The Super Simple Calendar is Growing Up.

Several customers have requested the ability to have recurring dates on MyCalendar. This feature has now been added in the next version but I want to make sure existing customers understand how this update will effect them and their current installation. Here are some details about the changes.

The Database Tables Have Changed

The Events table has some addidtions:

• id - Unique identifier for an event
• name - Your event title
• is_published - Marks events as published or not
• user_id - Tracks the creator of the event
• date - Date that recurrences are calculated from
• time - Time your event starts and initial recurrences are start at.
• text - Details of your event
• link - An optional link for an event with details stored outside your site or on another page.
• length - How long will this event be ( End time is calculated using this ) ( new)
• pattern - Recurrence rule string used to calculate the event recurrences. ( new)
• category - Categories used for this event.

A new Occurrences table will store:

• id - Unique identifier for an event
• event_id - Indicates which event this recurrence is for
• relation - Indicates what model this recurrence is for reserved for future
• relation_id - Indicates what id in another model this recurrence is for reserved for future
• start_at - Date and Time occurrence starts
• end_at - Date and Time occurrence ends
• is_modified - Indicates if occurrence has been modified since it's original creation
• is_allday - Will indicate that this is an all day event without a specific time
• is_canceled - Will indicate that this occurrence was canceled

How it works

Each event you create will have primary information held in the “events” table. While editing your event in the front end form, you will have the option to preview your content and recurrence choices. Once you save the event, the system will generate the recurrence dates and store each recurrence in the "occurrences" table. Each time you edit the event, the recurrences are recalculated and existing records in the “occurrences” table are either shifted ( if the time or date changed ), created ( if there are more recurrence records ), or marked as deleted ( if there are less recurrence records ). Any “occurrences“ records that are changed will also have an “is_modified” column marked as true as well.

This model and occurrence relation was chosen to try preserve occurrence “id”s and ensure that any relationships to these occurrences retains a valid reference. Any related model that is sensitive to a date or time change in the occurrence can check the “is_modified” column to make decisions about changes. There are also plans to generate a simple observer implementation when event records are modified to allow you to subscribe to and listen for events in your own application.

When it is time to retrieve and display events from the database, the "occurrences

Recommendations for Upgrading Existing Installations

Please read if you are one of those fine folks that already have MyCalendar installed and are using it on their website.

• Back-up your data before you do the install. ( This is one of those things you hear all the time but you really can not go wrong here. )
• If you have a way to test the upgrade on a non-production site, do it first to make sure you get the results you expect.
• Clean-up existing events that have the same content copied multiple times to mimic recurring dates. You only need one remaining record from which recurrences will be calculated.
  • After the update you will return and edit the one remaining event so that it will show up as a recurring event.
    
    • Add a length for the event (up to 23:59 hours) ( This is how the end time is calculated. )
    • I found this easier and faster to do using phpMyAdmin where I can select multiple records and delete the extras.( I will work on making my backend lists and forms more efficient in the future. )
    • DO NOT set recurrence in backend form unless you know the RRULE string.
      • You can create a rule string here: https://www.textmagic.com/free-tools/rrule-generat...
      • The front-end form has fields required to generate an RRULE
    • The backend form fields for recurrence are coming very soon in next update.
    • When you save changes to the event, the occurrence rule and records for the event is generated and saved.
• Generate RRULES for remaining events that only need a single occurrence
  
  • Navigate to backend "Occurrences" controller ( The one with the flask icon. )
  • There will be a red box at the top with instructions on generating the single occurrence rules and records for all remaining dates.