NOTE:

For URLs listed as mcgill.ca/<sitename> in this article, please replace <sitename> with your site's URL.

Available displays

Channels Events Search provides the following displays: Current, View Calendar, and Search Events.

NOTE:

It may take up to 18 hours for new or updated Channels Events to appear in the available display.

Current

The Current display on mcgill.ca/<sitename>/events shows the day's events and up to 10 upcoming events. 

View Calendar

The View Calendar display on mcgill.ca/<sitename>/calendar shows current and upcoming events by month, week, and day.

Search Events

Search Events (found at mcgill.ca/<sitename>/events/search) enables users to search for events by keyword, date range, or a combination of the two. It also serves as an archive for searching past events.

Implementing the Channels Event Search

Channels Events Search is already installed on all WMS sites but you need to enable it in the Site Settings.

To enable Channels Events Search:

1. Navigate to Configuration > System > Site Settings.
2. Click the Features tab.
3. Click Enable.

Pre-implementation checklist

Site Administrators must answer the following questions before enabling Channels Events Search:

1. Does my site have enough local events occurring throughout the year?
   Channels Events Search does not, by default, include events imported from the hub or from other sites. If only a handful of events are created on your site within the year, the displays will be mostly empty, and the Search functionality will not be useful.
   If this is the case, Channels blocks are a suitable alternative (see Importing Channels content and creating blocks in the WMS).
2. Are my local channels events appropriately tagged and categorized?
   Channels Events Search uses tags and official locations to filter events in the various displays. To see similar events grouped together, you must specify categories and locations consistently.
3. Do I already have content residing on mcgill.ca/<sitename>/events?
   You must determine if you have any content residing at the following URLs:
   
   • mcgill.ca/<sitename>/events
   • mcgill.ca/<sitename>/events/calendar
   • mcgill.ca/<sitename>/events/search

   These paths are reserved for the Current, View Calendar, and Search Events displays, respectively. If content resides at any of these URLs, you will need to delete it before enabling the feature.

   Note: If you must preserve the content, you must complete the following steps before enabling Channels Events Search:
   
   1. Clone the content.
   2. Rename the cloned content or change the URL alias
   3. Delete the original content.

If the content is simply renamed or given a different alias, users trying to access the various displays could be redirected to the original content page.

How visitors use Channels Events Search

This section discusses how visitors view event details, use filters to select which events are displayed, and search for events.

Viewing event details

Current

The Current display includes panels with the event date, a clickable title, and an arrow.

Clicking on the title or arrow will display the following event details:

• Complete date
• Time
• Address and Official Location (if applicable)
• A snippet of the event content (if applicable)
• A View More link

To access the original Channels Event, click on the View More link below the event content.

View Calendar

The View Calendar display shows events as rounded blue panels with:

• The event time in bold
• The event title

Users can view the entire title by hovering their mouse over the panel.

Clicking on the boxes will load the Event page in a new browser tab.

Note: The event time does not display for all-day events

Using the filters

Searching for events

Click on the Search Events tab to find events:

• By keyword
• By date
• By keyword and date

By keyword

Enter a keyword in the text field to find events using a specific term.

By date

To find events within a specific date range (including past events), click on Advanced options to display the Start date and End date fields.

Note: The default Start date uses the YYYY-MM-DD format. To avoid formatting errors, click inside the date field and use the pop-up calendar.

By keyword and date

You can also combine the Keyword field and Advanced options to search for events.

Resetting the results

Clicking Reset will clear both the dates and keywords from the search. Do this before entering new keywords or dates.

When using the Keyword and Advanced Options fields, you may sometimes notice that if you specify a new date, the fields will not refresh. In this case, you can delete the dates or hit the Reset button.

Combining filters with search

You can combine Tags and/or Official Locations with keywords or dates to search for events.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:

• Creating and updating a Channels Event or News item in the WMS
• Importing Channels content and creating blocks in the WMS
• Tagging content in the WMS
• * About: Web Management System (WMS)
• * Index of documentation for the McGill Web Management System