Creating an Event Type

Introduction

Event Types are categories for your individual calendar events. By catagorizing your calendar entries with specific Event Types, you will be able to color code the calendars that display multipe Event Types - such as the main calendar on your school's home page, which lists all upcoming events. 

Event Types can also be used for calendars which only display a single event type, such as a calendar on a JROTC page that only displays JROTC events.

It is recommended that you create, or familiarize yourself with, the availble Event Types for catagorizing your Events before creating the individual events themselves. The following tutorial will explain the process for creating a new Event Type.

Step 1

Begin by clicking on the "Calendar" link, located in the menu at the top of your Digital Bell Dashboard.

Calendar link

This will bring you to the Events directory. Next, click the "Manage Event Types" link, located in the right margin of the page.

Manage Event Types

Clicking this link will bring you to a list of your existing Event Types. By default, you will have an "Events" Event Type.

Finally, click the "Add new Event Type" link, as shown below.

Add New Event Type Link

Step 2

After clicking the link, you will be forwarded to the "Add Event Type" form, as seen in the following image. Each field is described in detail below the images.

Event Type Form

Title: The title of your Event Type.

Name: The name of your Event Type will auto-complete, based on the title, and no input is necessary. This is an internal designation, used to determine the URL of your Event Type. If you do choose to edit this field, note that spaces and special characters (#,@,%,etc.) are not permitted.

Singular Record: The singular form of the Events that will be added to this Event Type (ex. JROTC Event, NHS Event, etc.)

Plural Record(s): The plural form of the Events that will be added to this Event Type (ex. JROTC Events, NHS Events, etc.)

Description: A description of how this event type should be used. This is for internal use only, and will not be displayed on the public site.

Abstract: A summary of the information entered in the Description field. This field is also for internal use only, and will not be displayed on the public site.

New Event Form continued

Weight: Assign a numeric "Weight" value to the Events that will be assigned to this Event Type. The lower the "Weight" the higher the Events will be displayed on any list, such as when multiple calendar events occur on a single date.

Active?: This determines whether the Event Type is currently available for use on your Web site.

Once you have entered the information for your new Event Type, click the "Submit" button to create it. Your new Event Type can now be selected, when creating new Events.

Step 3 - Adding your Event Type to a Calendar

Once you have clicked "Submit" and created the new Event Type, it will need to be manually added to a calendar before its individual events can be seen on the website.

  • If you will be creating a new page or calendar for this Event Type, first create a new page (if necessary) or edit an existing page. Once you have completed the Add Page form to create a new page, or clicked the Edit button to edit an existing page, you will be taken to the content editor. The steps below explain how to use the content editor to create a new calendar for your Event Type:
1. First, click the "Events" link, located under the "Add Content" heading in the right sidebar. This will add an Event Type Group element to the page. This element is responsible for displaying the calendar on the public-facing page.

2. Next, add your Event Type by clicking the "+Existing Event Type" button on the bottom of the element. This will display a list of each Event Type that can be added to the calendar. Locate the title of your Event Type, then click to select it. 

3. Finally, click the "Submit" button to add your Event Type to the calendar. If there are any individual events in your Event Type, they should now be listed on the calendar. Additional Event Types can be added to the calendar by repeating steps 2-3.

  • If you will be adding the Event Type to an existing calendar, such as (for administrators) your main school calendar or (for teachers) the calendar on your Profile page, first make a note of the name of the page where the calendar is shown. Once you know the page name, the steps below explain how to add your Event Type to an existing calendar.
1. After logging into The Digtial Bell, click the "Pages" tab located in the menu at the top of any Digital Bell page. This will bring you to a list of your webpages.

2. Next, locate the page where the calendar appears, then click the Edit button (pencil icon) to the left of its title. This will bring you to the page's properties editor.

3. Here, locate the "Event Type Group" element. This element is responsible for displaying the calendar that appears on the public-facing page. In the Event Type Group element, you will see a list of the Event Types that are currently being shown on this calendar. 

4. To add your new Event Type, click the "+Existing Event Type" button, located at the bottom of the element. Clicking this button will display each of the Event Types that have not yet been added to the calendar. Locate the title of your Event Type, then click to select it.

5. Finally, click the "Submit" button to add your new Event Type to the calendar. If there are any individual events in your Event Type, they should now be listed on the calendar. 

Additional Information

For information on adding individual events to your new Event Type, see "Creating a Calendar Event." The events you create will be displayed on the calendar from Step #3.

To make changes to an existing Event Type, click the "Calendar" link to return to your Events Directory, then click the "Manage Event Types" link, located in the right margin. Locate the appropriate Event Type, then click the Edit button (pencil icon) to view to the "Edit Event Type" form. Here, an Event Type can be deactivated by setting the "Is Active?" option to "No." After making your changes, click the "Submit" button to finalize the process.

To permanently delete an Event Type, click the "Calendar" link to return to your Events Directory, then click the "Manage Event Types" link, located in the right margin. Here, find the appropriate Event Type, then click the red "minus sign" icon (opposite the pencil icon) to permanently delete the Event Type. Note that deleting an Event Type will not delete its individual events, and is not recommended - unless the Event Type is currently empty (no events have yet been added, or they have already been deleted/deactivated).