The Calendar is easy to use.  It has three parts: 1) a list of events, 2) the pages of detailed event information and 3) a "Calendar Options" page which controls the list by date, category, geographical region and so forth.  On InterMix hubs that have a calendar, an "open calendar" icon or button will automatically display in the upper left corner of the relevant InterMix pages. 

Date From and To fields - if the date from and to fields are left blank, then all events from today on will be listed in the calendar.  If one field is entered, both fields must be entered.  Most date formats are acceptable, but it is safest to give a 4 digit year and to use the three position month abbreviation, for instance, "04 jun 2001" or "Jul 12, 2002".  The only way to see past events in the calendar listing is to give a date range starting with a date in the past.

MiXm 
 

• Date field - if the date field is left blank, then the event will displayed as if it had  date of Jan 01, 2100, but no date will be displayed.  Because the event has a date of 2100, it will not show up on the list if a user selects a date range from the current year.  Also, since the default calendar sort order is now to future, the event will usually be at the end of the list.  Leaving the date field blank is not generally recommended.  It does have the advantage that the event will not automatically expire, but for this very reason, the sysop is likely to inspect the list occasionally and delete undated events that are more than 6 months or a year old.  Still, this feature can be used along with the Ongoing Event Info field to save having to enter a string of dates for an event that occurs regularly.  Events that occur every day or every weekday, are best entered with a blank date field, because otherwise, they clog up the calendar.

The Date field is a scrolling text box where you can list multiple dates for your event, one date per line.  Your event will be listed separately in the calendar for each date.  Events that occur more than once or twice a week should be listed with a blank Date field - see above.  Please do not list your events too far into the future.  Instead, come back every few months and modify the event, adding new dates and removing old ones.  When you list multiple dates for the same event, all the other information stays exactly the same, and the "visits" count is incremented for the event regardless of which date is selected by the person browsing the calendar.

Every entered date must be a valid date.  Most formats are acceptable.  The safest method is to use a 4 digit year and the short abbreviation for the month instead of a number, e.g. 01 Jan 2001, or mar 3, 2002.  The entry xx/xx/xx will be interpreted as mm/dd/yy thus 03/04/05 becomes Mar 04, 2005 - but it is best not to use this entry format, since it is inherently ambiguous.
 
On a modification of dates, the calendar event list must be rebuilt before you see the change.  Similarly, a deleted event may remain visible until you rebuild the calendar.



• Ongoing Event Info field - if your event occurs regularly by some rule, such as "every other Wednesday" give the rule in this field.  It is particularly important to provide a rule if you leave the date field blank.

 
For the Hub Sysop 

The calendar is controlled hub by hub.  The sysop can turn the calendar feature on or off for the hub and completely control the look of the calendar list, the calendar event pages, and the buttons that invoke the calendar.  Different hubs can have very different looking calendars. 

The following controls are available from the Hub control page at the bottom of the Sysop's Personal Settings page: 

• Activate/deactivate calendar - if the calendar is not active, the "open calendar" button is never displayed to the user.

 
• The name of the MiXml event form

Two special purpose html select menus allow the user to post an event to one or more categories and regions, corresponding to "group discussion" areas in the hub.  The value of the select menu options must match the names of the discussion areas.  The event is then listed under the selected region(s) and category(s), and the Calendar Options page gives the user an easy way to restrict the calendar event list to a particular region and/or category. 

Private areas should not be listed in the region or category menus - various problems can crop up if a private are is so listed.

Inter

Inter