Calendar Settings

Screen shots what the Calendar Categories section looks like with and without having athletic software synced to the Calendar4Schools calendars. Since the screen shots are taken from the 4Schools demonstration site there are no actual events from ScheduleStar or rSchool Today. When the feed is set up and running the first column in the ScheduleStar or rSchools section would have a “Yes” for categories receiving the feed and the remaining columns would show the settings you entered when setting up the categories.

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Click on the + ADD CALENDAR CATEGORY link, shown in the first screenshot just below the words "CALENDAR CATEGORIES".  At least one category must be added before events can be entered into a calendar. The more specific the calendar category, the easier it is to filter events. For example: If there is only one category for the high school called “High School Events” you could use the filter to display, or RSS and iCal to download just high school events. However you would get every high school event. If you have many specific categories such as “National Honor Society” and “Boys’ Basketball” a parent or other public viewer can look at the high school calendar and choose to view or download the specific category or categories that pertain to their child or interest. Time taken on the front end to setup specific calendar categories and sub categories will make the calendars easier to maintain and easier for the public to view.

1. Key in a descriptive name for the category
2. Choose a font color by clicking on the color palette or keying in the hexadecimal code for the desired color.
3. Uncheck Is Public if you do not want the events from this category to display on any CMS4Schools web pages using a Calendar of events tool. When unchecked, the events will still be visible in Calendar4Schools to Admins and to Users with permissions to see that category.
4. Uncheck if you do not want this category to be visible to the public in the Facility Request (Calendar4Schools) tool used on one of your CMS4Schools web pages allowing Public Users with a login to request the use of the facility. Facility requests using this method will go through an approval routing.
5. Uncheck the box Can Subscribe? if you do not want public visitors to your website to subscribe to a weekly email of events.
6. Check the box if you want Faculty members to be able to include this category in the calendars on their faculty web pages. A good example of one you would want to check is a calendar category that contains the "School Year" events like begin and end dates for each term, vacation days and parent-teacher conferences that are the same for all students. If you make a change to events in that category the change will show everywhere that category is displayed, even on the faculty pages that included it.
7. Is A Schedule Star Category? or Is A rSchool Today Category? Will appear only if you have had a feed set up to sync with one of the two athletic software applications. Check the box if this category will receive events from the feed connecting your calendar to the athletic software.
8. Click the Add button to save the category.

The other way to add a category is to use the Insert Before link. A new event added with the + ADD CALENDAR CATEGORY link will appear at the bottom of the list. If you want to place the new category in a specific position in the list, the Insert Before link can be used. The same ADD CALENDAR CATEGORY window, shown above, will open. If you wish to change the order of categories that already exist, use the Dropdown Position arrows to change the order of the categories. The order in which the list appears in the Toolbox is the order in which the categories will appear in the dropdown lists in the calendar section and in the CMS4Schools web pages using a Calendar of Events tool. If no specific grouping is desired the SORT AlPHABETICALLY link may be used.

Click on the pencil icon in the Edit column to change any of the items in the ADD CALENDAR CATEGORY window shown above.

Delete a category by clicking on the garbage can icon in the Delete column and confirm the deletion. Note:  All events, past and future, that were added to that category will be deleted with the category.

To access the Subcategories section use one of the following methods:

• In the Toolbox dropdown list select Calendar Subcategories
• Once any of the Category Settings sections have been accessed in the Toolbox the section names will appear as links on the left side of the current section
• From the Categories section, click on the Subcategories link under the category name.

To add a Subcategory, first choose the category the subcategory will belong to from the dropdown list. Then click the + ADD CALENDAR SUBCATEGORY link.

• Key in a descriptive name for the Sub Category
• If desired choose a color from the Custom Font Color palette
• Uncheck the box Can Subscribe? if you do not want public visitors to your website to subscribe to a weekly email of events.
• Is A Schedule Star Category? or Is A rSchool Today Category? Will appear only if you have had a feed set up to sync with one of the two athletic software applications. Check the box if this sub category will receive events from the feed connecting your calendar to the athletic software.
• Click the Submit button to add the subcategory.

Insert Before, Dropdown Position, Edit and Delete are used the same as in the Category section described in the previous two pages.

Locations are sites where calendar events take place. If the Location has a specific postal address, the address may be entered when the Location is created. If a calendar event is attached to a Location when it is created/edited, a link to a Google Map is created. A visitor that clicks the event title link on the calendar will be able to view the Google Map and get directions to the Location.

Choose Locations from the Toolbox dropdown list or the Locations link on the left side if you have already been working with one of the Calendar Settings. To add a location, click the +ADD LOCATION link.

• Location: key in a descriptive name for the location Required
• Key in the Address information if you want to make the Google Map link. Optional
• Click the Add button

The pencil icon in the edit column will open a window like the add location window allowing you to change the name of the location and/or the address. The garbage can icon will let you delete the location. Note: deleting a location will delete the location from all existing events.

Calendar4Schools can be configured to receive calendar events from two athletic/activity scheduling software products, rSchoolsToday (activityscheduler.com) and ScheduleStar (HighSchoolSports.net). Once configured, events entered into the scheduling software will automatically flow into the Calendar4Schools categories that are setup to receive the feeds.

To get a feed from rSchoolToday(activityscheduler.com) to Calendar4Schools Category Settings, start a support ticket and include your rSchools URL. Then watch the support video showing you how to setup your calendar categories at https://support.4schools.net/entries/23676751-rSchoolToday-Integration-with-CMS4Schools

To get a feed from ScheduleStar(HighSchoolSports.net) to Calendar4Schools Category Settings, start a support ticket and include your ScheduleStar ID. The ID is in the format WI##########. Then watch the support video showing you how to setup your calendar categories at:  https://support.4schools.net/entries/23700378-HighSchoolSports-net-Integration-with-CMS4Schools

Taking the time to create very specific calendar categories such as 9th Grade Boys’ Basketball, JV Boys’ Basketball, Varsity Boys’ Basketball and the same for the girls’ teams instead of Boys’ Basketball and Girls’ Basketball or even just Basketball will allow you finer control of events and make it easier to troubleshoot event issues. It will also give your viewers the ability to filter events to those that just pertain to them or their student. This is true for even the smallest school district.

To import events into Calendar4Schools you will need to create a spreadsheet according to the specifications show in the screen shot.

You will need to have columns A-O in an import file. Cells in column O will always contain an “x” for each row containing an event. In the screen shot below the header row is there to clarify what is contained in each of the columns but would need to be deleted and the file saved as a Tab Delimited .txt file before importing the events. Columns shown in red are required and must have a valid entry for each event. Other columns may or may not contain data. Make sure category, subcategory, location, building and facility text match the way they were created in Calendar4Schools.

Once the file has been created, header row removed, and saved as a Tab Delimited .txt file, click on the Choose File button and browse to your saved file. Then click the Import button. If an error occurs when importing the file, start a support ticket and attach a screenshot of the error message as well as a copy of the import .txt file.

When exporting events from Calendar4Schools:

• Choose All Categories or specific category(ies) from the first drop down list.
• Choose the desired file type (Excel, tab delimited .txt or .csv)
• Click the Export Events button.
• Browse and save the file