From the KnowledgeBase

Title:
Princeton Calendar (WebEvent): Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Synopsis:
The Princeton University calendar (WebEvent) is available to everyone in the Princeton community. All departments at Princeton may request one or more Web calendars to list their public events. The User's Guide is available under the calendar Help menu. The software underlying the calendar is from WebEvent.

Solution:
Public events at Princeton can be viewed at the web address:
http://calendar.princeton.edu

To request a new calendar, please use the online form at:
http://web.princeton.edu/sites/calendar/Calendar_Request.htm

Here are some frequently asked questions:

How do I get a calendar for my department?

Each department or organization connected with the University can request one or more calendars. Use the Calendar Request Form.

Who sees my event listings?

Calendar owners have the option of adding their events to "Public Events at Princeton," which is viewable by all site visitors, within and outside the University. For those departments and organizations that want some events to be public and some semi-public, two calendars will be created. For example, for the Mathematics Department, the semi-public calendar is "Mathematics" and the public calendar is "Mathematics Public Events." Mathematics Public Events is included in Public Events at Princeton.

Even though semi-public calendars are not included in Public Events at Princeton, all site visitors can view them if they choose "All viewable calendars" from the View drop-down menu. Semi-public calendars can be linked from the department's web site. Note that you can specify the intended audience for an event in the Audience field of the Add Event form.

How do I add an event to my calendar?

All calendar administrators and registered users who have been given Write access to one or more calendars can add events directly to a calendar. No approval is needed. For a visual guide, see the WWS Add Event Guide.

  1. Login to WebEvent using the Login menu item. Use your NetID and email password - authentication uses ldap.
  2. If the calendar you want to update is your Primary Calendar, click on the Primary Calendar icon. Otherwise, choose All viewable calendars from the View menu and select the calendar to update.
  3. Make sure you are in Month view so that you see the calendar dates.
  4. Find the month of the event you want to enter, and double click on the date.
  5. Fill out the entry form. If you are adding the event to more than one calendar, select the additional calendar(s) by holding down the Cntrl button and clicking the calendar name.
  6. Press the Add New Event button at the top of the page.

Note that even if you have Write access to a calendar, if you do not log in but use the Add/Event menu item, this is a submit rather than an add and you will need to log in and approve the event. So make sure you log in before adding an event. See the Add Event section in the User's Guide for further information.

Who can submit Public Event calendar items?

Anyone who can view the Public Events calendar can submit an event using the Add/Event menu without having to login. This includes faculty, staff, students and the general public. You only need to log in to WebEvent if you are an owner of a calendar. The department's calendar owner will receive your e-mail about the event submission. The owner must then approve the event before it will appear on the calendar.

How do I submit an event to a calendar?

Under the Add menu, choose Events. You will see a form for submitting an event, along with a list of those calendars that allow submission. Choose one or more calendars, fill out the form, and press Submit Event. The calendar administrator will review submitted events and either approve or delete them. Once approved, they will appear on the calendar.

See the Submit Event section in the User's Guide for further information.

How do I approve an event?

Calendar administrators can approve events that have been submitted by the public or by someone with Write access to the calendar who forgets to login to WebEvent. The administrator receives email saying that an event is waiting for approval.

  1. Login to WebEvent using the Login menu item. Use your NetID and email password.
  2. On the Summary screen, on the right, click on Unapproved Events.
  3. There is currently a bug in the submission process that makes the title size smaller. To remedy this,
    * Click the title to bring up the Modify Event screen
    * Click the Style tab.
    * Change the Title Size from 'smaller' to 'default'.
    * Click Submit.
  4. Click the Approve or Delete radio button for each event. If approved, the event will now appear on the calendar.

How do I submit an event if my department doesn't have a calendar?

If you have an event to post, first check if the calendar is available and allows submission. If not, check with the department administrator and suggest that s/he request a calendar.

How do I submit an event to the PWB?

The PWB print edition accepts submissions of events for the print edition through WebEvent. This calendar is not included in Public Events, so there will be no duplication with events in your departmental calendar. In order to use this facility, you need to be a registered user and have Write access to at least one calendar (if your department has a calendar but you do not yet have write access to it, contact your calendar adminstrator).

  1. Choose Login from the calendar menu.
  2. Login using your NetID and email password.
  3. Select Event from the Add menu.
  4. Choose the calendar to write to in the left-hand Write Access: box.
  5. Choose PWB Print Edition in the right-hand Submit-only Access: box.
  6. After entering the information under the Basic and Advanced tabs, press the Add Event button. Your event will be written to the calendar you chose in the Write Access box and will be submitted to the PWB Print Edition calendar for approval.
  7. If you modify the event, you will not be able to submit the modifications to the PWB. In this case, contact the PWB editor directly (webnews@princeton.edu) .

How do I modify an event?

All calendar administrators and registered users who have been given Write access to one or more calendars can modify events on those calendars.

  1. Login to WebEvent using the Login menu item. Use your NetID and email password.
  2. If the calendar you want to update is your Primary Calendar, click on the Primary Calendar icon. Otherwise, choose All viewable calendars from the View menu and select the calendar to update.
  3. Make sure you are in Month view so that you see the calendar dates.
  4. Find the month of the event you want to modify, and click on the event title.
  5. If you do not see the Modify Event screen, click on Options/Current Session Preferences. Choose Mode: Modify Mode. Click Change options at the bottom of the screen.
  6. Update the event information using the Basic and Advanced tabs.
  7. Note that there is currently a bug in the Modify process, the first time you modify an event. The title size is set smaller. To remedy this
    * Click the Style tab.
    * Change the Title Size from 'smaller' to 'default'.
  8. Select Change this Event at the top of the page and press the Submit button.
  9. If you previously submitted this event to another calendar (such as the PWB Print Edition), the changes will not affect that event - they are separate copies. You will need to contact the calendar owner with the changes.

How do I cancel or postpone an event?

To notify the public when an event in your calendar is cancelled or postponed, modify the title. Include a message in red type at the beginning of the event title. Two examples:

Dec 26 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. CANCELLED - Title of Event
Dec 26 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. POSTPONED - Title of Event

In order for the text to be highlighted in red, use HTML code, as shown, substituting brackets for the curly brackets:

{FONT color="red"}CANCELLED{/FONT}
OR
{FONT color="red"}POSTPONED{/FONT}

If this event appears in an announcement on the Princeton home page or in the Princeton Weekly Bulletin, notify the Office of Communications by e-mail as soon as possible at webnews@princeton.edu .

How do I delete an event?

All calendar administrators and registered users who have been given Write access to one or more calendars can delete events on those calendars.

  1. Login to WebEvent using the Login menu item. Use your NetID and password.
  2. If the calendar you want to update is your Primary Calendar, click on the Primary Calendar icon. Otherwise, choose All viewable calendars from the View menu and select the calendar to update.
  3. Make sure you are in Month view so that you see the calendar dates.
  4. Find the month of the event you want to delete, and click on the event title.
  5. If you do not see the Modify Event screen, click on Options/Current Session Preferences. Choose Mode: Modify Mode. Click Change options at the bottom of the screen.
  6. Choose "Delete This Event" in the pull-down menu on the "Modify Event" screen.
  7. Click the "Submit" button.
  8. If you previously submitted this event to another calendar (such as the PWB Print Edition), deleting the event will not affect the other calendar. You will need to contact the calendar owner to delete it from the other calendar.

My department has a calendar. Why don't events appear under Public Events?

In order for the events to display under Public Events, two things must occur:

  1. The calendar must allow the Guest user to have Read access. The calendar administrator can set this up under Calendar Configuration / Access / User Access under the Options menu.
  2. The calendar must be embedded in one of the subcalendars, such as Administration or Academic Departments. When creating the calendar, the site administrator embeds all departmental Public Events calendars in one of the subcalendars which gets "rolled up" into Public Events.

After checking Calendar Configuration, if there is still a problem, contact calendar support. Note that not all calendars are included in Public Events. Semi-public calendars contain events that are relevant for the department only - these semi-public calendars are usually available only from the department's Web site and in the list of All viewable calendars under the View menu.

How do I prevent duplicate events from appearing in Public Events?

My event is cosponsored by two (or more) programs. We all want to have the event listed on our calendars.

There is no good way to prevent duplicate events if the event is written to one calendar and then submitted to one or more other calendars. If you have Write access to both calendars, and both are included in Public Events, then only one copy will appear. However, if you have Write access to one calendar but only Submit (Read) access to the others, then they become separate events and will appear multiple times in Public Events

One solution is to have a calendar for the jointly sponsored programs, and then embed this calendar in the program or department calendars, if this works administratively. You can have more than one person with Write access to a calendar.

How do I link to the calendar from my department's Web page?

Each calendar has several unique URLs, one for each combination of view (Calendar or List) and time period (Day, Week, 2-weeks, or Month). You can view these URLs for your calendar on the Calendar Links page. The calendars are listed in alphabetic order - either scroll down the page or search for your calendar name. Then copy the desired URL as a link from your Web page. Note that each calendar has a unique calendar number, such as cal4. If your department has both a public and a semi-public calendar, link the semi-public calendar. This one should contain both the public and semi-public events.

I want to keep some events private - not viewable by the general public.

You can make your calendar semi-public by not including it in Public Events. You can then provide a link from your department's Web site. The only way to have a completely private calendar is to have the calendar administrator remove Read access for the Guest user. You then need to log in as a registered user to view the calendar.

Note that if you have some events that are semi-public and some that are public, you need to have 2 calendars to handle this. The public calendar for your department contains public events. This calendar is included in Public Events at Princeton. The semi-public calendar contains both public and semi-public events and is linked from the department's Web site.

I don't want anyone submitting events to my calendar.

By default, all new calendars allow the Public to submit events. Submitted events do not show up on the calendar until they are approved by the calendar administrator. If you do not want the Public to submit events to your calendar, you as a calendar administrator can disable this capability.

  1. Choose Login from the calendar menu.
  2. Enter your netID and password.
  3. Under the Options menu, select Calendar Configuration.
  4. If your calendar is not selected, select it now in the Select Calendar box and click on View configuration.
  5. Click the Settings tab.
  6. Remove the check from the second box, Allow Event Submission.
  7. Click the button Change calendar configuration at the top of the form.

Can I use events that I enter in an Access database?

Yes. If you want to maintain events in an Access database but also have them appear in a WebEvent calendar, contact the calendar support team for the procedure.

The calendar seems very slow.

If you are using the older version of Netscape (version 4.7) changing from one view to another can be very slow. WebEvent is optimized for more recent products of Netscape, Mozilla and Internet Explorer. If you use one of these browsers, changing views will be much faster.

Searching doesn't work.

You must have one or more calendars selected when doing a search. If you have chosen Search / Calendar, make sure that All is selected under Calendars. Also, if you are searching for an event that occurred in the past, make sure that you change the From: date on the search form. Then searching will work.

Known Bugs and Problems

  • Title Size: When an event is submitted or modified for the first time, the Title Size is set at 'smaller' rather than 'default.' The person approving or modifying the event must first click the Style tab and change the Title Size to 'default.' This is not a problem if the user logs in to WebEvent before adding the event.
  • An event was submitted rather than added: The Add/Event menu does not indicate that users with Write access should login to WebEvent before adding an event (users are reminded of this several times when they request their calendars). When writers do not log in, their events get treated like those submitted by the general public. The calendar administrator receives email telling her/him that an event is waiting for approval. S/he must login to WebEvent and approve the event. Also, if someone submits rather than adds an event, s/he cannot at the same time submit the event to the PWB Print Edition.
  • Add Event screen does not scroll to the bottom: Netscape 4.7 does not render the complete screen in the Advanced tab, so the Approval radio button at the bottom is not available. This does not really matter since Approval is checked, and if someone is writing to the calendar, that is what they want. A workaround is to use Internet Explorer, Mozilla or Netscape 7.
  • Duplicate event: If 2 departments both list the same event on their calendars, and both roll up to Public Events, the event will be displayed twice. See How do I prevent duplicate events from appearing in Public Events for suggestions.

Last Updated:
May 10, 2004

Solution ID:
9234