Web Calendars addon for MIDAS Web Calendars: Configuration

Once the Web Calendars plugin has been installed to your MIDAS system, its configuration page (shown below) may be accessed via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage Addons → Web Calendars.

Public Calendars Settings Screen
The Web Calendars settings screen

The left side of the configuration screen contains three sections; Current Calendars, Variables - Global, and Variables - Fields.

Current Calendars

This area contains a list of all the Web Calendars currently defined.

To configure a new calendar, click the "Add New" button below the list.

To set an existing Web Calendar to be the "default", highlight it in the "Current Calendars" list and click "Set as Default".
The Web Calendar currently set as the default is denoted by an asterisk in the Current Calendars list.

To remove a Web Calendar, select it from the list of Current Calendars and click the "Delete" button.

Variables - Global

This area lists a number of "placeholder" variables that may be used within your calendar templates.
These variables are automatically substituted for corresponding content in your "live" calendars.

Variables - Fields

Similar to global variables, when "field" variables are used within your Web Calendar templates, they are substituted with live data from corresponding booking fields.
If you've set the "Action on Click" setting to "Show extended info for selected date in popup" and you wish to use these variables in your Popup Templates, they must all be placed between a single set of <bookings>...</bookings> tags in order to be correctly substituted.
The right side of the configuration screen allows you to configure the currently selected Web Calendar (from the Current Calendars) list.

Calendar Name

A name by which you can use to identify the Web Calendar you are defining.
This name will appear in the "Current Calendars" list and can be shown on your calendar if desired through the inclusion of the %CALNAME% variable within your template.
This name may also form part of the URL used to embed your Web Calendar.

Enabled?

Allows you to "disable" the selected Web Calendar. When a disabled Web Calendar is viewed it will display a "Calendar Currently Disabled" message instead of the calendar.

What to include

This section allows you to control which bookings will be presented on your Web Calendar.

Include Bookings For

These settings allow you to control which bookings should be included within the generated Web Calendar.
By default, bookings for "All Venues" and "All Booking Types" will be included.
You can "untick" either of these options to limit the range of venues/booking types that are presented on the calendar.

Advanced Filter

An Advanced Filter is also available, allowing you to include/exclude bookings from the generated Web Calendar that match a particular criterion.
You'll be able to select a booking field (including any custom booking fields you've defined) from a drop-down list, select a match type, and enter a match string.

Match types available include:

  • Equals - Will include bookings where the selected booking field's value exactly matches the string you enter.
  • Does Not Equal - Will include bookings where the selected booking field's value doesn't exactly match the string you enter.
  • Contains - Will include bookings where the selected booking field's value contains an occurrence of the string you enter.
  • Does Not Contain - Will include bookings where the selected booking field's value contains no occurrences of the string you enter.
  • Begins With - Will include bookings where the selected booking field's value begins with the string you enter.
  • Ends With - Will include bookings where the selected booking field's value ends with the string you enter.
  • Is Greater Than - Will include bookings where the selected booking field's numeric value is higher than the value you enter.
  • Is Less Than - Will include bookings where the selected booking field's numeric value is higher than the value you enter.

Calendar Interaction

This section controls if and how viewers can interact with your Web Calendar.

Action on Click

"Do nothing" - Nothing will happen when a visitor clicks on dates within your monthly Web Calendar
"Show extended info for selected booking in popup" - Allows each booking shown on your monthly Web Calendar, when clicked, to show a pop-up window containing further information about the selected booking.
"Show extended info for selected date in popup" - Allows each date shown on your monthly Web Calendar, when clicked, to show a pop-up window containing further information about the bookings taking place on that date.
"Request this date" - Allows a visitor to click a date within your monthly Web Calendar and make a Booking Request for that date.
"Book this date" - Allows a visitor to click a date within your monthly Web Calendar and make a Web Booking for that date.

Popup Size

When the "Action of Click" setting is set to either "Show extended info for selected booking in popup" or "Show extended info for selected date in popup", the Popup Size settings allow you to specify the size of pop-up windows generated when a user clicks a booking/date.
For example, setting this to "400 x 600" will produce pop-up windows that are 400 pixels wide, and 600 pixels tall.

Opens in new window?

When the "Action of Click" setting is set to either "Request this date" or "Book this date", the "Opens in new window?" tick box forces the Public Booking/Request process to open in a new browser tab/window.
If this option is unticked, the Public Booking/Request process will start in the same frame/window as the Web Calendar.

Calendar Appearance

This section allows you to control and customize the visual appearance of your Web Calendar.

Content of Month cell entries

Defines how each booking should be displayed on date cells within a monthly Web Calendar, using the Field Variables previously described.
For example, setting this value to "%START% - %FINISH% %VENUE%" will translate on your actual calendar to show each booking in the format "08.00 - 09.00 Room 1"

Popup Template

When the "Action of Click" setting is set to either "Show extended info for selected booking in popup" or "Show extended info for selected date in popup", a popup window will open when a visitor clicks a booking/date. You can define the content of these popups here.
Popup templates can include standard HTML code, and global or field placeholder variables listed above.
If you've set the "Action on Click" setting to "Show extended info for selected date in popup", any field placeholder variables you use in your popup template must be placed within <bookings>...</bookings> tags. This indicates to MIDAS the section of template code that is to be repeated for each booking to be displayed.

Custom CSS Styling

This field allows you to precisely control all the visual elements of your Web Calendar and associated pop-ups through the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). This field will accept a URL to an external .css file, or (starting from v1.12 of the Web Calendars addon) raw CSS code directly.

Use Calendar

This section provides information on displaying and embedding your Web Calendar.

Copy Embed Code

The "Copy Embed Code" button will copy an example HTML code fragment to the clipboard, which you can then paste into your website, allowing you to "embed" the Web Calendar directly into web pages on your site.
For more information, please see Embedding a Web Calendar.

Initial Display


By default, the calendar link/embed code will cause your monthly Web Calendar to initially show bookings for the current month. Use the "Initial Display" option to select a different month for your Web Calendar to start on instead. When changing this option, the Web Calendar link/embed code will update.

Calendar Link

The URL at which your Web Calendar will be available.
You can link directly to this URL, or use the example Embed Code below to embed the calendar within an existing page on your website.

Preview Calendar

Clicking this button will open a new window showing a preview of the calendar you are currently creating.

Preview Popup

This button is only visible if "Action of Click" is set to either "Show extended info for selected booking in popup" or "Show extended info for selected date in popup".
Clicking this button will open a popup window at the size you've specified and show a preview of your Popup Template code.
Note: Placeholder "Fields" variables are not substituted for live data in this preview.

Save Changes

Once you're happy with your Web Calendar template and settings, click the "Save Changes" button to save your calendar.
You can edit the template and/or settings for a previously saved Web Calendar at any time by simply selecting it in the "Current Calendars" list.