FAQ

General

How do I customise the appearance of events?

A brief summary is give below, more details can be found on the theme integration documentation

Event Page

By default the theme’s single.php template is used, with the event content inserted immediately before the event content via the event-meta-event-single.php template.

This does not happen if:

  • Your theme has a single-event.php template
  • You have disabled template handling on Settings > Event Organiser > General

You can edit the event page by either editing the event-meta-event-single.php template or creating your own single-event.php template.


Event list shortcodes

The event list shortcode allows you to use “placeholder tags”. Details can be found here. Details on how to use template tags can be found here. If the template tags are not used then the template shortcode-event-list.php is used instead.

You can edit the event list shortcode by either using the placeholder tags or editing the shortcode-event-list.php template.


Event list widget

The event list widget shortcode has a “template” option that allows you to use “placeholder tags” (see docs) to edit the display of the widget. When this option is not used the template widget-event-list.php is used instead.

You can edit the event list widget by either using the template option or editing the shortcode-event-list.php template.


Events pages

All other events pages have their own template which fits into the WordPress template hierarchy

Template name What it’s used for
archive-event.php The template for displaying listings of events (including the day, year & month pages)
taxonomy-event-venue.php The template for displaying listings of events at a particular venue
taxonomy-event-category.php The template for displaying listings of events in a particular category
taxonomy-event-tag.php The template for displaying listings of events with a particular category

What shortcodes are available?

There are a number of shortcodes available – both in the free version and some extensions (like Pro and Front-end submissions). Documentation on the shortcodes can be found here.

What widgets are available?

There are a number of widgets available – both in the free version and some extensions (like Pro). Documentation on the widgets can be found here.

Troubleshooting

I get a “Fatal error: Allowed memory size of X bytes exhausted” error

The error message indicates that the server has exhausted all the memory allocated to it.

Each active plug-in and theme will require some amount of memory to run and this will vary between plug-ins and pages. So this error usually caused by using a large number of plug-ins or using plug-ins which are ‘greedy’ or otherwise do a lot of ‘work’ (read: use up a lot of memory). Often its more than one (analogy: each plug-in trying to grab a slice of pie, eventually it runs out).

Unfortunately the point at which memory is finally exhausted isn’t usually a good indication of the cause of the problem – this was just where the server got to before it used up its memory allocation.

A quick fix is to increase your memory allocation. (The codex has some details on this: http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php#Increasing_memory_allocated_to_PHP). You can also increase the memory limit by following these steps:

1. Increase memory allocated to WordPress
First try adding this line to your wp-config.php file:

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT','96M');

2. Increase memory allocated to PHP
If you have access to your PHP.ini file, change the line in PHP.ini

memory_limit = 96M ;     

If you don’t have access to PHP.ini try adding this to an .htaccess file:

 php_value memory_limit 96M

If you’re not sure, your host should be able to provide you with assistance.  

However, even if that does resolve the issue you may still like to try to identify the plug-in / themes responsible (or mostly responsible) for the memory usage. Some plug-ins will naturally require more memory than others – but there may be some that you think are using too much. A simple way of doing this is to install a plug-in like WP Memory Usage and test with various plug-ins/themes deactivated.

Event Organiser and all its extensions are built to be as efficient as is possible, and are tested on development sites alongside approximately 100 plugins, so while a memory leak is very unlikely to be the cause, please contact support if you think you’ve found a bug.  

I cannot navigate between months on the widget calendar

If clicking on the ‘next’ month causes the page to reload – the javascript has not been loaded. This is usually because the theme does not call wp_footer in the footer.

If the calendar simply does not respond this is usually because your theme does not allow widgets to add their own ID and classes. Somewhere in the theme folder your theme will make use of register_sidebar() (probably in functions.php. It should look something like:

register_sidebar(array(
  'name' => __( 'Side bar name' ),
  'id' => 'sidebar-id',
  'description' => __( 'Widget area description' ),
  'before_title' => '<h1>',
  'after_title' => '</h1>',
  'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',
  'after_widget' => '</div>',
));

Notice the %1$s and %2$s in the before_widget argument. These allow the widget to add their own ID and classes to the widget. If your theme does not use class="widget %2$s" (they should!) the month navigation for the widget calendar will not work.

If you are still unable to determine the cause of the problem, or how to fix, please use the plug-in forums with a link to your site and I’ll take a look.

The full calendar doesn’t display any events

The calendar should display all published events.

If you find the calendar doesn’t appear this is usually caused by the theme you are using, and is verifiable by temporarily switching to the TwentyEleven theme. If the theme is the cause this is normally because:

  • The theme de-registers the jQuery / jQuery UI shipped with WordPress and registers an outdated version
  • The theme does not call wp_footer in the footer

If the calendar does appear, but gets stuck loading, the cause is usually the AJAX response. If your site is in ‘debug’ mode – this can be due to error messages from other plug-ins being printed. You can view the AJAX response in your browsers console (E.g. Firefox’s firebug or Chrome’s dev tools). If you are still unable to determine the cause of the problem, or how to fix, please use the plug-in forums with a link to your site.

What do I do if the event pages don’t look right?

Unfortunately its impossible for the default templates to work with every theme. Occasionally, they simply don’t work well with a given theme – the content might fill the width of the page, the sidebar might seem displaced or sometimes the event content might not appear “right”. The solution is to edit the default templates to fit in with your theme (you can use your theme’s own templates as a guideline). You can find more information here

Pre-sales

Can I try before I buy?

We cannot offer products on a “trial” basis, however you can try Event Organiser Pro for free here. We hope to extend this to other products shortly.

You are encouraged to try Event Organiser before purchasing any extensions, and if you are unsure whether a particular extension is right for you, please don’t hesitate to use the pre-sales forums.

What do I get with my license?

Your license grants you access to all of our support resources, user and developer tutorials and updates for one calendar year from your purchase date. You’ll also receive priority support, depending on your purchase (Personal, Business or Developer license).

The Business license comes bundled with some of the extensions, and the Developer license comes with them all. You can view all of Event Organiser’s extensions here

How long does my license key last?

Your license key shall last one year from the date of purchase. You can, if you wish, renew your license key (at a 50% discount) during the 2 months immediately before your key expires.

To renew your license key simply log-in to your account and view your purchase history. Purchases eligible for renewal shall have a “Renew” link next to them.

The plug-in shall continue to function after the key expires. See What happens when my license key expires?

What happens when my license key expires?

While the plug-in shall continue to function as before, you shall no longer be eligible for support or updates. If you wish to continue receiving support and updates, you shall need to renew your license key (which can be done during the two months immediately before the date your key expires). Currently renewals are offered at a 50% discount. See How long does my license key last?

Do you offer refunds?

Under the EU Consumer Rights Directive you have the right to a full refund without giving any reason until

  • 14 days after purchase,
  • or you download the item

whichever is sooner (see the terms & conditions).

After that point, since we are offering non-tangible digital goods, a refund shall generally only be considered if there is a bug with the purchased item which cannot be addressed in a reasonable period of time. Because of the variable nature it may be necessary that you co-operate with us to determine the nature of the bug.

While we are not liable for problems which arise from bugs in third-party plug-ins or themes, we shall, as time allows, provide assistance in resolving such problems

You are strongly encouraged to download and try Event Organiser before purchasing any items. If you are not sure if the plug-in is right for you – you can try Pro for free or ask on the forums.

Further details can be found in the terms & conditions.

What are the minimum requirements of the extensions?

Unless otherwise stated on the extension’s page, the minimum requirement for Event Organiser and any extension is

  • WordPress 3.3 or greater
  • Event Organiser 2.1 or greater
  • PHP version 5.2.4 or greater
  • MySQL version 5.0 or greater

How many sites does a multsite network count as?

One. A multisite is one installation of WordPress with multiple “network sites” running off it. Technically, this means that each network site is running off the same codebase of WordPress, Event Organiser and any extensions you’ve purchased. For this reason the entire network counts as one site.

When entering your license key on a multisite network you do so via the network settings (not the settings page for each network site). The key is then good for the entire network.

This means you can use Personal, Business or Developer license keys on a network site.

Post-sales

Why is my license key is invalid?

If your key appears invalid you can find out why by hovering over the help icon (“?”) that appears next to where you enter your license key. This shall offer a reason for why the license key is invalid. Reasons include (but not limited to ):

  • The site limit has been reached
  • The key has expired
  • The key not provided / license could no be found (this usually means it has been entered in correctly)

If you think that the key has been incorrectly labelled as invalid, please get in touch (providing your license key). This can happen, for example, if your site moves to a new hosting providing or your host changes your site’s server.

I can’t update my purchase, what should I do?

Typically this should only occur if the license key is invalid (See “Why is my license key is invalid??”). You can purchase a new license or, if you believe your license key should still be valid, please use this contact form referencing your key.

If we are experiencing any technical difficulties, these will be announced on our twitter feed @eventorgwp.