Note: this documentation refers to the 3.x version of Events. I plan to update these soon but even as is, they will give a good overview of the functionality as well as some possible future directions. The new version uses ACS Events and many of the new 4.x modules including bulk mail and attachments. Bryan Che also wrote an ASJ article on Events, which I've included at /doc/events/asj.
Organizations often present events, such as a lecture series or a social gathering. This software module gives organizations a way to register people for events online.
Organizations often have a number of set events which they like to repeat. For example, a company may have a certain presentation which it makes over and over. A photoraphy club may hold monthly outings. A marathon race could occur annually. Therefore, we organize events in the following way:
Each organization has a series of activities that it holds. An event is a particular instance of an activity--it is the actual occurance of an activity. Each event has an organizer and takes place in a physical location and during a certain time. For example, a software company might hold a series of talks as activities:
| Company Talks |
|---|
That software company could then present these talks as lecture events:
| Talk (Activity) | Lecture Speaker (Event organizer) | Lecture Date |
|---|---|---|
| Why you should think our software is the best | billy | 05-07-2000 |
| Why you should think our software is the best | stevie | 08-29-2000 |
| Why the Government should leave us alone and let us innovate | billy | 09-10-2000 |
Organizations that organize their events using this convention may then fully administer and register those events online using this module.
An organization is not necessarily an entire company--it can be a company department or office or project or any other group of people. Therefore, activities are owned by ACS user groups. Each user group represents an organization of people. An activity also has a creator, a name, a description, and a flag indicating if it is available. Finally, an activity can link to a url for more information:
create table events_activities (
activity_id integer primary key,
-- activities are owned by user groups
group_id integer references user_groups,
creator_id integer not null references users,
short_name varchar(100) not null,
default_price number default 0 not null,
currency char(3) default 'USD',
description clob,
-- Is this activity occurring? If not, we can't assign
-- any new events to it.
available_p char(1) default 't' check (available_p in ('t', 'f')),
deleted_p char(1) default 'f' check (deleted_p in ('t', 'f')),
detail_url varchar(256) -- URL for more details,
default_contact_user_id integer references users
);
For each event, we need to track its organizers, its location, and its time. We define the organizers' roles and their responsibilities. We also store extra information that might pertain to that specific event, such as refreshemnts or audio/visual information. In addition, we store of which activity this event is an instance.
create table events_events (
event_id integer not null primary key,
activity_id integer not null references events_activities,
venue_id integer not null references events_venues,
-- the user group that is created for this event's registrants
group_id integer not null references user_groups,
creator_id integer not null references users,
-- HTML to be displayed after a successful order.
display_after varchar(4000),
-- Date and time.
start_time date not null,
end_time date not null,
reg_deadline date not null,
-- An event may have been cancelled.
available_p char(1) default 't' check (available_p in ('t', 'f')),
deleted_p char(1) default 'f' check (deleted_p in ('t', 'f')),
max_people integer,
-- can someone cancel his registration?
reg_cancellable_p char(1) default 't' check (reg_cancellable_p in ('t', 'f')),
-- does a registration need approval to become finalized?
reg_needs_approval_p char(1) default 'f' check (reg_needs_approval_p in ('t', 'f')),
-- notes for doing av setup
av_note clob,
-- notes for catering
refreshments_note clob,
-- extra info about this event
additional_note clob,
-- besides the web, is there another way to register?
alternative_reg clob,
check (start_time < end_time),
check (reg_deadline <= start_time)
);
-- where the events occur
create table events_venues (
venue_id integer primary key,
venue_name varchar(200) not null,
address1 varchar(100),
address2 varchar(100),
city varchar(100) not null,
usps_abbrev char(2),
postal_code varchar(20),
iso char(2) default 'us' references country_codes,
time_zone varchar(50),
-- some contact info for this venue
fax_number varchar(30),
phone_number varchar(30),
email varchar(100),
needs_reserve_p char(1) default 'f' check (needs_reserve_p in ('t', 'f')),
max_people integer,
description clob
);
This data model also contains extensions for selling admission to events, althought the tcl pages do not currently implement this feature. These extensions can tie in with the ecommerce module.
create table events_prices (
price_id integer primary key,
event_id integer not null references events_events,
-- e.g., "Developer", "Student"
description varchar(100) not null,
-- we also store the price here too in case someone doesn't want
-- to use the ecommerce module but still wants to have prices
price number not null,
-- This is for hooking up to ecommerce.
-- Each product is a different price for this event. For example,
-- student price and normal price products for an event.
-- product_id integer references ec_products,
-- prices may be different for early, normal, late, on-site
-- admission,
-- depending on the date
expire_date date not null,
available_date date not null
);
create table events_event_organizer_roles (
role_id integer
constraint evnt_ev_org_roles_role_id_pk
primary key,
event_id integer
constraint evnt_ev_org_roles_event_id_fk
references events_events
constraint evnt_ev_org_roles_event_id_nn
not null,
role varchar(200)
constraint evnt_ev_org_roles_role_nn
not null,
responsibilities clob,
-- is this a role that we want event registrants to see?
public_role_p char(1) default 'f'
constraint evnt_ev_roles_public_role_p
check (public_role_p in ('t', 'f'))
);
create table events_organizers_map (
user_id constraint evnt_org_map_user_id_nn
not null
constraint evnt_org_map_user_id_fk
references users,
role_id integer
constraint evnt_org_map_role_id_nn
not null
constraint evnt_org_map_role_id_fk
references events_event_organizer_roles,
constraint events_org_map_pk primary key (user_id, role_id)
);
We organize registrations in the following way: a registration represents a person who has expressed interest in attending the event. There is one registration for each person who wants to attend. Registrations can have different states. For example, a registration may be wait-listed because there are already too many registrations for a particular event. Or, a registration may be canceled.
An order is a set of registrations. Typically, when a person registers himself for an event, he will create one order containing his single registration. But, there may be an individual who wishes to register multiple people at once. In that case, the individual would make one order containing multiple registrations. Thus, this data model allows people to make multiple registrations. The tcl pages do not yet implement this feature, though.
create table events_orders (
order_id integer not null primary key,
-- ec_order_id integer references ec_orders,
-- the person who made the order
user_id integer not null references users,
paid_p char(1) default null check (paid_p in ('t', 'f', null)),
payment_method varchar(50),
confirmed_date date,
price_charged number,
-- the date this registration was refunded, if it was refunded
refunded_date date,
price_refunded number,
ip_address varchar(50) not null
);
create table events_registrations(
-- Goes into table at confirmation time:
reg_id integer not null primary key,
order_id integer not null references events_orders,
price_id integer not null references events_prices,
-- the person registered for this reg_id (may not be the person
-- who made the order)
user_id integer not null references users,
-- reg_states: pending, shipped, canceled, waiting
--pending: waiting for approval
--shipped: registration all set
--canceled: registration canceled
--waiting: registration is wait-listed
reg_state varchar(50) not null check (reg_state in ('pending', 'shipped', 'canceled', 'waiting')),
-- when the registration was made
reg_date date,
-- when the registration was shipped
shipped_date date,
org varchar(4000),
title_at_org varchar(4000),
attending_reason clob,
where_heard varchar(4000),
-- does this person need a hotel?
need_hotel_p char(1) default 'f' check (need_hotel_p in ('t', 'f')),
-- does this person need a rental car?
need_car_p char(1) default 'f' check (need_car_p in ('t', 'f')),
-- does this person need airfare?
need_plane_p char(1) default 'f' check (need_plane_p in ('t', 'f')),
comments clob
);
With the events module, organizations can create, edit, and remove activities. They can do the same to events and organizers. Thus, organizations can fully describe and advertise any activity event online.
Organizations can also obtain information about who is coming to their events and spam those attendees. They can review order histories to see how many people registered for a given event and why they came. In addition, they can view order statistics by activity, month, date, and order state. Finally, they can spam their own organizers to remind them about their upcoming events.
People coming to register online at a site using this module will be able to find upcoming activity events and sign up for them.