Calendar mods

[Chris Curran]

Link to Mod



Hi, Hello:

I'm a new SMF user. I dl'ed and installed 1.1 RC2 a few days ago and so far no troubles.

One question though: I needed a calendar app that allowed repeating events - the span thing just didn't cut it for our needs (an astro club). I took a theme from Bloc (Black22) and modified the Post.template.php and Calendar.template.php files as needed, however, due to the addition fields I'm using I needed to modify the calendar table structure (added columns) and the Post.php and Calendar.php files (to support the new columns related to repeating events).

Here's the question: How do I share these mods with the rest of the community? Since my mods are not limited to the "template" files I'm not sure what to do. Diff files? Is there a cvs this can be posted to? What question am I forgetting to ask? Sorry if I've missed a document that covers this - I poked around and don't see anything obvious...

salute and happy days,
Chris Curran

A cropped screen-print of the mod:

[HEB XI 1]

can't answer your question about how to share it, but once you've got that answered, I'd LOVE to be one of the first to grab it.  I've waited for something like this since I started using SMF ... I just can't hack code that well

[Chris Curran]

Did I post this in the wrong forum? Are there any SMF developers out there that can comment on the above questions?

thanks,
Chris

[Kindred]

You need to look at the mod package design and package this up into an archive, with an XML load sheet and an XML instruction set to tell the system what files to modify and how... (and a sql file for it to execute to tell it how to modify the tables)

[Chris Curran]

Thanks Kindred. Is there doc somewhere that outlines the "mod package design"? The only thing I am able to find is a two msg thread regarding how to make a new theme...

cheers,
Chris

You need to look at the mod package design and package this up into an archive, with an XML load sheet and an XML instruction set to tell the system what files to modify and how... (and a sql file for it to execute to tell it how to modify the tables)

[Chris Curran]

OK, I dl'ed a mod and took a look at the structure. First thing I noticed is that the themes are .gz and the mods are .zip - the inconsistency seemed odd. What I still don't "get" are the nuts & bolts of this - what are the "rules"? What other commands/functions are available to the MOD file? Can I auto-execute the sql mods, or do I instruct the user to run a script outside the current environment? I can't seem to find a HOWTO type document/thread on how to make a package. Is there one?

thx,
Chris

[Kindred]

it's here...
[Unknown]'s package SDK


also.. BTW: Would you mind If I rolled this mod into another calendar mod that I was working on?
(the PhatCalendarPack)  I had actually just started looking into the recurring events.
But since you've done it, I would like to roll it in, so that there won't be any conflicts between the two mods.  All credit on this portion definitiely going to you...

Let me know if you're OK with that...  (or not...)

[Prasad007]

oooh sweeet
thank you!

[Chris Curran]

Yes, of course. I'd like to package this up as it's own mod for my own education though. Thanks for the link - I'll check it out and get back to you after the games...

cheers,
Chris

it's here...
[Unknown]'s package SDK


also.. BTW: Would you mind If I rolled this mod into another calendar mod that I was working on?
(the PhatCalendarPack)  I had actually just started looking into the recurring events.
But since you've done it, I would like to roll it in, so that there won't be any conflicts between the two mods.  All credit on this portion definitiely going to you...

Let me know if you're OK with that...  (or not...)

[Chris Curran]

OK, I got the "SDK" and have started looking into packaging this up. However, I must admit to being somewhat disappointed. This is not a "SDK" in the sense that I'm used to seeing/using SDK's. Moreover, I find it *very* odd that the "SDK" is not a sticky thread in this forum - why hide it in the noise of chatter? SMF seems to pride itself on how easy it is to install mods and themes - where's the beef for us programmers? I'm sure there are ways to make getting started as a SMF developer more difficult and frustrating, but I'm not sure how you go about it...

cheers,
Chris

it's here...
[Unknown]'s package SDK

[Kindred]

Chris,

Can you email me or PM me regarding the coding for this?   I am planning to release the PhatCalPack around the end of the month and I (and all the users) would love it if recurring events could be included.

thanks!

[Chris Curran]

Kindred,

I haven't finished making the xml mod files (or tested same). Are you asking for the source raw (which I can do)? BTW: I do a search for "PhatCalPack" and don't find anything - where is it?

Chris

Chris,

Can you email me or PM me regarding the coding for this?   I am planning to release the PhatCalPack around the end of the month and I (and all the users) would love it if recurring events could be included.

thanks!

[Kindred]

it was actually originally titled: Jack's Phat Calendar Pack

Jack was gone for a while and I updated the pack for the 1.0.x series.

Since I did some updates, a bunch of people came in with requests to be added for the RC2 release.

[sugarbeth]

Oooh...just what I need! Thanks for doing this, Chris! I'll be anxiously awaiting!

[Chris Curran]

I don't know if this will interest anyone... I've worked out auto-generating events for the moon phases (our board is for an astro club, so moon phase is important to us). I wrote a small script to dl the data from USNO, then created a mysql table for those data. Those data are used to display the time of the four quarters of the moon, on the proper date, with UT conversion to local time (EST here).

here it is in action: http://www.stpeteastronomyclub.org/forum/index.php?action=calendar

cheers,
Chris

PS: I'm leaving town in a few hours until Tue. Q's will have to wait until then....

[Kindred]

Chris... you are amazing!  That is so totally cool!

I have a moon phase graphic for my main portal that is a javascript, but so far, for the calendar, one of the moderators has been inserting the new/full moon dates.

I am definitely interesed in that script for my own board as well!

[Chris Curran]

Thanks Kindred. It's worth noting that the reason I used USNO data is that the algo for calculating moon phases isn't as simple as one might think. I had originally written the code to pull the data dynamically from USNO (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.html) but the USNO doesn't provide data on a monthly basis (year by year only). Thant meant 1) connecting to USNO for each calendar page refresh - yuk, and 2) parsing a full year of data each time for one months worth of info - double yuk. That's when I morphed the code into writing it into a table so I could read it back later. I wound up sucking data for 2000 to 2035 - that should cover the immediate needs .

If you like, I can send you the source (when I get back next week) for these mods to include in your phat project. In fact, if it works for you, I'd prefer you handle the packaging of these mods - I just don't have the time to dig into this packaging thing right now (or anytime in the near future).

cheers,
Chris

[rpalmer68]

Hi Chris,

Is your mod for recurring calendar events available for 1.1 RC2?

This is all I need, I don't need the additional stuff in kindred's mod (also yet to be released)

Cheers
Richard
Sydney, Australia

[Chris Curran]

I don't have a "mod" package for my code. I'll make the code available to anyone that wants to make a "mod" package....

Chris

Hi Chris,

Is your mod for recurring calendar events available for 1.1 RC2?

This is all I need, I don't need the additional stuff in kindred's mod (also yet to be released)

Cheers
Richard
Sydney, Australia

[circles]

Did anybody make a mod pkg for this? I'd like it if it exists.

Thanks,
Allison