Events Calendar Plugin

Owned by Kelsie Hall
Last updated: Aug 20, 2024 by Alexa Biron
7 min read

We offer two plugins which allow website administrators to feed event information from the UConn Events Calendar onto UConn websites.

UConn Events Calendar List View

A list-based view of upcoming events, including the event title and date. Location, time, and event summary are optional. Admins can define the number of events to display.

plugin-listviewexample.png

UConn Events Calendar Grid View

A grid view of upcoming events with an emphasis on the event image for visual impact. Currently, the plugin automatically displays 4 columns and 4 rows of events. Website visitors can reveal additional rows with a maximum of 25 rows (or 100 events). In the future, website administrators will be able to specify the number of columns and rows to display.

plugin-gridviewexample.png

Adding Events to Your Website

There are two ways to utilize the plugins: Widget or Shortcode.

Widget

Widgets allow site administrators to add stylized content and/or functionality to their website in a simple and easy-to-use way. Widgets typically present the user with options to select or fill out, then the widget uses this information to insert content on your site.

The most common way to add widgets in Aurora is through the SiteOrigin PageBuilder. If PageBuilder is active on your Aurora website, select [Add Widget].

Next, select the [UConn Events Calendar Widget].

Select Edit on the widget to configure your options and display events on your website.

Filters include: 

  • Event Calendar(s)

  • Event Type(s)

  • Audience(s)

  • Campus(es)

  • Tag(s)

Filters in the widget behave in the same way as the filters on events.uconn.edu (see the Find Events section on the right side of the page). 

  • Filters from the same category will be treated as “OR” combinations, but filters from different categories are combined with an “AND.”

  • When online events are selected in the event types filter, any non-online events are ignored. Events marked as “hybrid” events are considered to be both online-events and in-person events.

Multiple values can be selected in any of these filters. 

  • To select multiple elements in a list (event types, audiences, campuses): 

    • On Windows: Hold down the control (ctrl) button and click multiple items in the relevant list

    • On Mac: Hold down the command button and click multiple items in the relevant list

  • In the tags field, enter in valid tag(s) separated by a pipe character | 

  • The pipe character can be found on your keyboard, above the enter key and below the backspace key.

  • You will have to press this key together with the shift key to render the pipe character. 

  • Valid tag(s) can be found by visiting events.uconn.edu and clicking “Show” next to the Tags header on the right side of the home page, below the Find Events filters. A full list of the Tags will be available soon.

If left empty, a maximum of 4 events will be displayed. 

Note that this value is for the maximum amount of events to be shown, not the total. Less events will be shown if less events are available after all filters have been applied.

View-related attributes include: 

  • Hide location

  • Hide time

  • Hide summary

By default, all of these attributes are set to false, meaning that all of these elements are visible unless explicitly turned off (via toggling the checkboxes). 

Please note that not every event in the system has a location, time, and/or summary. So, even if you opt to show these fields, they will not appear on events that do not have them. 

These options determine the behavior of the widget if your selected calendar(s) and their filters do not return any events. 

  • Use a fallback calendar

    • If you opt to use a fallback calendar, then events from your fallback calendar will be included in the widget in the event that your specified calendar(s) and any applied filters do not contain the “maximum number of events.”. 

    • Additional filters (ex. audience, event-type, etc) are not applied to fallback calendars.

  • No events message

    • This message will be displayed if any of the following are true:

      • The specified calendar(s) (and any applied filters) contains no events and you are not using a fallback calendar.

      • The specified calendar(s) (and any applied filters) contains no events, you are using a fallback calendar, and the specified fallback calendar contains no events.

    • The message will link out to whatever URL is in the “No Events Link” field. 

Shortcode

In Aurora (WordPress), shortcodes are small bits of code, indicated by brackets, that allow site administrators to execute functions or behaviors without actually writing code.