after the one that’s been installed; I’ve also tried installing the latest version.

The results are always the same: Recurring events disappear from published calendars.

On the back end — yes, I know it’s normal to have separate listings for each instance of a recurring event. I’ve been using the calendar for more than 3 years. However, after an updated version is installed, the listings all show the SAME DATE in the events list. So if an event started on Aug. 1 and ends on Aug. 29, the events list (after the update) shows all instance of the event on Aug. 1.

Over the past several months, I’ve devoted at least a week of my time trying to get the updates installed without corrupting listings, and I’ve inconvenienced my clients, as well. Their calendars are the most-visited pages on their websites, after their home pages, so having them down or incomplete is a very big deal for them (and for me, as the service provider).

I’ve realized that even if I manually correct all calendars after updating to the current versions of the calendar, I’ll have to go through this process again every time a new version is released.

That’s just not acceptable, so I’m looking for an alternative.

[Nico]

Thanks for the follow up @crharrison.

I understand the situation. But again to see what’s going on we have to be able to test this out in an environment that’s not the live site. Maybe trying to download one site and recreating the problem locally is enough to see what’s going on.

I’ve realized that even if I manually correct all calendars after updating to the current versions of the calendar, I’ll have to go through this process again every time a new version is released.

This is of course not acceptable and it’s why we are working together to make this right! I’m confident that with a testing environment we will be able to find a way to successfully migrate your events data.

Sorry to insist on this point, but please try to make a copy of at least 1 of the sites in a local or even better on an online dev site I can inspect.

Thanks!

Have a great weekend,
Nico

[Support Droid]

Hey there! This thread has been pretty quiet for the last three weeks, so we’re going to go ahead and close it to avoid confusion with other topics. If you’re still looking for help with this, please do open a new thread, reference this one and we’d be more than happy to continue the conversation over there.

Thanks so much!
The Events Calendar Support Team

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