Setting Up Events & Calendars

Almost every app built on Grandstand needs to utilize event calendars. Here is how to get started.

1: Setup Your Calendar Group

By default, your first calendar group, called ‘Schedule’, will be setup for you. This calendar is setup as a short- term, multi-day calendar, typically used for shorter-term events. If you would like to setup a year-round calendar we suggest adding a second calendar and selecting month-at-a-glance as the display type.

2: Setup Design Elements App Layout

Some users prefer to edit an existing event versus starting from scratch so every app comes pre-loaded with a sample event listing. You may either edit that listing or start a new event from scratch. Either way, here is an overview of each area on the event setup page:

• Logo Image: Upload and choose from the list. Likely leave this centered vertically. Please note that on Text Menu layouts the background behind the logo will take on the ‘Home Page Solid Color’ set on the Fonts & Colors -> Home page. To make this area transparent, simply select transparent as the color option on that page.
• Event Title: Short title for your individual event listing (for example: Happy Hour or Final Project Judging)
• Category: Select a filter category to assign to the event. Default categories have been setup depending on the type of app you are looking to create but new ones can be created in the Events->Categories area in the Admin. At this time you can only assign one category to each event listing.
• Show Event On: Choose which calendar your event should be listed on. You can have a single event on multiple calendars or just a single calendar.
• Event Date: Choose the date for your event. If it occurs over multiple days please enter it multiple times (via our copy feature) or set it to be recurring over a period of days or weeks. Events happening after midnight until 3 a.m. will be automatically entered on the previous days list (unless requested different). If starting an event after midnight please make sure the event date you select is the actual event date not the date you want it to appear on.
• Start Time: You must either select a start time, TBD, or All Day. The time should be entered in relation to the timezone where the event will be held. For example if you are in PST but setting up events for an event in EST, then please enter the event time in EST. For events after midnight enter 12:30 AM, 1:30 AM, etc.
• End Time: Although this isn’t required, any event that has both a start and end time will be shown as ‘LIVE NOW’ on your calendar during those hours or minutes the event is going on. For events ending after midnight enter 12:30 AM, 1:30 AM, etc.
• Description: Enter the details of your event with as much text as you need to explain your event. Hard returns will show as returns in the app as well but at this time no HTML styling will occur.
• Location: If you have already setup the location for this event listing you can select it during event setup. When linked, users will be able to go right from the event listing to its location on your map.

OPTIONAL EXTRA DETAILS:

• Recurrence: Enter number of occurrences (Friday and Saturday would be two) and Recurrent Type (daily, weekly, or monthly). Everything from your listing, including description, times, etc. will stay the same across all listings. Location
• Name Override: Used when you have a specific room or location that is smaller than the location pinpointed on a map. For example, if you have an event in Room 232 of Varner Hall you could enter the Location as “Varner Hall” and the Location Name Override as “Room 232”. It would then link on the map to Varner Hall but list Room 232 on the event detail page.
• Web Link: Include http:// or https:// in your link
• Web Button Title: If you have a weblink and the Web Button Title is left blank it will show in the app as ‘VIEW WEBSITE’. Web Button Title will override this button title.
• YouTube Video: Video will show at the top of your event detail page. Please just enter the code after embed in your YouTube Link.
• Image Link: If you have an existing image for your event listing you can include it here. Image will show at the top of the event detail page and will be fetched when the detail page is opened by the user (most other images in the app are pre-fetched).
• Link Event to List Entry: If you have an event associated with a list item you can link that here. An example use case would be a conference event with the speakers (each as list items) linked to the event.

3: Update to the App

When you are ready to go or just want to test out your progress hit the ‘Update Events in App’ button in the top right of most Event pages in the AMS. Although the app will refresh itself every two minutes you can speed up the process by exiting the app and coming back into it.

Events