Administrative Configuration Items

Accessing

The default URL for accessing the administrative interface to the configuration form is the following:

• ASP: http://www.yourdomain.com/scripts/calendar/calendar_config_form.asp?administrate


• Perl: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/calendar/calendar_config_form.pl?administrate


• PHP: http://www.yourdomain.com/scripts/calendar/calendar_config_form.php?administrate

Note that this URL may vary depending on your system. What is important is the "?administrate". This tells the program to specifically access the administrator interface to the configuration form, and is known as the "Admin URL". After you have your system up and running I STRONGLY suggest you change this configuration item, so other individuals will not know how to access the administrative interface.

For example, if you change the setting for "Admin URL" from "administrate" to "openup", then the respective URLs to access the administrator interface would be similar to:

• http://www.yourdomain.com/scripts/calendar/calendar_config_form.asp?openup


• http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/calendar/calendar_config_form.pl?openup


• http://www.yourdomain.com/scripts/calendar/calendar_config_form.php?openup

You will then be prompted for your username and password. Only the adminstrator username and password are valid! Any webmaster cannot log into the administrator configuration form, and the administrator cannot log into the webmasters' configuration form!

Administrative Settings

These settings pertain to every calendar.

Screenshot of "Administrative Settings" Interface

• Admin ID
  The username for the administrator. This is the username the administrator will use when:
  1. Logging into the administrator configuration form
  2. Logging in to view any calendar that's "restricted" to only authorized users
  3. Adding an event to any calendar
  4. Editing, moving, or deleting any event from any calendar, even if the event is not one the administrator originally added.
  
  The default value is "administrator".
  
  
• Admin Password
  The password the administrator must provide when any of the above actions described under "Admin ID" is performed. The default value is "password".
  


• Admin URL
  This value MUST be appended to the URL for accessing the calendar_config_form in order to access the administrative interface. This value should contain alpha-numerica characters only! That is, only the letters A through Z, a through z, digits 0-9, or the underscore "_" character. Anything else wil be rejected. See the section "Accessing" for further information.
  


• Email Admin with Every Update
  If enabled, the administrator will receive an email every time an event is added, edited, moved, or deleted from ANY calendar.
  
  If "yes" is selected, the administrator will receive emails even if the "Allow Email Notification" option is disabled on the individual calendars.
  
  See the Email Requirements section for further details on what's required for your server to use the email functionality.
  


• Administrator Email
  The administrator's email address. All emails sent from the calendar to the administrator will be sent to this pecified email address.
  


• Image URL
  A URL to the directory where a set of the calendar's images are kept. The URL should have a trailing slash "?" character. If this is set correctly, then an image should load (to the right of the input field) the next time the form is viewed.
  


• URL for the CGI-BIN directory where all of the calendar files are located
  
  • ASP: provide the URL to the directory where your calendar.asp files are located, with a trailing "/" character.
    
    For example, if the asp files are kept in a "calendar" subdirectory within your "wwwroot" directory, then your URL should look similar to either of the following:
    http://www.yourdomain.com/calendar/ OR
    /calendar/
    
    
  • Perl: provide the URL to the directory where your calendar.pl files are located, with a trailing "/" character.
    
    For example, if the perl files are kept in a "calendar" subdirectory within your "cgi-bin" directory, then your URL should look similar to either of the following:
    http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/calendar/ OR
    /cgi-bin/calendar/
    
  
  
  • PHP: provide the URL to the directory where your calendar.php files are located, with a trailing "/" character.
    
    For example, if the php files are kept in a "calendar" subdirectory within your "scripts" directory, then your URL should look similar to either of the following:
    http://www.yourdomain.com/scripts/calendar/ OR
    /scripts/calendar/
    
  
  
• Program File Extension
  If your files need to end with a different extension, specify that extension here. Most webservers are configured to run asp files with a ".asp" extension, perl files with a ".pl" extension, and php files with a ".php" extension. However, there are some servers which will only run files with a ".cgi" or other extension. If so, specify the extension here. NOTE that if this value is changed, all the asp, perl, or php files WILL need to be renamed appropriately!
  
  For example, changing the extension from ".pl" to ".cgi", then calendar.pl will need to be renamed to calendar.cgi, calendar_config_form.pl to calendar_config_form.cgi, etc.!
  
  
• Location of Calendar Config Files
  This should be the full operating system path (NOT A URL!) to the directory where the configuration files for all of the calendars will be kept.
  
  
  • ASP: the files "calendar_config.asp" and "calendar_master_text.txt" need to reside in this directory. The file "calendar_config.asp" should also have "world" write permissions.
  
  
  
  • Perl: the files "calendar_config.pl" and "calendar_master_text.txt" need to reside in this directory. The file "calendar_config.pl" should also have "world" write permissions.
  
  
  
  • PHP: the files "calendar_config.php" and "calendar_master_text.txt" need to reside in this directory. The file "calendar_config.php" should also have "world" write permissions.
  
  This directory should have appropriate write permissions so the system can add/remove files from the directory. Typically this means granting "world" write permissions.
  
  
• Documentation URL
  A URL pointing to documentation associated with the calendar system. By default, this value is http://www.davelozinski.com/scripts/calendar/docs/. If a copy of the documentation is stored locally, set this value to point to the local copy.
  
  Example: http://www.yourdomain.com/calendar/docs/
  

Create a New Calendar

This section of the administrator form allows the adminstrator to create a new calendar.

Screenshot of "Create a New Calendar" Interface

There are two values which must be supplied for any calendar to be created:

• Full Name
  Spell out the full calendar name. The word "calendar" is not automatically appended to any name, so if a name is to be shown as "My Calendar", then "My Calendar" needs to be specified as the name.
  


• Abbreviated Name
  The abbreviation you will need to use when referencing your calendar through a URL with the "dept=" parameter. Only alpha-numerica characters are allowed. That is, only the letters A through Z, a though z, 0-9, and the underscaore "_" character. For example, if a calendar is going to be called "My Calendar", the abbreviated name might be "mc", and thus would use a URL similar to the following examples to access the calendar:
  
  • ASP: http://www.yourdomain.com/scripts/calendar/calendar.asp?dept=mc
  
  
  • Perl: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/calendar/calendar.pl?dept=mc
  
  
  • PHP: http://www.yourdomain.com/scripts/calendar/calendar.php?dept=mc
  
  

The steps for creating a calendar are as follows:

1. Type in the full calendar name as it will appear on the calendar
2. Type in the calendar's abbreviated name that will be used to reference the calendar
3. Click on the "Create" button

Update a Calendar

Selecting this option will present a screen which shows every calendar on the system, with options to "view/edit event(s)" on that calendar, edit the calendar's configuration items, or delete the calendar from the system.

Screenshot of "Update a Calendar's Configuration" Interface

Selecting:

• View/Edit Event(s) will launch the calendar in a separate window, allowing the administrator to view the calendar, and edit any events displayed on the calendar as needed.



• Edit Configuration will bring up the calendar's specific configuration form allowing the administrator to change the settings for the calendar.
  
  See the section Individual Calendar Configuration Items Explained in Detail (or the more specific subsection) for an explanation on each of these items.



• Delete Calendar will delete the calendar. THERE IS NO CONFIRMATION! So make sure BEFORE the "delete" button is clicked that the specified calendar is the one to be deleted!
  
  See the section entitled "Delete a Calendar" for the specifics on what the delete operation does.

Copy a Configuration

This action will copy the ENTIRE configuration for one calendar to another. This option is especially useful if there are several calendars which will be similar. One configuration can be copied to more than one destination calendars.

Screenshot of "Copy a Calendar's Configuration" Interface

Copying a configuration will replace all of the current settings for the destination calendars! So when the operation completes, the settings to the destination calendar should be verified!

The steps for copying a configuration are as follows:

1. Select the calendar's configuration to copy
2. Select the destinations calendar(s) to apply the configurations to
3. Click on the "Copy" button

Delete a Calendar

To delete a calendar, select the calendar (or calendars) from the list, and click the "delete" button.

Screenshot of "Delete a Calendar" Interface

Deleting a calendar cannot be undone! When a calendar is selected for deletion, the following files should be removed:

1. The config file for the specific calendar(s)
2. The textual config file for the specific calendar(s)
3. The datafiles for the specific calendar(s)

The steps for deleting a configuration are as follows:

1. Click the Update a Calendar button.
2. Click the "Delete" button next to the calendar you wish to delete

Support/Feedback

Where to go for technical support, ask questions, and send me feedback on my product. For this to function, the value for Documentation URL must be set correctly.