Add-on Which event manger/calendar for my needs?

[smallwheels]

In my forum we do collect public events by others that are interesting for the forum topic and do have a very small number of events that are organized by forum members for the forum as well (the latter like 3-4 per year)

We do have one "events-Thread" per year where the dates are collected in the start posting and new events are added by the forum members by posting to the thread. This is manual work, but we are talking about like maybe 40 events in total per year, so while not optimal this is doable.

A while ago I installed a calendar solution on top/aside of that, Google Calendar for XenForo, which has a limited featureset, but works flawlessly so far. Is is labeled "unmaintained" but it's free and it works - so nothing to complain. It is a simple calendar, powered by a shared Google Calendar in the Background. So again manual labor, but again doable. Aside from the webpage forum members can (in theory) subscribe to the calendar and will see all upcoming events in their smartphone- or desktop calendar.

Going further there are some points that we currently lack and that would bring us forward:
• the events are widespread geographically, so not every event is interesting to everyone
• there are different kinds of events (like trade fairs, community events, etc.), again, not every event is of interest for everyone
• Only the admin can add events to the calendar as well as to the thread's start posting, which creates a bottleneck - would be good if trusted members could do that as well.
• if members want to meet at one of the events this is currently done via one thread per event but this is neither reliable nor userfriendly
• for the events organized by members of or forum an RSVP function would be even more handy as it helps to keep the overview when organizing
(• note: currently (and for foreseeable time, no change planned) we do not have event fees, so this is not a criteria for us - it is all free as in free beer)

So relatively basic needs:
An event-Calendar that is tied to a thread per event, offers RSVP function, the possibilty for an ics per event, a bit of filter options and the possibility that normal forum members can create events as well, not only the admin. I consider this a pretty basic featureset.

The addons that I found are
• XenAttendo
• Calendar
• Event Forums
• Holidays Manager

Holidays Manager was released just recently, does not seem to fit our needs and got deleted in the last days - so is ruled out already. The three remaining should, as I assume, all be able to cover the featureset needed.
But now comes the nasty part:

XenAttendo
dates from 2018 and seems to be the oldest of the bunch. Seems to work but some people seem to have issues, judging from various threads on the forum. No demo site available, just a video. Latest update was about one year ago.
There is a demo site but the latest event in there is from Dec 2020 - three years ago. So no possiblity to look at things like RSVP.

Calendar
dates from late 2019, has no demo site, no screenshots, no video - simply nothing. Absolutely unclear what I will get. People seem to like and prefer it (at least some) over XenAttendo, but there seem to be some bugs/issues as well. But the general quality seems to be good. Last update was two years ago. Which seems not too convincing given that there are maintenance fees per year.

Events Forums
dates from September this year (2023) but was labeled "unmaintained" shortly after. There are a couple of screenshots but no demo site and the developer has not answered to simple questions by users regarding the addon in the thread tied to the ressource for two months.

So I am a little bit lost - neither of the addons create too much trust in the developer or in future releases. But all could be good.

Any recommendations?



PS: In the meantime I also found Calendar by AndyB but given the reputation regarding code quality throughout the forum I am part of the cohort that rather stays away from his offerings (though others may be happy with them). Plus it does not seem to meet the needed featureset anyway.

 

[Forsaken]

I use Calendar, however in a very limited fashion (we have weekly, and yearly events and we got tired of people asking about the weekly event time).

It supports RSVP, event threads and you can give permission for users to add events as well (as well as enforce things like RSVP, location and event images).

I do not know if threads are recreated for each event if it is recurring, or if it shares the same event.

As far as bugs/updates, @Naz has been busy with XF and I believe his full time job, so chances are updates will pick up once 2.3 releases. In general though, I normally do not have issues with his products, and they tend to work well with his other ones.

 

[Wing]

Nixfiftys @Naz calendar addon has my vote. You can see a custom tailored version of it here: https://www.v303rdfightergroup.com/index.php?schedule/

 

[smallwheels]

On Second look it seems possible that the calendar by @AndyB could maybe fit the needs, too - at least in combination with his RSVP-addon that I did not recognize until today. Not sure. However - from the concept it seems a little different from what I am searching for. Plus it seems to lack ics export and judging from the description the other addons seem to fit my needs better.

 

[smallwheels]

Regarding the calendar addon by @Naz I found some good and some bad news as well:

• Good news is that there IS a demo site. Which you'll only find if you dig deeply through the threads on his own support forums. Here it is:
https://xf2.nixfifty.com/events/ There is also the netrider forum, who use the plugin intensively and in a less modified way than @Wing
.
• not so good news is, that in the addon discussions here there have been mentioned a number of issues after the last addon update was released on Dec. 17th 2021 - these seem to be ignores and still unfixed - mostly for more than a year. Examples:

This addon persistently seems to be overlooked in comparison to the other addons It's a shame more time isn't put into this.

Last I looked, the forum had multiple unresolved bug reports and questions. This isn't a personal slight, but it's very frustrating. I'd rather it be unmaintained and passed to another developer for some new love to be put in.

Or moved to XF core. That would be me dreaming, though.

I agree. Absolutely LOVE @NixFifty 's mods. They have suited our board so far really well. But the support forum has left me hanging on 2 questions so far...

View attachment 274305

Experiencing this glitch whenever the event is past the date of attendance. Seems to consistently happen.

Looking for an update to fixing this after event has expired:

View attachment 282700

The addon seems to be pretty good but also a almost dead horse. Not sure if it is really a good idea to bet 60$ plus yearly maintenance fees on such a horse as @Naz seems to be busy doing other things and even within the range of his XF-addons the calendar seems to get the least capacity and love as outlined here.

 

[btmgreg]

Regarding the calendar addon by @Naz I found some good and some bad news as well:

• Good news is that there IS a demo site. Which you'll only find if you dig deeply through the threads on his own support forums. Here it is:
https://xf2.nixfifty.com/events/ There is also the netrider forum, who use the plugin intensively and in a less modified way than @Wing
.
• not so good news is, that in the addon discussions here there have been mentioned a number of issues after the last addon update was released on Dec. 17th 2021 - these seem to be ignores and still unfixed - mostly for more than a year. Examples:








The addon seems to be pretty good but also a almost dead horse. Not sure if it is really a good idea to bet 60$ plus yearly maintenance fees on such a horse as @Naz seems to be busy doing other things and even within the range of his XF-addons the calendar seems to get the least capacity and love as outlined here.

It has a lot of potential, but the endless broken promises and constant low-priority. It's left a bad taste in my mouth.

@Bob is working on his own event management system which is in the early stages. Anything Bob touches is done with a lot of thought and decent support with a common sense approach.

 

[Wing]

Until Bob comes out with something more updated, I am really confident that Naz's Calendar addon is the best option right now on the market. Sure it might look "dead". But I have not had any issues whatsoever with it, and we have highly tailored it to our needs with no issues. Well worth the investment for our community. (And our community revolves solely around our Calendar/Flight schedule).

 

[btmgreg]

Until Bob comes out with something more updated, I am really confident that Naz's Calendar addon is the best option right now on the market. Sure it might look "dead". But I have not had any issues whatsoever with it, and we have highly tailored it to our needs with no issues. Well worth the investment for our community. (And our community revolves solely around our Calendar/Flight schedule).

Out of interest - What kind of tailored changes have you made? Are they all cosmetic?

 

[Wing]

Out of interest - What kind of tailored changes have you made? Are they all cosmetic?

A ton of cosmetic, and some template/phrase changes.

 

[smallwheels]

After digging through the various options I finally decided to follow the advice in the thread here and to go with calendar by @Naz despite my doubts. So on Sunday I created an account on his forums and provided all the information incl. my xenforo license verification. Until now, two days later, I am still awaiting account confirmation on his forum:



So I am not able to buy the addon and the doubts that I finally had overcome have now risen to a new level. I mean: This is not a cheap addon in comparison and with every other addon I bought in the past the process of account creation in the according developer's forum has been typically a question of minutes and not of days.

He makes it really hard to buy the thing let alone to build up trust. Seems that the addon should possibly better be considered abandoned and flagged unmaintained.

 

[btmgreg]

After digging through the various options I finally decided to follow the advice in the thread here and to go with calendar by @Naz despite my doubts. So on Sunday I created an account on his forums and provided all the information incl. my xenforo license verification. Until now, two days later, I am still awaiting account confirmation on his forum:

View attachment 295265

So I am not able to buy the addon and the doubts that I finally had overcome have now risen to a new level. I mean: This is not a cheap addon in comparison and with every other addon I bought in the past the process of account creation in the according developer's forum has been typically a question of minutes and not of days.

He makes it really hard to buy the thing let alone to build up trust. Seems that the addon should possibly better be considered abandoned and flagged unmaintained.

Welcome to the world of Nix and the uncertainty that comes with it. Even though it has nothing to do with XF as a company - it's not a great look.

Status should definitely be changed, or like I've suggested before - offload it to someone that could give it the love and attention it deserves.

 

[smallwheels]

Got my account finally approved today and bought the addon. Install was flawlessly as expected, now playing around with it on my test environment. Hope that nothing serious occurs that requires support bc at the same time a message appeared that service will be limited until Jan 2nd due to time off.

 

[smallwheels]

I do not know if threads are recreated for each event if it is recurring, or if it shares the same event.

It's the latter and no way to change the behaviour.

 

[FTL]

PS: In the meantime I also found Calendar by AndyB but given the reputation regarding code quality throughout the forum I am part of the cohort that rather stays away from his offerings (though others may be happy with them). Plus it does not seem to meet the needed featureset anyway.

I wouldn't worry about code quality for @AndyB as it's just fine. He's one of the reputable names around here. I use several of his add-ons for well over a year now and they're all great.

Fair enough if they don't do what you need, but not if you think his add-ons are poor quality, as they're not.

 

[smallwheels]

I do not know if threads are recreated for each event if it is recurring, or if it shares the same event.

It's the latter and no way to change the behaviour.

 

[smallwheels]

I wouldn't worry about code quality for @AndyB as it's just fine. He's one of the reputable names around here. I use several of his add-ons for well over a year now and they're all great.

Fair enough if they don't do what you need, but not if you think his add-ons are poor quality, as they're not.

Fair enough - I did not want to badmouth anyone and as I do not have experience with his offerings in practice I cannot judge on them anyway. There have been discussions going on about code quality in the past, easy to find if you are interested. But then this was the past and it is second hand opinion as I have no own experience, so I can't judge.
He seems to be one of the most active developers with many many tiny (and possibly useful) addons. For this type of addons his model of a flat yearly subscription makes total sense in my opinion. I on the other hand follow the philosophy trying to use as little addons as possible (which is hard to stick to sometimes) to keep a slick and clean installation (and hopefully have less trouble through that approach), so this is just not for me, w/o any judgement.

 

[FTL]

Fair enough - I did not want to badmouth anyone and as I do not have experience with his offerings in practice I cannot judge on them anyway. There have been discussions going on about code quality in the past, easy to find if you are interested. But then this was the past and it is second hand opinion as I have no own experience, so I can't judge.
He seems to be one of the most active developers with many many tiny (and possibly useful) addons. For this type of addons his model of a flat yearly subscription makes total sense in my opinion. I on the other hand follow the philosophy trying to use as little addons as possible (which is hard to stick to sometimes) to keep a slick and clean installation (and hopefully have less trouble through that approach), so this is just not for me, w/o any judgement.

Yes, he really maintaines those add-ons well and has about 400 of them, a huge number and that small yearly subscription fee is a bargain. I renew every year whether I need anything more or not, to support him and his work.

I agree with you about using the minimum amount of add-ons in general as there can be problems when it comes to upgrading the forum software, or if the developer stops maintaining them and they provide an important or critical function which could then be lost.