A friend of mine is looking for a web-based events calendar. He’s got a pretty big list of needs and wants, but here are some of the main ones:
- Ability to integrate into existing web site (look & feel, events lists on various pages, maybe unified logins, too).
- Single events, recurring events and floating events (same weekend each year type) plus multiple categories
- Separate yearly, monthly, biweekly, weekly, and daily calendar views for each calendar
- Unlimited web calendars on web site for different departments, communities, geographic region, etc.
- Downloadable calendar data available, methods to include: Outlook, PDA, iCal and vCal
- Create RSS feeds of upcoming events
I’m afraid that my calendar-fu is pretty weak right now, so I don’t have any recommendations for him. The server will have PHP and MySQL, of course, but another request was for a system that could work with other databases, or even flat files. Anything based around something like ADOdb or PEAR::DB would probably fit that requirement.
The last time I tried to find a PHP calendar app, the one I looked at was pretty primitive. Surely there’s got to be a decent calendar framework out there by now. So, any recommendations? He’s willing to consider reasonably-priced commercial offerings, by the way.
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21 Comments
I don’t have anything in the way of suggestion, but I can say that I’m looking for exactly the same thing for at least two sites that I’m working on.
A while ago we were looking exactly for the same thing.
But didn’t find any
I started hacking our own solution, but it’s not really usable.
Our Admin/Moderator has to hack the data directly into mysql using SQL.
We’ve been looking at VTCalendar recently (http://vtcalendar.sourceforge.net/).
I’ve used PHP iCalendar a few times – most notably within Alex King’s Tasks program.
Their main site is down for some reason, but it appears the SF project is still there for downloads and such. Good luck…
I like EasyPHPCalendar:
http://www.easyphpcalendar.com
Check it out!
Does it have to be PHP? I have one that is CGI based, but it does everything you are asking for. csCalendar fron CGIScript.net is a good all around calendar, and you can include it on your existing pages in a number of ways. Might want to give it a look-see.
http://www.cgiscript.net/cgi-script/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=cgi.db&command=viewone&id=35
piCal has most of the features you are looking for:
http://www.peak.ne.jp/xoops/md/piCal/
http://www.peak.ne.jp/xoops/md/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=54
One major drawback though, it is a module for the XOOPS CMS, so probably you will not be able to integrate into other sites.
Are you looking for a service or a a web-based program that you can install on your server? If you are looking for a service, I would recommend you look @ Airset (http://www.airset.com/) or Trumba (http://www.trumba.com/). My brother-in-law (http://www.steelpixel.com/) and I are working on a project that would cover 100% of everything you are asking for – but it is also a web service.
Thank you, Josh! Trumba seems to do what it should do. It even contains a connector for Outlook. And no, I don’t work for Trumba.
Normally, I’ve used PHP iCalendar, but Trumba seems nice…even though it’s in beta stage.
Thanks for this article Dougal and for everyone who recommended some calendars – I, too, have been looking for a good events calendar for ages! EasyPHPCalendar looks pretty neat!
R
I’d also suggest AirSet, which is in public beta at http://www.airset.com (full disclosure: I work with AirSet).
We’re a free web-based service that networks your calendar, address book and to-do lists with others that you designate. Our next release in a few weeks will address many of the needs and wants you describe (RSS feeds, public calendaring, et al).
By late summer, AirSet users will also be able to access and update their networked data via mobile phone in addition to the web. I encourage you to beta the product and share your thoughts with us.
Thanks for the rapid recommendations. To answer a few questions: No, it doesn’t have to be PHP. There just seems to be more PHP Calendar code available than anything else. Of course, I could be just looking in the wrong places. The need for the calendar to work with other databases and flat files is secondary to the recurring and floating dates for events features. If it only works with one db, then so be it.
Also of importance is the ability to display the calendar in daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and category (for geographic sorts) views. During certain times of the year, the number of events on a given weekend could run into the double digits making for a very crowded view without the sorting ability.
I’ll take a look at csCalendar and Airset, as well as the other products mentioned in the feedback above. I have looked at Trumba already and it’s a very good product. The VT Calendar looks promising.
I have also looked at EasyPHPCalendar (http://www.easyphpcalendar.com/) , BosDates (http://www.bosdev.com/bosdates/) and TotalCalendar (http://www.sweetphp.com/nuke/modules.php?name=Script_Preview&script=12). If anyone has any thoughts on those products, please let me know.
Thanks again.
I’ve just rolled out thunderbird with the sunbird calendar extension. Have most users subscribed to 4 remote calendars which are all vCalendar (ical) files. Should be accessible by plenty of existing programs.
I use WebCalendar (http://www.k5n.us/webcalendar.php) for my sites. It meets all your requirements except possibly floating yearly events (does floating monthly with exceptions so you may be able to set it up). Supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, DB2, Interbase, MS SQL Server or anything that works with PHP unified ODBC (http://us4.php.net/manual/en/ref.uodbc.php).
I am looking for something similar. This ActiveCalendar looks promising:
http://www.micronetwork.de/activecalendar/
It has optional AdoDB integration, and seems to be pretty customizable. Plus it is released under the LGPL, so you can package it with your stuff.
Easy php calendar seemed nice too, but the license seems too restrictive.
If Javascript is not a problem, then check out:
http://www.dynarch.com/projects/calendar/
You could fill in the events via PHP… and customize the look and feel via CSS. It is pretty slick.
You can also take a look at the event calendar project on
http://www.eventicus.de/
You should check out the Webevent Product from Meeting Maker, Inc.
http://www.meetingmaker.com/products/webevent/default.cfm
Hi,
You may also like web calendar. It’s free and with the source code in PHP, ASP, C# and VB.NET.
For more info please visit http://www.vcalendar.org
Bests!
Alexey
Nice to see that Trumba Calendar was suggested even a year ago!
You might want to take a look at The Calendar Planner. It was developed for Film and TV but has some pretty cool features like multi level folder organization, filtering, event linking (move one and related events move), associate files with events, may be worth a look.
http://www.thecalendarplanner.com/
I realize this post is nearly two years old now, but if your friend (or anyone else) is in need of an event calendar you could have them take a look at Helios Calendar http://www.helioscalendar.com
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