EventStore

Overview

EventStore is a multi-faceted event tracker. It can track events with arbitrary numbers and arrangement of dates. It manages locations, sponsors and file attachments. If the configuration allows it, customers may create accounts and reserve or purchase slots at event dates. Administrators may also assign reservations to locations instead of to events.

Some functionality of EventStore is still slated for future development, so the software is classified as Alpha-state. However, for specific client applications, EventStore is a good event management solution that has plenty of room to grow.

Current EventStore version: 3.8.3
Documentation updated: 05/15/2007

Glossary

Terms that have special meaning in this document are italicized.

Administrator

A user that has access the the administrative sections of the website. Administrator accounts may not place reservations through EventStore. Administrators can log in using the same interface as customers.

Attachment

A file that is associated with an event. This file may be of any type; common choices are PDFs or videos. An event may have any number of attachments, and administrators may manage their order.

Customer

A customer is someone who has registered for an account on your website, and who may have place a reservation. Customers may create accounts during the checkout process, or they may create them separately. Administrators may create or edit customer accounts if they wish.

Date

A date, in this context, is a single occurrence of an event. Events may have any number of dates. A date has a starting time and an ending time, which may or may not be on the same calendar day. Customers reserve slots at dates, not events.

Event

A single event managed by EventStore. An event can contain many different pieces of data, including multiple dates.

Location

A physical location at which an event takes place, or which may be reserved. (As of version 3.5.4.1, only administrators may create location reservations; there is no public interface for this.) Locations may be assigned a capacity, and the availability of a location will be affected by reservations to that location. There is a public interface for browsing the availability of locations.

Price Chart

A table detailing the various levels  and types of pricing for your event. A price chart may have one entry for each combination of level and type. Price Charts may be assigned to a location, to an event or to an event category. For more information on Price Charts, see the section of this documentation entitled "Modify Configuration: Price Charts".

Reservation

A 'slot' at a date (not an event) which has either been acquired by a site visitor through the public interfaces or created by an administrator through the administrative interfaces. There are two types of entities that may be reserved: dates and locations. Reservations for a date are associated with a single date, which is in turn associated with an event. Reservations for a location are NOT directly associated with a date, but may themselves contain any number of location reservations.

Reservation, Location

Distinct from a regular reservation, a location reservation is a reservation of a single location over a period of time. Future versions of EventStore may support finer location reservation increments, but version 3.5.4.1 only allows reservations as small as a single day. Each location reservation is associated with a single reservation, and each reservation may contain ANY NUMBER of location reservations.

Sponsor

A sponsor for an event. Sponsors are listed on the event display page. Each installation of EventStore maintains a single pool of Sponsors, which may be assigned to any number of events. The practical implication: if multiple events use the same sponsor, you only have to maintain the data in one place. Relative to an individual event, sponsors may be assigned in any order.

Transaction

A record of a payment for a reservation. Transactions are managed by the Payment Processor; see the section of this documentation entitled "Modify Configuration".

User Interfaces

Event List

How to get there: Main EventStore administrative interface

The main screen of the EventStore module lists all events currently in the database. (This list may take up several pages.) You may choose to only view events in a certain category using the drop-down menu at the top of the list. Each event has a series of options on the right side of its table row that will lead you to more specialized event management tasks.

Because each event can have an arbitrary array of dates, events in this interface are listed in the order in which they were created.

Event Reservation Summary

How to get there: Event List -> Reservation Summary (to the right of an event's name)

This screen lets you see a list of all reservations on any given date associated with the event. You may change the date, reservations for which will be displayed using the drop-down menu at the top of the list.

Hint: If you don't see any reservations when you first go to this screen, select a date for the event in question and clicking the "Go" button. This will refresh the 'currently display' date.

Create/Edit an Event

How to get there: Event List ->Add Event

TITLE: The title of the event.
CATEGORY: The category of the event. Categories are defined in Modify Configuration -> Category
PRICE CHART: If you are selling this event, you may assign it its own price chart using this drop-down menu. You may also choose No Price Chart, which will disable the event from being sold, or Category Price Chart, which will use the price chart assigned to the event's category.
STATUS: Only "Approved" events will be displayed and sold to site visitors.
DESCRIPTION: Enter a description of your event here. This will appear on the main event display page.
ADMIN EMAIL: Enter the email of the contact person for the event. In future releases of EventStore, you will be able to specify that this person will be able to receive email notifications of new registrations.
EVENT WEBSITE: You may enter a website to be associated with the event. Don't forget to give a complete, correctly formed URL (starting with "http://" or "https://"), or the link won't work.
EXPIRATION DATE: An event will not be 'archived' until after this date has passed. If you leave it blank, the event will be archived immediately when all of its assigned dates have passed.
CAPACITIES: If you have specified Price Chart levels in Modify Configuration -> Price Charts, you must enter a numeric capacity here for each level. EventStore will allow reservations up to this capacity for each level.

Click "Add Event" or "Update Event" to submit your changes.

Event Scheduling

How to get there: Event List -> Schedule (to the right of an event's name)

In this screen, you may assign an arbitrary number of dates to an event. These dates do not need to be contiguous or in any other way related to each other. You could specify one date that lasted from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM on June 11th, and another on from midnight on December 25th to  1:15 PM on January 1st of the next year. Each date may be assigned its own location from the pool of locations in the Location List screen.

To get started, click on a date in the calendar on the right. You will see that date appear in the date editing controls on the left; fill in the fields and click "Add Date/Time". If you want to edit an existing date, click "Edit" by the date, and then fill in the fields just as you did when adding it. To delete a date, click the Delete link for the date. This will immediately delete the date and any associated reservations and transactions.

A date's "Description" field may be displayed on the event's public display page, depending on your site's design. By default, however, the Description field is never displayed.
If you click "Sold Out", the date will be restricted from being sold, regardless of the actual number of reservations recorded.

Event Sponsors

How to get there: Event List -> Sponsors (to the right of an event's name)

In this screen, you may assign sponsors from your sponsor pool to an event. Select a sponsor from the drop-down menu at the top of the list and click "Add Sponsor". When the sponsor appears in the list, you may change its ordering or remove it.

If you don't see any sponsors in the drop-down menu, go to the main Sponsors List and add some. Then return to this screen.

Event Attachments

How to get there: Event List -> Attachments (to the right of an event's name)

In this screen you can view the attachments you've assigned to this event, or add a new attachment. Event attachments are displayed in the event's public display page, under Sponsors.

Create/Edit an Attachment

How to get there: Event List -> Attachments -> Add Attachment

NAME: The attachment's name. This will be displayed in the event's public display page.
FILE: Select the attachment file here.
DESCRIPTION: A description of the attachment. This will be displayed in the event's public display page, under the attachment's name.

Location List

How to get there: Event List -> Locations

In this screen you can review the list of locations you have created, or add a new location. You will also find links to view a reservation summary for each event.

Create/Edit a Location

How to get there: Event List -> Locations -> Add Location

NAME: The location's public display name.
DESCRIPTION: The content displayed in the location's detail page.
PHOTO: You may upload a photo of the location here. This will also be displayed in the location's detail page.

ADDRESS 1, ADDRESS 2, CITY, STATE, COUNTRY, ZIP CODE: This information will be displayed on the location's detail page, if you provide it.
MAP LINK: You may provide a deep link to a map service (e.g. Google Local) that shows a map of the location.
DIRECTIONS: These directions will be displayed in the "Directions" section of the location's detail page.
CAPACITY: If you want to be able to assign location reservations to this location, enter a non-zero capacity here.
SELLABLE: If you do not flag the location as 'sellable', you will not be able to assign reservations to it.
RESERVATION INCREMENT: Currently there is only one reservation increment, "By Day". Future versions of EventStore may include other reservation increments.
PRICE CHART: You may assign a price chart to the location. This is for future expansion.

Location Reservation Summary

How to get there: Event List -> Locations -> Reservation Summary (to the right of a location's name)

This screen lets you see a list of all reservations on any location. You may change the date, reservations for which will be displayed using the fields at the top of the list.

Customer List

How to get there: Event List -> Customers

Here you can review customers that have created accounts on your site, either independently or through the checkout process. Normally customers will create and manage their own accounts, and you won't have to do much with this screen. However, if you need to, you can create and manage customer accounts yourself. The exception would be if you are creating location reservations, and need to quickly add a customer account first.

You may also review a customer's reservation history from this screen; click "Reservation History" by the customer's name. This screen displays his reservations, but is in all other respects identical to the Reservation List screen.

Create/Edit a Customer

How to get there: Event List -> Customers -> Add a new customer account OR Event List -> Reservations -> Add reservation -> Create a new customer first

USER NAME: This must be unique, and EventStore will not let you create a non-unique user name. The customer may use this to log in to the site to review his reservations. Currently, customers can only see and review their event reservations, not location reservations.
PASSWORD/CONFIRM PASSWORD: To add or change a customer's password, use these two fields
OTHER FIELDS: A customer's contact information is for your use only, and is not displayed or synchronized with anything else.

If you create the button labeled "Add [or Update] Customer and Create Reservation", you will create/edit the customer account and then be taken to a screen to create a new reservation for this customer.

Reservation List

How to get there: Event List -> Reservations

In this screen you can review reservations that have been placed through EventStore. You may also create a new reservation starting here.

Create/Edit a Reservation

How to get there: Event List -> Reservations -> Add Reservation

Creating a new reservation happens in several steps.

1. Select an existing customer or create a new customer
2. Create the core reservation
3. If you are reserving a location, add individual location reservations

In the CORE RESERVATION screen:

RESERVATION TYPE: Select "Reserve Locations" or "Reserve Dates". The fields you will see change depending on what you select.
EVENT: If you have chosen "Reserve Dates", you may select the date to which this reservation applies from the drop-down menu here.
NOTES: If you need to add a note about this reservation, put it here.

After you have created the CORE RESERVATION:

RESERVATION ID: This numeric ID is assigned by EventStore to this reservation. Customers who reserve events through the public interfaces will be emailed this ID, and might mention it in correspondence with you. If you like, the email they receive with this number is an easy way to handle tickets to your event. Just print out the Event Reservation Summary and note your attendees' Reservation IDs as they arrive.
RELATED TRANSACTION: If there is a transaction associated with this reservation, you may view it by clicking the link here.
NUMBERS RESERVED: If you have selected "Reserve Dates", you will see a grid corresponding to the Price Chart for the date you selected. Fill in the number of tickets for each level/type pair that the customer wants. EventStore will not allow you to exceed the capacity for any given level; if you do, you'll see a warning and a summary of the list of capacities you exceeded.
Note: If you change the date associated with an event reservation, EventStore will clear the "Numbers reserved" grid so you can enter fresh ticket quantities and see the availability for each price chart level.
LOCATIONS RESERVED: If you have selected "Reserve Locations", you will see a list of location reservations. It will be empty at first, but you can add one by clicking "Add Location Reservation". After you add location reservations, you do not need to click "Update Reservation" on the core reservation screen; you only need to click that if you change the Notes or Numbers Reserved fields.

Create/Edit Location Reservations

How to get there: Event List -> Reservations -> Edit [reservation] -> Add Location Reservation

LOCATION: Select the location that is being reserved
START DATE: The beginning of the date range that the reservation covers
END DATE: The end of the date range
NUMBER: The number in the reservation. EventStore will not allow you to exceed the capacity for the location you have selected; if you do, you will see a report of the amounts and dates on which you exceeded capacity.

Click "Add [or Update] Location Reservation" to commit your data.

Sponsors List

How to get there: Event List -> Sponsors (in the main menu bar, not on an event's table row.)

This screen lists all the sponsors in your current sponsor pool. Even if a sponsor is listed here, it will not be displayed for any events unless it is specifically assigned to the event in the event's sponsor list.

Create/Edit a Sponsor

How to get there: Event List -> Sponsors -> Add sponsor or [Edit link a sponsor's name]

NAME: The name of the sponsor
DESCRIPTION: The sponsor's description. This will appear under its name in events' public display pages.
LOGO: Select an image file for the sponsor's logo.

WEBSITE: If you want the sponsor's logo and title to link to a website, enter it here. Make sure you include "http://" at the beginning of the website address.

Modify Configuration: General

How to get there: Event List -> Modify Configuration -> General (tab)

NEW EVENT RECIPIENTS: One feature of EventStore that is currently slated for future development is the ability for users to post their own (non-sellable) events. Once this feature is implemented, the email addresses in this list will be notified of new event postings.
DEFAULT LOCATION: This is the location to which new date entries will default.
SELL LOCATIONS: Currently this option does nothing, since there is no public interface for selling locations.
SELL EVENTS: If you choose to disable event selling, no reservation controls will be available to site visitors.
WEEK STARTS ON: Some sites need weeks that start on Monday. If so, select that option here.
ADMINISTRATOR LOGIN URL: If you want administrators to go to some location other than the main event list when they log in via EventStore, enter the URL of the page here.
USER PERMISSIONS GROUP: Customer accounts will be members of this PostNuke permission group. Make sure this is NOT set to "Administrators"!
ITEMS PER PAGE: This many items will be displayed on each page in the administrative interfaces.

Modify Configuration: Categories

How to get there: Event List -> Modify Configuration -> Categories (tab)

In this screen you can create categories which you may apply to individual events.

Create/Edit a Category

How to get there: Event List -> Modify Configuration -> Categories (tab) -> Add category

NAME: The category's name, as it will be displayed to the public.
DESCRIPTION: By default, this is not displayed, However, if your design calls for categories to have descriptive text associated with them, this field is here for you to enter it.
DEFAULT PRICE CHART: If you assign a default price chart to a category, events within the category may be set to use it instead of their own custom price chart.

Modify Configuration: Price Charts

How to get there: Event List -> Modify Configuration -> Price Charts (tab)

Price Charts are how you tell EventStore how much to charge for your tickets. Each price chart is a grid of Types and Levels. Levels are privilege levels of tickets; usually higher levels are nicer. Types are variations on each level. For example, a price chart might look like this:

Visitors may purchase any of those tickets they wish, as long as their selections won't exceed the event's capacity for each level.

PRICE CHART LEVELS: These are the levels that all your price charts will use. Each price chart may not have values for every level; empty level rows will not be displayed with that price chart.
PRICE CHART TYPES These are the types that all your price charts will use. Each price chart may not have values for every type empty type columns will not be displayed with that price chart.

Create/Edit a Price Chart

How to get there: Event List -> Modify Configuration -> Price Charts (tab) -> Add price chart

NAME: The name of the price chart. This will be displayed on the price chart detail screen, if your site uses it.
PRICE CHART: The data for the chart. You do not need to fill in every field. If you only fill in one grid point, the chart will display as a single price, not as a table.
NOTES: These will be visible in the price chart detail screen, if your site uses it.

Modify Configuration: Media

The settings in this configuration screen refer to three different types of media that EventStore can handle: Event Attachments, Sponsor Logos and Location Photos. For each category, you may specify the directory in which the uploaded files should be stored, the maximum uploaded file size, and the maximum dimensions (for images). Sponsor Logos and Location Photos may also specify a thumbnail size as well. Most sites only display the thumbnail size for these types of images, but some designs may call for the ability to view the full-sized image.

Modify Configuration: Payment Processor

EventStore has room for other payment processors, but currently only PayPal is supported. If you want to sell events, select PayPal. (There are several permissions that must also be set if you want to sell events; until EventStore reaches a beta release, contact me about these permissions if you need to change something here.)

MERCHANT ID: Enter your PayPal merchant ID.
NOTIFY URL: Should be this: http://www.example.com/modules/EventStore/PaymentProcessor_receivers/paypal_sandbox.php
TESTING MODE: Activate testing mode to make each transaction only charge $0.01
PURCHASE WINDOW: Customers must complete their PayPal transaction in this amount of time, or their temporary reservation will be released. 10 minutes is usually sufficient
PURGE METHOD: If you have access to your web server's cron table (e.g. through cPanel), cron is the better choice, since it runs consistently. If you don't, running the purge script periodically when pages are loaded will also work.

Common Tasks

I will fill this section in as I identify common tasks with which users need assistance.