| ::BosDates v2.30:: ::return to calendar:: |
| BosDates User's Guide |
| Viewing |
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Calendar Overview View Modes Navigation Viewing events Printing Searching |
| Guest |
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Adding an event as a guest |
| Administration |
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Logging in Administration Overview Adding Events Approving Events Event Listing Email List Sending Email Configuration Options Coloration |
| System Administration |
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Logging in System Administration Overview Creating a Calendar Calendar Administration User Administration Sending Notices Event Administration System Configuration Data Backups |
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| Calendar Overview |
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The BosDates Calendar System was designed with simplicity in mind. The top portion of each calendar page contains a date picker which will allow you to jump straight to the desired date, a calendar chooser which will allow you to look in only certain calendars, a view mode picker which will allow you to decide what calendar view you wish to use, the menu section which gives you access to more features, and then the calendar itself which will display the desired time block. Features are described in more detail further on in this document. |
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| View Modes |
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BosDates is setup so that you may choose to view the current day, the current week, the current week and the following week, the current month, or the current year. In day view mode, events will be displayed in a list showing the times of the event. In the year view mode, a 12 month calendar will be displayed with days that have events posted shown in bold. All other modes will display a block calendar much like you would expect to see hanging on a wall. To change view modes, use the selector shown in the image below. 
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| Navigation |
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Navigation is possible using one of two ways. The date chooser shown below will allow you to move to a specific date, or jump back to todays date.  Or you may use the arrows shown below to move forward or backward one increment. If you are in month view mode, these arrows will move you forwards or backwards one month at a time, but if you are in day view mode you will move in increments of one day. 
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| Viewing Events |
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To view an event, simply click the events title. A new window will open to display the event details. You may close this window by clicking A sample event window is shown below 
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| Printing |
To print a calendar that you are currently viewing, click the print link shown below. This will take you to a black and white version of the same calendar which is suitable for printing. A sample print version of the month calendar. 
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| Searching |
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To search for an item of interest, click the search link shown below. From the search page you will be able to search through all of the events in the database which match your criteria. You may narrow the search to just the title, the description, or the location. You may narrow the search further by selecting a single calendar. When choosing your search criteria, please remember the calendar will return some unexpected items. For instance, suppose you search for "tech", the results will return items with terms such as technical, technology, etc. The search box is shown below. 
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| Adding an event as a guest |
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If you do not have a calendar assigned to you, you may still enter calendar events by clicking the add event link shown below. Your submission will be sent to the calendar owner for approval before it is posted for viewing. The Add Event screen has multiple fields which must be filled out in order to post your event for review by the calendar owner. We will cover points on those fields below: Calendar Use this pulldown to determine which calendar your event should be listed on. Title This is what will be displayed on the calendar. Try to be short and to the point. Location Use these fields to inform viewers of where the event takes place. Description Try to give as much information about your event as possible. Link You may use this space to display a link to another document, or web page. Use complete URLs, such as http://www.domain.com/document.htm Image You may upload one image to be displayed with your description. The image must be JPG or GIF, and no larger than 480x320 pixels. Contact Name Enter the name of the person to contact for additional information about this event. Contact Email Enter the email address of the contact person. This email address is never shown to the end user. Email Notifications This will allow you to send notices to other subscribers about your event. Date/Time Set the date and time of your event here. For multiday events, set the first date and then choose the number of days this event should be displayed. If you wish, you may have this event repeat on a regular basis. Appearance Use this area to determind how the event will be displayed on the calendar. After all the required information is completed, click Submit Event to have the information forwarded to the calendar owner. |
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| Logging In |
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To login to your calendar, click the admin link as shown below. You will then be taken to the login screen where you will enter your assigned username, and assigned password. Do not check the box labeled "sa".  After you have entered your verified username/password combination, you will be allowed into the calendar administration area. |
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| Administration Overview |
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The administration area is designed to allow you easy control over your calendar. It has been broken down into the following areas, each of which are covered as a seperate item in this help file. Add Event By clicking this button, you will be taken to a new screen which will allow you to enter an event into the calendar. Approve Event This will display a list of events that have been submitted by guest users for inclusion in your calendar. Events Listing The Events Listing will show you the events you have listed in your calendar with in the date range you choose. From here you will be able to edit or delete events. Email List Administration This will allow you to maintain your email subscriber list. Send Mass Email The Send Mass Email section will send an email to each of your users. Configure Calendar You may edit features of your calendar from this section. Configure Calendar Configuration This section will allow you to change the colors of your calendar. For more details on a section, click that sections topic from the main menu. |
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| Adding Events |
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The Add Event screen has multiple fields which must be filled out in order to post your event to your calendar. We will cover points on those fields below: Title This is what will be displayed on the calendar. Try to be short and to the point. Location Use these fields to inform viewers of where the event takes place. Description Try to give as much information about your event as possible. Link You may use this space to display a link to another document, or web page. Use complete URLs, such as http://www.domain.com/document.htm Image You may upload one image to be displayed with your description. The image must be JPG or GIF, and no larger than 480x320 pixels. Contact Name Enter the name of the person to contact for additional information about this event. Contact Email Enter the email address of the contact person. This email address is never shown to the end user. Email Notifications This will allow you to send notices to other subscribers about your event. Date/Time Set the date and time of your event here. For multiday events, set the first date and then choose the number of days this event should be displayed. If you wish, you may have this event repeat on a regular basis. Appearance Use this area to determind how the event will be displayed on the calendar. After all the required information is completed, click Submit Event to have the event posted to your calendar. |
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| Approving Events |
The Approve Events section will display any events that were submitted by a guest which is waiting for your approval. Each pending event will have a link labeled [ed/app] for edit and approve, and a link labeled [delete] to delete the pending event. An example screen is shown below. If you choose to click the [ed/app] link, you will be taken to a screen which will show you the details of the event, and allow you to make any changes you may feel is needed. After you are happy with the event, click the button labeled "Approve Event" to activate this event on your calendar. If you click the [delete] link, you will be asked to confirm the deletion of the event. If you are positive that you wish to delete it, simply click the button labeled "Delete". |
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| Editting/Deleting Events |
The Event Listing window shown below will allow you to edit or delete events from your calendar. To edit an event, click the [edit] link next to it. You will be taken to a new page which will show you the complete event details where you may make changes as needed. To delete the event, click the [del] link. You will be asked to confirm the deletion. To show events from a different time period, use the two selection boxes to set the range of dates you wish to see events for. |
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| Email List |
The email list shown below will allow you to build a list of subscribers for your calendar. It will allow for automatic email notifications for events, and allow you to send mass information emails. To add a subscriber, simply enter their name and email address and click the "Add" button. To change a users information, click the [edit] link next to their name. To delete a user click the [delete] link. Deleting will require you to confirm the deletion. |
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| Sending an Email |
To send an email to your subscribers, use the screen shown below. Just enter a topic, and your message and click the "Send" button. The email to be sent will have your email address listed as the return email address.
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| Configuring your Calendar |
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The Configure Calendar section is one of two areas where you may change the look and function of your calendar. Each item is discussed below. Calendar Header HTML This will allow you to add custom elements to the top of your calendar. You may use this space for messages, links, etc. Calendar Style This will allow you to change your calendar from block mode (standard) or daytimer mode (list). This will affect all calendar viewing modes. Embed the following calendars This will allow you to link to other calendars, so that when a user views your calendar they can also view events from other calendars. Color Banner From here, you will be able to view the currently uploaded color banner, replace the current banner, or delete the banner. B&W Banner This will allow you to view the currently uploaded black and white banner, replace the current banner, or delete the banner. |
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| Changing your color scheme |
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The Configure Calendar Coloration section is the area where you may change the look of your calendar. You may use this screen to manually insert HTML HEX Color codes, or if you do not know HTML HEX Color codes you may use the Color Chooser. To restore the calendar to the default color scheme, click "Restore to Default". The Color Chooser shown below will assist you in creating a color scheme for your calendar.  To begin, select a color from the boxes of color at the top of the page. When you do, the color that you picked will be shown as the "Master" and the other colors shown will compliment the master. You may lighten or darken the colors by clicking the appropriate link. When you have colors you are happy with, you may assign them to the categories on the right by selecting the category and then clicking the "Set Value" link under the choosen color. After you have completed all the categories, click "Show calendar sample with these colors". Make any adjustments you wish, then click "Make Changes" to set the colors. |
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| Logging in |
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To login to your calendar, click the admin link as shown below. You will then be taken to the login screen where you will enter your assigned username, and assigned password. Check the box labeled "sa". After you have entered your verified username/password combination, you will be allowed into the system administration area. |
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| System Administrator Overview |
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The System Administration area is designed to allow you easy control over your calendar system. It has been broken down into the following areas, each of which are covered as a seperate item in this help file. Create Calendar This will add a new calendar to the calendar system. Calendar Administration This will allow you to activate, deactivate, edit and delete calendars. User Administration This section will allow you to maintain calendar system users. Send Notice to Users This section will allow you to send out system notices to the calendar users. Edit/Delete Events Use this section to maintain events posted to any calendar. System Options This will allow you change configuration items for the calendar system. Create/Restore Backup This section will allow you to perform database backups and restorations. |
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| Creating a Calendar |
| To create a calendar, type in the title for the calendar and click the "Create" button. This will setup a new calendar with no users, and the default values and coloration. |
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| Calendar Administration |
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To activate a calendar which is currently deactivated, click the link labeled [activate]. To deactivate a calendar, click the link labeled [deactivate]. A deactivated calendar will not display its events on any other calendar it may be embedded on. To edit a calendar, click the link labeled "edit". This will take you to a section which will allow you to change the headers, colors, etc. To delete a calendar, click the link labeled "delete". You will be asked to confirm. If you delete a calendar, all events associated with that calendar will also be deleted. |
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| User Administration |
By using the screen shown below you will be able to create new users and assign them to a calendar, edit their settings, or delete them. When adding a user, enter the UserID they will use to login to their calendar, their name and email address, and choose the calendar they are assigned to. If you need this user to become a system administrator for the entire calendar system, select edit next to the users name and check the yes button for "Is this user a system administrator". If you wish to delete a user, click the link labeled "delete" next to their name. You will be asked to confirm the deletion. |
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| Sending a System Notice |
To send a system notice to the calendar system users, use the box shown below. Enter your topic line, your message, and click "Send". The email to be sent will have your email address listed as the sender. |
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| Event Administration |
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The Event Listing window shown below will allow you to edit or delete events from your calendar. To edit an event, click the [edit] link next to it. You will be taken to a new page which will show you the complete event details where you may make changes as needed. To delete the event, click the [del] link. You will be asked to confirm the deletion. To show events from a different time period, use the two selection boxes to set the range of dates you wish to see events for. |
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| System Configuration |
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This section will allow you to change master settings for the calendar system. Title The title is the text which is set in the titlebar of the web browser. Meta-Keywords These will be set in the keywords section for the calendar for use in search engine indexing. Meta-Description This controls the meta description field for use in search engine indexing. Font These 3 fonts are the choices presented to users entering an event into the system for their title display. Font Sizes This will control the 3 font sizes which are presented to the users entering events. Font Colors These 15 fields are used to enter the HTML HEX code, and their names. These values are used for the title descriptions on events. After you have made your choices, click the "Configure" button. To set these values back to default at anytime, click the "Restore to Defaults" button. |
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| Backing up and Restoring Data |
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To create a backup of the entire database system, click the button labeled "Create backup". Depending on your web browsers settings you will either be asked to save a file, or you will be shown a screen full of data. If shown the screen of data, use your web browser to save this file as a text file on your hard drive. To restore the calendar system, use the "Browse" button to locate a previous system backup file, then click "Restore". This will completely reset the database with the values from the backup file. |