Hi Everyone,
I am thinking of adding some code to create 3 custom fields (location, venue and room) by default on install of the facetoface module. Has anyone got any thoughts or objections to this? It will not have any effect on existing installations but will happen on new installs.
Thanks,
Alastair
Hi Alastair,
My feeling is that session location is probably injtegral to the use of F2F in most applications, so I don't see how this would be a negative having the fields already created.
There would be another advantage to doing this. In our case we deliver the same course/F2F activity in different locations and for our end users the location needs to show in the calendar. It can't just say "Course 101" when one session is in New York and the other in Dallas. That's a lot of added clicks to find the next one near you. if you are browsing in the calendar.
For others using F2F, maybe they would like to show a different building or campus location in the calendar along with the short name.
Since as far as I can determine only the activity shortname displays in the calendar, in order for us to show the location for the F2F session, we have to create a separate activity for each location and then include the location name in the short name for the activity.
If you knew that the location field was there you might be able code the module to include the activity name and the session location in the calendar entry.
In our example this would mean we could have one F2F activity for the same session delivered in 10 city/locations instead of 10 activities, one for each city/location. This would also be awsome when we had to output reports for each course.
My thoughts
All the best,
Jenna
Hi Jenna,
My intent was just to automatically add the custom fields on install, not to make them part of the standard session. They would still be removable by an admin setting up a session. If its popular I might look into making the fields part of the session and then also look at putting more details into the calendar.
Cheers,
Alastair
Alastair,
I'm not clear on your meaning "They would still be removable by an admin setting up a session". Are you just referring to
"Custom session fields" Delete. Was not aware they were removable on a per session basis. Once they were added as a custom session field, they are included in any new session created.
Also, are you open to doing custom mods to F2F on a contract basis?
Besides having the location info show on the calendar, we also need an Admin approval process that works in a scenario where customers are approved by a training admin, once course payment has been processed.
Right now, my work around is to use "managersemail" with the same default email address for all users. The big drawback is that the default value is not committed to the database on account creation. Either the user or admin has to "edit" the profile and update it to get F2F to recognize the default email address. As we are using email-based self registration, this invloves monitoring new user registrations on a daily basis in order to "activate their account". If this is not done you get the "you have not been assigned to a manager" error.
Solution would be to add an alternate checkbox under "approval required" for an "admin approval required" plus a custom F2F field for the admin email address under this.
When admin approval was checked the admin email field would be available to be filled in and all session approval emails would go to this address, instead of the user's manager's email address entered in the custom field in user's profile.
Jenna
While I'm thinking how nice it would be to see the session location on the calendar as well as the short name .... even better would be a floating window with location and time when you mouse over the calendar entry.
That would be very well you know ...
Jenna
I agree that adding the fields by default would make this more useful right after installing it and reduce some confusion. I also like Jenna's idea of making the location field visible on the calendar as we have the same problem. Sometimes we offer the same training in 8-12 different cities.
