Event Categories and 25Live Publisher

Best Practice for Handling Event Categories

Although Requestors often misuse event categories, there are valid instances where they need to tag their events for future searching and reporting, so adding abridged categories is considered best practice. Additionally, the Publisher User will build searches excluding events that make use of the Do Not Display on Web Calendars event category to exclude events that users can select when creating and editing events. An abridged list provides a smaller, manageable set of event categories to these users and protects the valuable calendar event categories from inadvertent misuse.

Building Event Categories for Use with 25Live Publisher

Most campuses that use event categories for grouping events for event feeds use a common naming convention: Calendar - Calendar Name Here. This typically results in building a small number of event categories that are then used as the anchor element in event searches for the event feeds.

1. Go to the Event Category Master Definitions

  • Log into 25Live.
  • In 25Live → System Settings, click Master Definitions and then click the Categories group and select the Event group
    25Live Pro - System Settings - Event Categories

2. Create a New Event Category

  • Click Create New and enter a name for the new Event Category in the text box.
    25Live Pro - System Settings - Create New Event Category

3. Save

  • Click the Save button to add the new category to the available Event Categories. It is customary to leave the Abridged checkbox unchecked and give requestor-level users alternative methods for indicating calendars.
    25Live Pro - System Settings - Naming a New Event Category
  • The new Event Category has been successfully added to your available Event Categories master definition list.
    25Live Pro - System Settings - Newly Named Event Category

Creating an Abridged List of Event Categories for Requestors

If you use Event Categories as your grouping mechanism for building event feeds, abridging the category list can help you prevent event requestors from self-selecting specific calendars their events will appear on, while still letting them use categories when searching or when they need to indicate that they don't want an event published to a web calendar. 

1. Go to the Event Category Master Definitions

  • Using the System Administrator's account, log into 25Live → System Settings.
  • Click on the Master Definitions tab.
  • Click on the Categories sub-tab and select Event.

2. Add the Calendar Event Categories to the Abridged List

  • Check all of the Calendar event categories in the Abridged column.

3. Save

  • Select Save Changes.

Hiding All Event Categories from Requestors

To prevent requestors from adding any event categories to their events, you will need to set the Categories section of the event form to Not Visible. If the section is not hidden, but requestors don't have permissions to see categories, they will be left with an empty Categories section in their event form that asks them to select non-existent categories.

1. Go to the Event Form Config Settings

  • Log into 25Live → System Settings.
  • In System Settings, look for the Event Form Settings tab and click on Config Settings to select a custom configuration to edit.
    25Live Pro - System Settings - Event Form Settings

2. Update the Categories Visibility Level

  • Set the Categories editor to Visibility Level: Not Visible.
    25Live Pro - System Settings - Categories Editor Visibility Level

3. Save Your Changes

  • Click Save to save your modifications to the event form configuration.

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