Event Fields | Govstack

Each calendar on your website will have a “Field Set”. This is the form that members of your organization or the public fill out when they are adding a new event to a calendar.

We will provide you with field sets for all calendars that are part of your initial sitemap. For example, you may have a Council Calendar or Community Calendar on your website. You only need to create a new field set if you are adding a new calendar to your website.

Create a field set

In the Govstack dashboard in the back office select the Events section. This will take you to the Govstack Events “Home” page.

To create a field set:

Select “Configuration” from the Govstack Events toolbar located near the top of the page
Select “Field Sets” from the navigation menu on the left
Click the “Add Field Set” button and this will take you to the “Add Field Set” page
Select the “Save” button to create the fields from the copied calendar field set

Fill out each field on the “Add Field Set” page.

Enter the name of your new field set

We recommend including the name of your organization and the type of calendar in the “Name” field. For example, Town of Sample: Community Calendar. This way it will be easy to link this field set to the appropriate calendar. This also allows you to easily distinguish between each field set.

Copy fields?

The "Copy Fields?" dropdown menu allows you to copy a field set from a previous calendar and will save you time. Click the dropdown menu and select the field set that is most similar to the new calendar you're creating. For example, there are distinct field sets for council calendars and event calendars.

We highly recommend that you copy one of the existing Field sets that we created with your initial calendars. Most calendars have a similar set of fields to configure. You can make changes to the field set even when you copy a field set.

Review and edit the field set

Select the “Update” icon next to your newly created field set in order to review and edit the fields to align with your new calendar. There are a few items that need to be configured each time you create a new field set, even if it was copied.

Event category field values

For the “Event Type or Category” field, select the “Field Values” icon. This will take you to the “Field Values” page. Click the “Add Field Values” button to add a new field value. Then, enter the name of the “Category or Event Type” in the “Value Field”.

You can also assign a colour to each different category type. Select the “Save” button to apply the changes.

Please note

Enter “Field Values” in the order you'd like them to appear in the dropdown menu (i.e., alphabetically)
Select the “Allow Public to Post” checkbox if your calendar allows members of the public to add events

Field values will appear in the “Category or Event Type” dropdown list when individuals are filling out the “Field Set” each time they add a new event to the calendar. Field value categories should include different types of events that may be added to this specific calendar. For example, parades, art and culture events, sporting events, holidays, community festivals, etc.

Uploading images and files

If individuals can attach an image or document to their event, you need to edit the file sizes in the Field Set. Select the “Update Field” icon next to the “Feature Image and/or Attachments” field on the “Field Set” page. Make sure that the “Maximum File Size” is set to 150MB. Select the “Save” button to apply the changes.

Check field names

Certain fields need to use specific terms in order for Govstack Events to display and function properly. While reviewing your field set, make sure the following terms are used:

For the “Event Details” field, ensure that the “Name” field says “Description”
For the “Event Type/Category” field, ensure that the “Name” field says “Category”
For the “Location/Address” field, ensure the “Name” field says “Address”

For each of these instances, the “Description Name” field can be different from the “Name” field, however, we encourage you to keep them the same. This leads to less confusion.

Edit the website field

Select the “Update Field” icon next to the “Website” field. Make sure that the “Validate with Regular Expression” checkbox is selected. From the “Regular Expression” dropdown menu make sure that “Website” is selected.

Add structured data to the calendar

You can add structured data to a calendar field set. This will help search engines, such as Google, identify which fields match standard search engine event properties. By adding structured data mark-ups to the calendar, it will be easier for users to find events through the search engine results page.

To add structured data, you need to:

Select the "Update" icon next to the field set you want to edit
From the "Update Field Set" page, locate the section on Search Engine Optimization
Select the appropriate option from the dropdown menu for each of the pre-set calendar properties
Select the "Save" button to complete the process

Please note

The options in the dropdown menus will vary for each calendar because they match the specific fields you've created for the calendar.