Calendar

• 

  Posted by Shira Blum on November 18, 2010 at 10:04 am

  I’ve added the google calendar as a plugin but it doesn’t appear on my blog. Does anyone have any troubleshooting tips? Thanks!

• Sarah Morgano

  Participant

  November 18, 2010 at 2:18 pm

  Hi Shira,

  I’m one of the Community Facilitators on the Commons and I’d like to work with you off-list on a solution. Once we find the solution I promise to post my findings here for the entire group to view.

  Best,

  Sarah
  Shawn M. (he/him/his)

  Participant

  November 18, 2010 at 4:15 pm

  I looked into this on a Google Help forum and read that you must go into the WPNG Calendar Plugin settings and check “No” for the wiki markup question. The default is blank, which apparently generates JavaScript errors. Also, make sure you have “/full” at the end of your calendar feed address instead of “/basic”.

  Source: http://code.google.com/p/wpng-calendar/issues/detail?id=49
  (post # 13, 16, & 17)
  Shawn M. (he/him/his)

  Participant

  November 18, 2010 at 5:01 pm

  I realize this is a little bit of a process getting set up, so here is a break-down of the required steps to get people going:

  If I am not mistaken, I don’t think there is a way to embed a Google Calendar into a Commons blog using any embed or iframe code (not yet, at least). The next best option is to use a Google Calendar Widget, which displays the next “X” amount of events from your calendar in a list format on one of your blog’s sidebars. Here are instructions on how to set this up.

  1. In the Admin panel of your blog, click on Plugins.
  2. Under “All” plugins, scroll down until you find WordPress Google Calendar and press Activate, then press Apply.
  3. Under the Settings area of your blog’s dashboard, you should now see a link to access the WPNG Calendar Plugin. Click this link to access its settings.
  4. In a separate window or tab, open your Google Calendar and click on Settings in the top-right corner. (Calendar Settings, not Google Settings)
  5. Click on the Calendars tab.
  6. Click on your calendar name.
  7. Scroll down to Calendar Address and press on the XML button.
  8. A pop-up window will appear with the URL to your Calendar. Copy this URL.
  9. Go back to your WPNG Calendar Plugin settings page and paste the URL under Google Calendar Feed. Change the end of the URL from “/basic” to “/full”
  10. Visit http://code.google.com/apis/gdata/signup.html to obtain a Google Data API for your blog. Accept the terms of service and enter your blog’s URL to generate an API key. Paste this key into the form on the WPNG Plugin settings page.
  11. Ensure that the option “Process Calendar Description as Wiki Markup” is checked as No (by default, this is left blank).
  12. Press Update Settings.
  13. Under Appearance, click on Widgets.
  14. With WPNG Calendar Plugin activated, you should see it under the display of available widgets. Drag and drop it into an available slot on one of your blog’s sidebar panels.
  15. Visit your site and reload the page. Your events should now appear in a list format.
  Sarah Morgano

  Participant

  November 18, 2010 at 5:44 pm

  Thanks for posting this Shawn. As a note, I was able to add the Google Calendar to my blog’s sidebar by selecting Yes for step 11.

  Also, I was able to embed the calendar on a new page of my blog by following these steps:

  1. Create a new page.
  2. Navigate to the Custom Field section on the bottom of the page.
  3. Enter “show-wpng-calendar” under NAME.
  4. Enter the number of entries you would like to show under VALUE (although I’m not 100% sure if this actually impacts the number of entries listed).

  Lastly, it’s important to note that if you want to embed your Google Calendar on either your blog’s sidebar panel or page, you must first make your calendar public. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Log into your Google account.
  2. Go to: http://www.google.com/calendar/render?hl=en
  3. Look for “My Calendars” on the left navigation bar and select “Settings”.
  4. Under “SHARING” select “edit settings”.
  5. Finally, select “Make this calendar public” and click save.
  Shawn M. (he/him/his)

  Participant

  November 18, 2010 at 6:22 pm

  Oh, this is great. I wonder if there is a way, then, to get it to display in a calendar format? Good catch with making it public too—I missed that step in my instructions.
  Sarah Morgano

  Participant

  November 18, 2010 at 6:46 pm

  *I forgot to mention that you should uncheck “Allow Comments” in the Discussion settings if you choose to embed your calendar on a page.*

  I agree with you Shawn that it would be great to display the events in a calendar format, but I haven’t been able to find anything on how to do that. If someone does find out how to change the format, please add to this thread. Again, many thanks for posting such detailed and easy-to-follow instructions Shawn!