Scheduler with integrated calendar

[EllenG]

I posted this to the Developer's Forum. Should have posted it here, I guess. I'm still new to this forum!!

Anyway.. There are probably lots of good calendar/scheduler db samples out there that don't need plug-ins, but I couldn't find any, so I developed my own, to integrate with an application I hope to distribute.

Probably not the most sophisticated code, but it works pretty good! It's still under development, so it may not be 100% error-free; also I keep fiddling with it to make it more robust.

If it can help someone else trying to get a good scheduler started as open source, feel free to use it as you will. Suggestions, comments, improvements are welcome.

Calendar Demo.zip

[Lefo]

I like the layout. I'm using FMP 5.5 on Mac OS 10.2.6. Whenever I click a button, I get a full screen window. It would be nice to have it remain the same size to fit the layout.

Lefo

[Lee Smith]

It is an open solution, you can customize it the way you want.

Lee

[Lefo]

Hi Lee,

Yes, I realize that. I was just offering a (hopefully) helpful piece of advice from an end user's point of view. Ellen did ask for suggestions.

Lefo

[EllenG]

Lefo, it's good to know that it works on the MAC, since I don't have one to try it on. On my PC, the window stays the same for all screens. How can I "stabilize it for the MAC? Thanks

[andygaunt]

Hi Ellen --

you could use the Toggle Window [zoom] function to make the window set itself to the object size of the layout.

If you only want to do this for the Mac, and not the PC you may want to include it inside an If statement

If [ Abs(Status(CurrentPlatform))=1

Toggle Window [zoom]

Else

# Your PC window sizing here

End If

The Mac platform is a 1 ( or -1 for OSX, so using the Abs function makes the negative a positive and you can trap both operating systems)

For what it is worth, the PC platform is 2 ( or -2 for XP ), so you can use Abs(Status(CurrentPlatform)) = 2

HTH

[Ugo DI LUCA]

I like it. Good work and thanks for sharing.

Is it something wrong with the recurrent tasks scheduler ? It doesn't work for me (at least the way I expected it), the taskdoesn't appear next month or any other period.

Mac OS 8.6 FileMaker 5.5.

[rogermax]

Nice work. Always interesting to see how others put things together. Thanks.

[EllenG]

Hi Ugo.

I could probably make some improvements on the recurring task scheduler. Right now it is setup so that it sets the "next" occurence date only after the "current" occurence date is past. So, if you create a weekly task today and then forward the calendar to next week, it won't show up. However, when you open the calendar tomorrow, the next recurring date will be re-calculated. So, it only sets the date for one occurence at a time...

If someone can come up with a nifty dynamic calculation that can trigger the occurence whenever the calendar is forwarded, please let me know.

Thanks

[EllenG]

Thanks Andy, putting the zoom in is a good idea. That works the same for Windows as well, but I wasn't using it. The platform check, though, is going to be helpful when I release my app for the MAC... Course, I'll have to get a MAC to bind the solution, won't I??

[hayesk]

Correct, you cannot bind Mac (not MAC ;-) ) solutions on Windows. I don't know if there is a Mac emulator for PC that works well enough to do the binding on a PC. Maybe someone else can comment.

I use the VirtualPC emulator on my Mac to bind Windows solutions and it works quite well (if a bit slowly).

[Robert Schaub]

Hi Ellen,

Nice File. I AssUMe since it is open source , It is OK to use in solutions.

That is as long as we mention your name in the ABOUTs scripts and Layouts.

I have also created a calendar system but I like yours better.

Keep up the Good Work.

P.S.

How would you like your credits to read? 8^)

[EllenG]

Thanks, Chopper, I'm glad you like it.

Is it a requirement to show "credits" for open source solutions you use? I am not a professional FM Developer. I developed the calendar/scheduler because it will integrate well with the solution I'm writing. The application is actually for my own home business. It's specific use will be very limited, although I hope similar businesses will like it enough to buy it! I am not planning on developing or selling any other software, and I don't really need to have "credits" for my calendar solution.

The only objection I woulkd have is for someone to try to sell my solution as a Calendar/Scheduler application. Other then that, I fully hope other developers will find it valuable and include it within there own solutions. What I would like in return is feedback and suggestions to improve upon it. (I am still making changes; I fixed a problem with the recurring task dates, thanks to Ugo's comment, and I also added an online month view and a print week.)

I have certainly been learning a lot from other open source examples, so I thought I'd share mine.

[JaseFace]

EllenG,

Boy was I glad to find this! I've been looking for a Calander util for FMP for a few weeks now and yours does exactly what I need, an Event that starts and finishes on different days. Everything else I've been looking at assumes an events last only one day.

I, like you am not a Pro Developer, but am in the process of building a solution for my brothers training company. I must have downloaded 20+ solutions and yours is the first to easily allow such Events.

All I have to do now is to work my system into yours (or yours into mine). My main problem being that for me a course is a single record covering multiple days, Rather than a reccurring single day event. Somehow you've worked this. I'm just going to have to batter through all your code.

I'll keep you posted and see if I can't come up with some suggestions,

Thanks again,

Jason

[KLA]

Hey Ellen, I've been looking for a calendar too. I tried to open your attachment on the first posting , but it came out gibberish. And, I noticed you've made some changes to it since then. Can I get your revised version and help on reading the attachment? I'm using a Mac. I can give you my email if that helps. Thanks!

[kenneth2k1]

Worked ok for me. I have re-attached it to my post just in case.

80656-Calendar Demo.zip

[KLA]

nope. I click on attachment , it goes to my download manager and to my desktop. I double click to open and my internet browser goes to open it and it's all gibberish. Any suggestions? What's that error you are talking about?

[kenneth2k1]

Haha. It's just a joke. Look at it for a while and you'll get it.

When the download manager is done, does it unstuff? If not, you need stuffit. Then it should put the actual unzipped folder on your desktop.

[Lee Smith]

Don't double click on it, use Stuffit Expander. You can Download Suffit Expander at www.download.com. and it is free. It will open anything just by droping the file on the icon.

Lee

[JaseFace]

EllenG,

Have managed to integrate your calendar with my system. Wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be. Works really well. I now only need to decipher the Amend/Delete routine for my amendments.

Many thanks indeed

Jase

[Ocean West]

Ellen

Bravo, nice job. I have developed scheduling systems before (Dynamic Dispatch, among others) I like your clean and simple approach. You should check out this article HERE this might give you more ideas to expand your solution. With this you can do date range things and build a solution that will prevent schedule overlaps. I find it invaluable when ever dealing with dates.

Stephen

[EllenG]

I use a PC, so I don't know if there may be settings not readable for a MAC. If you send me your email, I'll send you my most recent version, but you may need some assistance from the MAC users on this.

[Ch.]

Hi Ellen,

I realy like your solution (I'm also a Mac user - OSX) and as you are looking for feedback, here are a few humble suggestions you might want to consider:

1.In the Schedules file you could put Category, Sub category and Time Spent (ie. a calculation) fields, placing these on the portal in the main Daily layout. Then within the Schedules you could run a report to show how people spent their time, sorted by Category or Category and Sub category.

2. It's a little disconcerting when the screen "jumps" as you wander day-by-day through the calendar between the Daily layout and the All Day Event layouts - you could use the Object Size palette to line things up

3. I think your Weekly and Monthly views are great, but I would rather be able to view both in the same fashion in Browse mode and to have a button that returns me to the Daily view (I like stability!) - I duplicated your script for "Month View" and rearranged the end to go into Browse mode and this works well

All in all, I think you've done a great job and you've obviously put a lot of effort into it.

All the best

Paula

[EllenG]

Hi Paula,

Thanks for the feedback.

Your first suggestion will be useful to others, I'm sure, but for my application it isn't needed. It will not be used for tracking individuals, but as a scheduler and reminder to a single user.

Item 2... Good point! I recently "discovered" the object size palette and have been using it in my other screens. I will be going back to the calendar and fixing those screens too.

Item 3... Actually I've made changes on these views. They are all now in browse mode with an option to print or return to Daily. On the week view there is also an option to view Monthly and vice versa on the month view.

Getting comments back from everyone has been really helpful in cleaning it up and including additional functionality.

[howard1013]

Hi Ellen,

I've been working through the calendar parts and get most of it. The actual buttons on the calendar are a real mystery though. They don't show up on the layout view and I don't see where they are created in the scripts. Also I don't see how you get them to change color when pressed. My apologies if this is really basic stuff but I'm still in the pre-basic stage. Note - I am okay with the way the calendar changes from month to month, it's just the buttons themselves.

Thanks,

Howard

[efen]

I am having a problem downloading this file -- I just get a blank screen apart from the following message.

Not Found

The requested URL /uploads/1063071542-Calendar+Demo.zip was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Apache/1.3.33 Server at www.fmforums.com Port 80

How do I resolve this?

Thanks

efen

[Ocean West]

I am looking for a fix.

Until then you can change the "+" character in the url to "%20" this will allow you to download the file.

[efen]

Thank you

[akeslady]

Thanks for the calendar! When I click on Month View I am getting "Print Calendar for the specified month". In other words I can not view "Month View".

Thanks,

Britt

[Rangoon]

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to download Calendar Demo.zip and all I get is "Error 404". Is it just me or are others having the same problem?

Oops, just read the change to "%20" and it downloaded fine.

Edited October 28, 2005 by Guest

[akeslady]

Nice calendar, but where can I find the month view?

Thanks,

Britt

[lobonacci]

Wow, great offering. I would love to see a collective movement to build a calendar/scheduling system with Filemaker. I have designed my record keeping system and have always had trouble with the calendar build. We have a lot of odd idiosyncrasies that make it challenging. Thanks for the start though.

I too have a problem with the month view. It sends me to the print dialog. I believe I can fix it though.

Carlo

[Vaughan]

It won't download for me.

[HarryGlos]

Hey Vaughan,

The same thing happened to me. You have to change the "+" character in the url to "%20" this will allow you to download the file.

Harry

[fbugeja]

:) Sorry guys, can't download file. Error 404 - trying to download a resource that does not exist! Any ideas?

Frank