[Jim McClain]

I guess it’s a good thing I posted the source at pastie.org. The forum don’t like it when you post PHP. 🙂

[Jim McClain]

Well, I did some more research and played around with it some more. Thanks to your guidance and a couple of tutorials on combining conditionals, I got it to work. No errors in the PHP.

Here’s the code I used for the variations in the content wrapper width:

<div id="container_wrap" style=”width:83%;”>

<div id="container_wrap">

And here is the modified conditionals for the right sidebar:

I like the way that works. Now I have a better understanding of the WP conditionals. I also discovered that reading the comments on a tutorial can be very helpful. One posted several examples of combining conditionals and I couldn’t figure out what I did wrong. Turns out, it wasn’t me that did it wrong, it was the tutorial author. Someone deep into the comments corrected him and the author never fixed the problem.

Even so, I hope you’ll let me know if that code I used is okay. I know how bad PHP code that seems to work can cause nasty problems down the line. Thanks again for all your help.

Jim
PS: to anyone wanting to do a copy & paste, I’m not sure if the vertical bar is rendered properly in a forum post. It’s a weird character that sometimes gets twisted up with a broken bar symbol (¦) somehow. I have included the whole source page for my custom template page at pastie.org: http://pastie.org/3960116 I don’t know how long those pages last. If it’s gone by the time you read this, contact me at featherrivercountry.com and I’ll be happy to share.

[Jim McClain]

I tried my edits to the page template. Here is the source: http://pastie.org/3959529

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘<' in /my/server/path/domainfolder/wp-content/themes/weaver-ii-pro-child/custom-events-layout.php on line 31

I thought I was supposed to enclose the conditionals and the source code they applied to in a, opening and closing PHP tag. After that error, I tried removing the PHP tags. You can guess what the page looked like when I did that.

So, not having studied much PHP, I'm kinda at a loss here. I knew I had to do something, because the source code you created would have broken the layout had I left that style declaration increasing the width of the content wrapper to 83%.

When I remove all of my code, including the styled width, the page template works just fine, except for on the pages the right column has been removed. On those pages, the width of the calendar grid remains narrow, as if the right sidebar were still there.

I'm hoping that parse error is just a minor problem and this is easy to fix.

Jim

[Jim McClain]

Rob asked, “A “clone” button is an interesting one; so, just the option to duplicate given events and use that duplicate as the basis for a new event?”

Yes, but pardon me for using the term “clone.” I saw that term on a couple other event type plugins and I certainly don’t mean to copy the terminology or the technology. But duplicate the event so that it isn’t necessary to completely produce a new event when much of the data, including categories and meta data are the same.

That might also appease some who are concerned about duplicate content issues. An event can be duplicated with a single click and then the content can be edited some to prevent duplicate content. Or, for those who don’t worry about duplicate content, an event from last year (or whenever) can be brought to the editor, then duplicated, changing only the dates, time or any other meta data that was necessary.

Something else I thought of on my way to Reno today: tags. WordPress already has a tag system, or you could create a TEC tag feature specific to the plugin. This adds even more ways to narrow a search. The way it is now, it seems like the category list could get rather unwieldy.

Just some thoughts.

Jim

[Jim McClain]

Thanks Jonah, that’s more than I expected. I am getting ready for a 80 mile trip to Reno (doctor’s appointments, not gambling), so I won’t be able to try this out until tonight. I have a feeling the right sidebars are gonna have trouble with that added width I put in to the center column. I’m guessing I can add these same conditionals to that HTML in the file (‘n fact, I’m almost positive – even better, I believe I can put just one set of conditionals in and have them apply to that whole block of code). I’m gonna be giddy as a ten-year old when I see this work – or maybe that will just be the drugs. 😉

You guys do know you have set the bar awfully high for all them other plugin masters.

Jim

[Jim McClain]

As has already been mentioned, sometimes the venue is the same as the organizer. I was thinking it might be a good idea to have a check box to indicate the organizer is the same as the venue and the system would automatically populate the relevant fields. Sorta like shopping sites that have that box to indicate the shipping address is the same as the billing address. One click and done with that part.

Often enough, the title of the event is the same, when events are repeated, but not able to fit into the recurrence options available. I’d like to see the system “remember” as I type.

Speaking of recurrences, I would like to see more options here. I have events that recur every other Wednesday, or every second Friday, or the first and third Monday of every month. I would like to see the kinds of options available that are similar to those you find using Outlook.

For those events that just won’t fit, I’d like to see a “clone” button that will repeat all the data for the event and allow me to make some changes and save it as a new event.

I’m also concerned about duplicate content and like the idea someone came up with about linking all duplicate events to a single entry.

These are just a few I’ve thought of since I began using The Events Calendar 2 weeks ago. These might have been mentioned already. Consider my suggestions just one more vote. It’s the best events script available, in my opinion, but I’m sure you will agree, it can always be better.

Thank you,

Jim

[Jim McClain]

Yes, Jonah, that does help. I saved those conditionals last week when I was searching the forum for help. Problem for me is, I don’t really know where to insert the conditionals in my new page template.

When I commented out the right column call in the page template, the sidebar didn’t show, but the center column remained narrow, as if the right sidebar was there. When I used inline style to increase the width to 83%, it looked much better (still not sure it’s exactly right though). Is there any conditionals that would work for that?

As you can see from the link to my page source code, the sidebar I DON’T want is called near the bottom, from the same PHP the footer is in. The wrapper div for the content column is right after the call for the left sidebar, near the top of the source. The left sidebar I want on all pages, so I’m guessing I don’t need any conditionals for that one.

I sure hope this isn’t out of bounds for your support. I do appreciate the lengths you go to help your customers.

Jim

[Jim McClain]

Yes, the more I use and work with The Events Calendar, the more I see how shortcodes would actually be a step backward.

I watched the video in reference to the sidebars and it was a very short clip on it. It could be a great benefit to have a short video or text tutorial on using the conditionals. I asked about this in another topic, so I won’t get into it here. This topic has been very informative. Thanks.

Jim

[Jim McClain]

Thanks Rob. I guess there’s no member control panel, of sorts, so a member can see a list of topics subscribed to when first logging on. Kind of a strange forum. I’ve discovered a couple of weird ones lately and I’ve been using/managing forums since 1992. I’ll get used to it.

Anyway… an update:

I was able to get my calendar on a custom template page that is just a modified version of the Weaver II Pro page.php. Here’s the source: http://pastie.org/3950970 My only edits were to add a style declaration to the container_wrap that makes that div 83% wide (sidebars are 17%). Then I commented out the call for the right sidebar. Of course, to create a new page template, that information must be at the top of the new file.

I like that my calendar grid is now wide enough to be easier to read. What I didn’t realize is that all the calendar pages now have only 2 columns, instead of 3 on all pages except the grid and list views. Somehow I was under the assumption that the page template was used on specific areas of the calendar and other pages used the standard WP post layout.

I think the conditionals would help this situation a lot. Unfortunately, my only experience with conditionals is in forum software (like vBulletin), where instructions for their use is well documented, including examples.

Can I ask for some instructions or a few examples to get me started including them in the new page template? Would it be better if I started a new topic about this so it would be easier for others to find?

Thanks,

Jim

[Jim McClain]

Yeah but… I do agree, it has all the theme related code, so would prob’ly be the best jumping off spot. But now the big question… how do I create a new page template that already has the sidebars I want? Most page templates still use the options set up for the particular theme sidebar setup. In this case, that’s 2 sidebars, one on each side of the content. I need to make sure the right sidebar does not get put in there and the center content column expands to fill that space.

Any ideas or guidance?

Jim
PS: has anyone reported that the email notification doesn’t work?

[Jim McClain]

Let me ask you this: Which would be easier and less problematic over the long haul, using the conditionals in page.php (added to my child theme), in ecp-page-template (added to the “events” folder inside my child theme), or creating a new page template with the desired sidebars hard coded in? I’ll defer to your guidance and then we can go from there.

Keep in mind that the way I have Weaver II pages and posts configured, is with a center content column and left and right sidebars. Individual pages can be configured to remove one or the other, or both, but posts can’t (I don’t have any problem with the 3-column setup on any of The Events Calendar “pages” except the grid and list that appear on a “virtual page”).

Thanks,

Jim

[Jim McClain]

Jonah said: Hey Jim, make sure that the ‘events’ folder is in your theme folder not the ‘themes’ folder for WordPress 🙂

Okay, I feel reeeeeally stupid now. Pretend I never replied to this topic, okay?

[Jim McClain]

PS: I hope the shortcode will see a return as a viable option. It would make this so much easier. Most plugins similar to this use shortcode as do many other plugins, so people are comfortable with its use. I’m stuck with yours because, unfortunately, no other calendar/events plugin comes close to the quality otherwise. How’s that for an off-hand compliment. 😉

[Jim McClain]

Hi Jonah, thanks for the reply. I agree that an iframe page has issues that make this an unacceptable solution. There are sidebar options for pages using the Weaver II theme, but The Events Calendar grid/list page is not a real page, so no options can be selected for it.

I think the best solution might be to create a new page template, with the left sidebar hard coded to appear. I have no idea how to create that page though. I tried it, but failed miserably.

Jim

[Jim McClain]

Hope you don’t mind me bumping this, Rob. It’s been several days. I’d sure like to solve this.

Thanks,

Jim

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