Events
Introduction
Institutions provide a wide breadth of events, activities, and ancillary opportunities to enrich the curricula and experience for their users.
The Events product integration provides users with an attractive and engaging events discovery experience. Users can browse, search, and filter their way through all the activities the institutions have to offer.
Users can favorite, register, and check-in to events and receive reminder notifications (if configured) to drive attendance.
Users can favorite and register for events and will receive reminder notifications (if configured) to drive attendance.
The experience within the Events product integration is easily managed through App Manager, with a wide range of configuration options to customize the interface for end-users.
The event information itself can be populated by importing a populated Excel spreadsheet into the Product Integration Configuration screen, as well as dynamically through configuring one or more RSS endpoints.
Each customer can deploy multiple instances of the Event product integrations to support a range of user segments. Access and visibility of these instances can be managed through Profiles and Roles.
Vendor
Currently, the Events product integration supports importing events with an Excel file and one or more RSS feeds.
Authentication
Registering and checking in to an event requires a valid CMAuth token.
Offline Support
Users can view cached data from previous sessions. New data will not be visible and the additional filtering functionality will not work.
User Experience
The following is an overview of the Events product integration user interface for reference when configuring it.
| Native App Experience | ||
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| Web App Experience | ||
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Additionally:
- Users can view all events.
- Users can filter events by date, tags, or any additional info provided for an event.
- Users can view their favorite events.
- Users can view the event details.
- Users can register for an event.
- Users can check-in to registered events with either no validation or by scanning a QR code.
- Users can add an event to their favorites.
- Users can get reminder notifications for registered events.
Events Smart Tile
The smart tile highlights upcoming events. A smart tile can be added for the Events product integration from the App Builder.
To add a smart tile:
- Select Add.
- Choose the Events Widget dropdown.
- Select the relevant product integration configuration.
- Add a name for your tile.
- Select Create.
- Select Save & Publish.
You can configure this tile to include images and/or a title. Selecting the tile sends you directly to the highlighted event that appeared on the homescreen. From here you can view all events.
The Events Widget looks similar to the following on your homescreen:
Homescreen Events Smart Tile
Technical Overview
The following section describes technical information for the Events product integration.
Prerequisites for Importing Events Data
When importing events data using an Excel file and an RSS feed, images must be less than 1 MB.
Importing Events from an Excel File
You can import events data using an Excel file to the Events service. The first 11 columns of the Excel file can have only the following columns:
| Column | Heading Name | Description | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Unique ID | Event unique identifier | Yes |
| B | Start Date | Event start date (MM/dd/yyyy format) | Yes |
| C | End Date | Event end date (MM/dd/yyyy format) | No |
| D | Start Time | Event start time | No |
| E | End Time | Event end time | No |
| F | Tags | Tags for the event — must be separated by a comma (,) | No |
| G | Location | Location of the event | No |
| H | Location URL | URL of the location | No |
| I | Location Code | Location code (Number) — this enables institutions to send users to the maps for the event location | No |
| J | Title | Event name (Up to 800 characters) | Yes |
| K | Description | Event description (up to 4000 characters) | No |
| L | Image | Event image URL | No |
| M | External Link | External link for the event (must be in http://... format) | No |
- You can add additional columns to the Excel file after the M column. These additional headings appear for the user but are not configurable on the configuration page.
- Do not change the order of the columns.
- All cells' content must be of type General except for the Start Date and End Date columns.
- Excel auto changes the type of date cells to type Date. If using an old file (from before January 2022), edit the dates so they auto format to type Date.
- All times should be of the same type that was selected in the Events product integration instance configuration.
- If no end date is provided, then the end date defaults to the start date (i.e. a one-day event).
- The event times are not mandatory.
- The value of each field must not be longer than 255 characters.
- Photos should be in landscape orientation.
Common landscape ratios are 3:2, 4:3 (for desktops), 5:4, 2:1 (for phones).
Landscape photos are cropped according to their position.
Importing Events from an RSS Feed
The RSS feed must contain the following fields: Date, Title.
- The RSS feed must contain the Start Date and Title.
- A UniqueID is automatically generated using the title and date of the event.
- Tags must be separated by a comma (,).
- The event times are not mandatory.
Check-in using a QR code:
- Users can scan a QR code to check-in to an event. This feature works only with events imported using a CSV or an RSS feed that uses GUID as the event ID.
GUID should be an alphanumeric value and can include "-". - The contents of the QR must be as follows, where "Event1" is the eventide:
{"eventid": "Event1"}
- Scanning a QR code is only available for mobile phones. When this feature is enabled, the user can manually input the event ID on the web.
Configuration
To configure the Events product integration, select Add Product Integration from the Product Integrations main menu option.
Select Events and the configuration page appears. The following table describes the configuration options available on this page.
| Configuration Option | Description | Mandatory | Data Type | Default | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enable Product Integration | Select to enable the product integration on the user's app. | No | Checkbox | Unselected | |
| Product Integration Description | A description of the product integration for internal use. | Yes | String | ||
| Screen Title | The title that appears in the top header of the service. | No | String | Events | My Events |
| Vendor/Data Source | |||||
| Load Spreadsheet | |||||
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Imported Data Time Format
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Select the time format for events for the import file from the drop-down list.
All dates in the Excel file must match the chosen date format exactly. For information on creating formats, see Date and Time Patterns. The options are:
hh:mm a HH:mm |
No
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Drop-down List
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HH:mm
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| Imported Data Time Zone | A timezone ID for the date and time. | No | Drop-down List | UTC | |
| Import your File Here | Select Choose File to select a file to import data. | No | Button | ||
| Import File | Select this button to import your file. | No | Button | ||
| Export File | Select this button to export your existing data in the DB. If there is no data for the specific instance in the DB, an empty template is exported. | No | Button | ||
| Export Template | Select this button to generate an empty template file. Only shown if no Excel data has been imported. | No | Button | ||
| RSS Feeds | |||||
| Feeds | A list of RSS feeds for the integration to use. | No | Object | See "RSS Feed Configuration", below. | |
| RSS Feed Configuration | |||||
| API Configuration | |||||
| URL to retrieve the information | The base URL must include path parameters | Yes | URI | https://myDomain.com | |
| URL Query Parameters | Any additional query parameters required by the vendor. | No | Array | ||
| Parameter Name | The name of the parameter. | No | String | ||
| Parameter Type | Choose a parameter type that matches your needs. i.e. Select Username to use the username attribute associated with the end-user. | No | Object | Username | |
| Token Property Name | Enter the property name to be retrieved from the token ({ USERNAME, MAIL, GIVEN_NAME, SURNAME, FULL_NAME } or as named in the integration profile). | No | String | USERNAME | |
| Constant Value | The value to use if Constant is selected as the parameter type. | No | String | ||
| URL Path Parameters | Any path parameters required by the vendor. | Yes | Object | ||
| Parameter Name | Enter the path parameter name as specified in the base URL, for example - if the URL is: https://someHostName/serviceName/username then the parameter name is username. | No | String | ||
| Parameter Type | Choose a parameter type that matches your needs. i.e. Select Username to use the username attribute associated with the end-user. | No | Object | Username | |
| Token Property Name | Enter the property name to be retrieved from the token ({ USERNAME, MAIL, GIVEN_NAME, SURNAME, FULL_NAME } or as named in the integration profile). | No | String | USERNAME | |
| Constant Value | The value to use if Constant is selected as the parameter type. | No | String | ||
| General Headers | Any additional headers required by the vendor. | No | Object | ||
| Header Key | No | String | |||
| Header Value | No | String | |||
| API Authentication | |||||
| Authentication Type | Defines the authentication required for this feed, if any. | No | String | No Auth | |
| Fields | |||||
| Mandatory Fields | |||||
| Title | The event name. | ||||
| Code | Note: Mandatory if an RSS feed is being used. | Yes | String | title | |
| Start Date | The event start date. | ||||
| Code | Note: Mandatory if an RSS feed is being used. | Yes | String | date | |
| Start Date Format | The format in which the date is returned in the response. | No | String | YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ | |
| Start Time | The event start time. | ||||
| Code | No | String | startTime | ||
| Start Time Format | The format in which the start time is returned in the response. | No | String | HH:mm | |
| End Date | The event end date. No need to map if the end date is the same as the start date. | ||||
| Code | No | String | endDate | ||
| End Date Format | The format in which the date is returned in the response. | No | String | YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ | |
| End Time | The event end time. | ||||
| Code | No | String | endTime | ||
| End Time Format | The format in which the end time is returned in the response. | No | String | HH:mm | |
| Timezone Conversion | If the API date or time response is adjusted for a time zone that is not specified in the date format, select the zone from the list. | No | String | UTC | |
| Non Mandatory Fields | |||||
| Tags | |||||
| Code | No | String | tags | ||
| Location | The location of the event. | ||||
| Code | No | String | location | ||
| Location URL | The URL of the location. The location appears as an external link to this URL. | ||||
| Code | No | String | locationURL | ||
| Location Code | App location code (Number). The location appears as an internal link to the position that has this code. The location code is the number at the end of the URL of the change position page in the App Manager, for example: https://appmanager.ombiel.com/app-settings/CampusM/position/123456/. | ||||
| Code | No | String | locationCode | ||
| Description | The description of the event. | ||||
| Code | No | String | description | ||
| Image | Image for the event. | ||||
| Code | No | String | image | ||
| External Link | External link for the event. | ||||
| Code | No | String | link | ||
| Additional Fields | |||||
| Fields | Any extra fields other than the ones defined above. | ||||
| Code | The code for the field. | No | String | example | |
| Label | The label to use for this field on the event details page. | No | String | Example | |
| Expect HTML Content | Enable the field in the API response returns HTML content. | No | Checkbox | Unchecked | |
| Event Details | |||||
| Display Tags Field | Controls the display of tags. | No | Checkbox | Checked | |
| Display Location Field | Controls the display of location details. | No | Checkbox | Checked | |
| Display Location URL Field | Controls the display of the location link. | No | Checkbox | Checked | |
| Display Location Code Field | Controls the display of the location code. | No | Checkbox | Checked | |
| Display Description Field | Controls the display of event descriptions. | No | Checkbox | Checked | |
| Expect HTML Content in the Description | Tells the product integration whether or not to expect HTML content in the description. | No | Checkbox | Checked | |
| Display Image Field | Controls the display of images from the feed. | No | Checkbox | Checked | |
| Display External Link | Controls the display of any external link. | No | Checkbox | Checked | |
| Display All Event's Details | If unchecked, three fields appear together with a show more button | No | Checkbox | Unchecked | |
| Display Event Duration | If unchecked, the DURATION section is not visible. | No | Checkbox | Unchecked | |
| General Settings | |||||
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Default Locale
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No
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String
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en-gb
US based customers must use Default Locale: en-us.
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| Time Format | No | String | LT | ||
| Date Format (short) | No | String | ll | ||
| Date Format (long) | No | String | LL | ||
| DateTime Format (short) | No | String | llll | ||
| DateTime Format (long) | No | String | LLLL | ||
| Show Past Events | Select this box to show past events. | No | Checkbox | Unselected | |
| Enable Registering to Events | Select this box to enable registering to events. | No | Checkbox | Unselected | |
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Select this box to enable checking in to events.
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No
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Checkbox
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Unselected
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Select this box to enable checking in to events using QR codes.
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No
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Checkbox
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Unselected
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Check-in Window |
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Check-in Window Start |
Number of minutes before or after the start of the event | No | Number | -5 | |
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Check-in Window End |
Number of minutes before or after the end of the event | No | Number | 5 | |
| Event Duration Format | No | String | h[h] m [mins] | ||
| Events Home Page Image | No | URL | https://defaultImage.jpg | ||
| Notification Settings | |||||
| Event notification time | Time before event (in minutes) that a reminder notification will be sent for Registered event. | Yes | Drop-down List | 60 minutes before | |
| Notification Title | Notification of title text. Can contain the following parameters that are replaced by the event information {Event Name} {Start} {End} {Location}. | Yes | String | {Event Name} | |
| Notification Body | Notification body text. Can contain the following parameters that are replaced by the event information {Event Name} {Start} {End} {Location}. | Yes | String | {Start} - {End}: {Location} | |
| Text/Labels | Enter replacement text for the default titles and labels | ||||
| Events Home Page Title | No | String | Events on Campus | ||
| Events Home Page Subtitle | No | String | Recommended events just for you, anytime, any topic you want | ||
| Filters Title | No | String | Broaden your mind | ||
| Browse Events Title Text | No | String | Discover unique events at anytime | ||
| Showing Text | No | String | Showing: | ||
| Events Text | No | String | events | ||
| Event Text | No | String | event | ||
| Results Text | No | String | results | ||
| Result Text | No | String | result | ||
| Favorites Text | No | String | favorites | ||
| Favorite Text | No | String | favorite | ||
| All Text | No | String | All | ||
| No Text | No | String | No | ||
| Events Tab Title | No | String | Filter By | ||
| Clear Button Text | No | String | Clear | ||
| When Text | No | String | When | ||
| Tags Text | No | String | Tags | ||
| Show events button Text | No | String | Show events | ||
| No Events Found Text | No | String | No events found. Keep digging! | ||
| No Events Found Subtitle Text | No | String | Clear your filters and try again. | ||
| Event Description | No | String | OVERVIEW | ||
| When and where Heading Text | No | String | When & where | ||
| Event Start Time | No | String | Start Time | ||
| Event End Time | No | String | End Time | ||
| Duration Text | No | String | DURATION | ||
| Event Link | No | String | LINK | ||
| Event Location | No | String | LOCATION | ||
| Register to Event Button Text | No | String | Register to event | ||
| Registered Text | No | String | Registered | ||
| Import/ Export Configuration You can configure product integration and then export it to another environment, for example, from sandbox to production or from preview to production. |
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| Export | Create a JSON file with all product integration configurations. | No | |||
| Import | Use this option in order to load configuration from JSON of an exported product integration. | No | |||
