Events

• User-accessible directory: /events/
• Administrator directory: /events/admin/
• data model : /doc/sql/events.sql
• Tcl procs: /tcl/events-defs

The Big Idea

Organizations often present events, such as a lecture series or a social gathering. This software module gives organizations a way to register people for events online.

The Medium-sized Idea

Organizations often have a number of set events which they like to repeat. For example, a company may have a certain presentation which it makes over and over. A photoraphy club may hold monthly outings. A marathon race could occur annually. Therefore, we organize events in the following way:

Each organization has a series of activities that it holds. An event is a particular instance of an activity--it is the actual occurance of an activity. Each event has an organizer and takes place in a physical location and during a certain time. For example, a software company might hold a series of talks as activities:

• Why you should think our software is the best
• Why you should do things our way
• Why the Government should leave us alone and let us innovate

That software company could then present these talks as lecture events:

Organizations that organize their events using this convention may then fully administer and register those events online using this module.

The Fine-details

Activities

An organization is not necessarily an entire company--it can be a company department or office or project or any other group of people. Therefore, activities are owned by ACS user groups. Each user group represents an organization of people. An activity also has a creator, a name, a description, and a flag indicating if it is available. Finally, an activity can link to a url for more information:

create table events_activities (
        activity_id     integer primary key,
        -- activities are owned by user groups
        group_id        integer references user_groups,
        creator_id      integer not null references users,
        short_name      varchar(100) not null,
        default_price   number default 0 not null,
        currency        char(3) default 'USD',
        description     clob,
        -- Is this activity occurring? If not, we can't assign
        -- any new events to it.
        available_p     char(1) default 't' check (available_p in ('t', 'f')),
        deleted_p       char(1) default 'f' check (deleted_p in ('t', 'f')),
        detail_url      varchar(256) -- URL for more details,
        default_contact_user_id integer references users
);

Events

For each event, we need to track its organizers, its location, and its time. We define the organizers' roles and their responsibilities. We also store extra information that might pertain to that specific event, such as refreshemnts or audio/visual information. In addition, we store of which activity this event is an instance.

create table events_events (
        event_id              integer not null primary key,
        activity_id           integer not null references events_activities,
        venue_id              integer not null references events_venues,
        -- the user group that is created for this event's registrants
        group_id              integer not null references user_groups,
        creator_id            integer not null references users,
        -- HTML to be displayed after a successful order.
        display_after         varchar(4000),
        -- Date and time.
        start_time            date not null,
        end_time              date not null,
        reg_deadline          date not null,
        -- An event may have been cancelled.
        available_p           char(1) default 't' check (available_p in ('t', 'f')),    
        deleted_p             char(1) default 'f' check (deleted_p in ('t', 'f')),
        max_people            integer,
        -- can someone cancel his registration?         
        reg_cancellable_p     char(1) default 't' check (reg_cancellable_p in ('t', 'f')),
        -- does a registration need approval to become finalized?
        reg_needs_approval_p  char(1) default 'f' check (reg_needs_approval_p in ('t', 'f')),
        -- notes for doing av setup
        av_note               clob,
        -- notes for catering
        refreshments_note     clob,
        -- extra info about this event
        additional_note       clob,
        -- besides the web, is there another way to register?
        alternative_reg       clob,
        check (start_time < end_time),
        check (reg_deadline <= start_time)
);


-- where the events occur
create table events_venues (
       venue_id           integer primary key,
       venue_name         varchar(200) not null,
       address1           varchar(100),
       address2           varchar(100),
       city               varchar(100) not null,
       usps_abbrev        char(2),
       postal_code        varchar(20),
       iso                char(2) default 'us' references country_codes,
       time_zone          varchar(50),
       -- some contact info for this venue
       fax_number         varchar(30),
       phone_number       varchar(30),
       email              varchar(100),
       needs_reserve_p    char(1) default 'f' check (needs_reserve_p in ('t', 'f')),
       max_people         integer,      
       description        clob
);

This data model also contains extensions for selling admission to events, althought the tcl pages do not currently implement this feature. These extensions can tie in with the ecommerce module.

create table events_prices (
    price_id            integer primary key,
    event_id            integer not null references events_events,
    -- e.g., "Developer", "Student"
    description         varchar(100) not null,
    -- we also store the price here too in case someone doesn't want
    -- to use the ecommerce module but still wants to have prices
    price               number not null,
    -- This is for hooking up to ecommerce.     
    -- Each product is a different price for this event.  For example,
    -- student price and normal price products for an event.
--  product_id          integer references ec_products,
    -- prices may be different for early, normal, late, on-site
    -- admission,
    -- depending on the date
    expire_date       date not null,
    available_date    date not null
);

Organizers

create table events_event_organizer_roles (
       role_id                  integer 
                                constraint evnt_ev_org_roles_role_id_pk 
                                primary key,
       event_id                 integer 
                                constraint evnt_ev_org_roles_event_id_fk 
                                references events_events
                                constraint evnt_ev_org_roles_event_id_nn
                                not null,  
       role                     varchar(200) 
                                constraint evnt_ev_org_roles_role_nn
                                not null,
       responsibilities         clob,
       -- is this a role that we want event registrants to see?
       public_role_p            char(1) default 'f' 
                                constraint evnt_ev_roles_public_role_p
                                check (public_role_p in ('t', 'f'))
);

create table events_organizers_map (
       user_id                     constraint evnt_org_map_user_id_nn
                                   not null
                                   constraint evnt_org_map_user_id_fk
                                   references users,
       role_id                     integer 
                                   constraint evnt_org_map_role_id_nn
                                   not null 
                                   constraint evnt_org_map_role_id_fk
                                   references events_event_organizer_roles,
       constraint events_org_map_pk primary key (user_id, role_id)
);

Registrations

We organize registrations in the following way: a registration represents a person who has expressed interest in attending the event. There is one registration for each person who wants to attend. Registrations can have different states. For example, a registration may be wait-listed because there are already too many registrations for a particular event. Or, a registration may be canceled.

An order is a set of registrations. Typically, when a person registers himself for an event, he will create one order containing his single registration. But, there may be an individual who wishes to register multiple people at once. In that case, the individual would make one order containing multiple registrations. Thus, this data model allows people to make multiple registrations. The tcl pages do not yet implement this feature, though.

create table events_orders (
       order_id         integer not null primary key,
--       ec_order_id    integer references ec_orders,
       -- the person who made the order
       user_id          integer not null references users,
       paid_p           char(1) default null check (paid_p in ('t', 'f', null)),
        payment_method  varchar(50),
        confirmed_date  date,
        price_charged   number,
        -- the date this registration was refunded, if it was refunded
        refunded_date   date,
        price_refunded  number, 
        ip_address      varchar(50) not null
);

create table events_registrations(
        -- Goes into table at confirmation time:
        reg_id          integer not null primary key,
        order_id        integer not null references events_orders,
        price_id        integer not null references events_prices,
        -- the person registered for this reg_id (may not be the person
        -- who made the order)
        user_id         integer not null references users,
        -- reg_states: pending, shipped, canceled, waiting
        --pending: waiting for approval
        --shipped: registration all set 
        --canceled: registration canceled
        --waiting: registration is wait-listed
        reg_state       varchar(50) not null check (reg_state in ('pending', 'shipped', 'canceled',  'waiting')),
        -- when the registration was made
        reg_date        date,
        -- when the registration was shipped
        shipped_date    date,
        org             varchar(4000),
        title_at_org    varchar(4000),
        attending_reason  clob,
        where_heard     varchar(4000),
        -- does this person need a hotel?
        need_hotel_p    char(1) default 'f' check (need_hotel_p in ('t', 'f')),
        -- does this person need a rental car?
        need_car_p      char(1) default 'f' check (need_car_p in ('t', 'f')),
        -- does this person need airfare?
        need_plane_p    char(1) default 'f' check (need_plane_p in ('t', 'f')),
        comments        clob
);

Using Events

With the events module, organizations can create, edit, and remove activities. They can do the same to events and organizers. Thus, organizations can fully describe and advertise any activity event online.

Organizations can also obtain information about who is coming to their events and spam those attendees. They can review order histories to see how many people registered for a given event and why they came. In addition, they can view order statistics by activity, month, date, and order state. Finally, they can spam their own organizers to remind them about their upcoming events.

People coming to register online at a site using this module will be able to find upcoming activity events and sign up for them.