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I did some further testing. Instead of importing the iCalendar link, I manually saved the .ICS file generated by the iCalendar link and then imported that file in via the ICS file import. When I imported the ICS file manually, the Organizer field was populated by EA, but the details field was still blank, even when there was data in the Description field of the event within ICS file.
Jennifer, here’s an exact screen shot of my import process. It works, because I am essentially importing my personal event calendar from Facebook, not from the my Facebook page, through the iCalendar feed link provided by Facebook. I’m more or less bypassing the Facebook API. The key to making this work is for me to mark myself (using my personal FB profile) as “interested” in each event I want to import into TEC.
There are some drawbacks (no images imported, location addresses do not always import correctly, etc.), but it’s a functional workaround for the Facebook API issue right now.
The specific link to the iCal feed is: webcal://www.facebook.com/ical/u.php?uid=100000535717384&key=AQBCP1g-MCPOO0Pe
The trick is that once I import the event, EA is not populating some fields that are actually populated in the ical feed:
– Details is always blank
– Organizer name is always blankMicrosoft Office is load from the exact same URL as above and successfully imports both of these fields, but EA does not.
Jamie,
Thanks so much for your patience in helping me work through all of this. I did successfully perform an ICS import this morning (by passing the facebook ical feed through Outlook and then uploading it to EA). The organizer field is now populating correctly. I think I now I have a strategy to manage my event synchronization:
– When creating or adding events to my organization’s Facebook Page, ensure that I mark myself as “interested.”
– Link my personal Facebook profile event iCal feed to a desktop application such as Outlook
– Refresh the iCal feed in Outlook, then export the feed to an ICS file on my desktop
– Manually upload the ICS file using the Import function in EA
– Manually edit/update any organizers/venues added by the Import (most of the events we have on our calendar are recurring monthly or annual events, so the majority of the organizers and venues are already in the data tables)It’s obviously not as slick as the previous incarnation, but if/when the Facebook API situation is straightened out, that will make a huge difference. I will keep an eye out for the update to correct the organizer field in the iCal imports.
Since I am stuck with the events importing into UTC, is there an option in TEC that allows users to select their timezone preference? I know that I can set a global option based on my wordpress configuration, but it there was a cookie-stored option, that would be a viable workaround for the UTC-based imports.
Once I get this resolved, my plan is to delete all of the future events from my database (leaving the existing venues and organizers intact), and then start with a fresh ICS import. I think that will get me back up and running. Once I do that, I will be confident in the event listings. After that point, is there an easy way to determine which venues and organizers have been orphaned so I can clean those unbound records out?
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:VEVENTThis 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.
Sorry, accidentally left out the iCal link in the message above: webcal://www.facebook.com/ical/u.php?uid=100000535717384&key=AQBCP1g-MCPOO0Pe
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.
Iām 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.
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 2019I’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.
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.
Thanks, I added the CSS and now both header links are showing in all views.
I did not have any custom CSS in my installation; I only noticed the initial issue when I installed TEC PRO this weekend to obtain the Map view functionality. While using the free version, I never saw any navigation header links in either the Month or List view, and didn’t even realize that they were there (but hidden).
Thanks for the feedback. The custom CSS did add the Next link to the header for the map view, but also added it to the headers for the monthly and list view. Ideally, I’d like the header navigation to be the same as the footer navigation in all of the views.
See the attached screenshots for examples of what I’m seeing after inserting the CSS:
