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The CalendarBox Publisher is a simple yet powerful Web
browser-based tool that any MCPS webmaster or editor
can use to easily and quickly capture a select amount
of calendar events on his or her Web site. Note that
this application is only to set up an alternative display
of the Calendar
data. Event data must be entered using the Calendar
application.
- The school or office webmaster uses the CalendarBox
Publisher to setup preferences for the display style
on the Web site.
- The webmaster creates the server side include within
the home page to display the CalendarBox generated
by the tool. This is a one-time activity.
- The primary user of the CalendarBox is the Web site
visitor who views the upcoming school or office events.
The CalendarBox Publisher enables any MCPS webmaster
to display a box with calendar content on any Web page
on his or her site using only a Web browser. The webmaster
simply goes to the CalendarBox Publisher URL, enters
his or her username and password, sets the preferences
and saves them, then generates the CalendarBox with
the Publish command. Calendar data is published to a
text file. Code you’ve inserted in your home page’s
HTML file (probably named index.shtm) pulls the contents
of the text file into the box you see in your browser.
Contact webmaster@mcpsmd.org.
Web Services will get you started and assign you a userID
and password. It also helps to attend webmaster training,
where you'll learn to use this and other tools that
Web Services has made available for webmasters.
Calendar events are not updated in this application but
rather in the Calendar.
The CalendarBox application is only used to create an
alternative display format for the Calendar events data.
The CalendarBox application can be found at the URL:
http://coldfusion.mcps.k12.md.us/cfms/calendarpublisher/publisher.cfm
Enter your assigned username and password for this application.
The CalendarBox Publisher has only one area.
. Use the
fields in this area to tell the publisher what kind of
box you need – how may days events, how wide, what
color background, and whether you want to show all the
calendar events at a glance or use drop-down blurbs.
- Preferred title: This will display
at the top of your CalendarBox.
- Display MCPS events: This yes
or no option allows you to include events from the
official
MCPS calendar which includes holidays, early dismissal
days, and more.
- Number of days to display: You
can select the number of days you wish to include
in this display.
- Width of your news box (in pixels):
You can specify the width of your box from 10 to 999
pixels. 250 pixels is a narrow box. Selection would
depend on how you will be using the CalendarBox within
your page and the length of the text within the event
detail.
- Standard background colors: You
may choose from the four standard background colors.
- Custom background color: Optionally,
you can designate an alternative custom color. Enter
the six-digit hexidecimal code preceded by the # sign
for your custom color.
- Use style set: As for the NewsBox
Publisher you can choose from three predefined
style sets or setup your own custom style set
using
cascading style sheets. See online documentation
within the CalendarBox application for specific
class
names to define.
- Use drop-down blurbs? Enables
you to hide event details under the date. Users click
on a "+" or "–" sign to
open and close the blurb.
- Show border: Allows you to specify
whether or not the border will show in the CalendarBox.
After you make your selections, click on Save
Preferences. Blue text at the top of the page
will tell you that you have saved your preferences.
If you don’t like how your text box appears,
you can always come back and make changes until you
find the presentation that works for you. Always remember
to click on Save Preferences to save
your choices and click on Publish
at the top of the page.
When you're satisfied with your selections, be sure
to Logout of the application.
After you click the Publish
button you can select View Box
if the upper left to preview the CalendarBox. A new
browser window will open and you can view your CalendarBox.
An alternative to clicking the View Box
is to open another browser window and go to this URL:
http://cfdev.mcps.k12.md.us/cfms/calendarpublisher/generated/updateidcal.txt
Insert your school name in place of updateid (all lower
case please.) After you click on Save Preferences
and Publish, refresh your browser
and you’ll see your changes. You must remember
to click Save Preferences and then
Publish after making any change.
Above is an example of a CalendarBox using
the drop-downs blurbs and no border.
Above is an example of drop-down blurbs
with the border.
The above graphic shows the drop-downs
open.
Above, we see the events without the
drop-downs and without the border.
This is the CalendarBox without the drop-downs
and with a border.
Finally, above, we have the alternative
display of a small monthly calendar that is produced
by the CalendarBox application. This is generated at
the same
time as the event display box. To include this display,
refer to ../updateidcal2.txt.
If you wish to experiment with the CalendarBox
with different preferences and don't have your own account
yet, you can use the login test and
password: test to explore.
We strongly recommend you put the “CalendarBox”
on your home page. That’s where your visitors
look for a schedule, and “refreshed” content
will make your home page come alive!
Copy and paste the following code into your page in
the area where you wish to include your CalendarBox
display.
<!--#include file="/schools/schoolcal/updateidcal.txt"-->
for the listing format or
<!--#include file="/schools/schoolcal/updateidcal2.txt"-->
for the monthly calendar format
replacing updateid with your school
login id, i.e., robertfrostms or cashelles, etc. You
can put this within alignment tags, or inside a table
to position the text box on your Web page.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Your page name must have the .shtm
suffix instead of .htm or .html for the #include to
work. e.g. index.shtm or about.shtm. If you're changing
the name of your file from index.html, you may also
need to use a redirect.
Contact the Web Services Team at webmaster@mcpsmd.org.
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