WebCal for Clients
The WebCal functionality of the WIFE Server allows subscribing to the Events of Objects, Object Classes, Users, Resources and Projects from farmerswife in a local third-party calendar application, like iCal, Outlook, Sunbird, iPhone, etc. ; and with more confiugration effort also for Google Calendars; important for this to work on Google Calendar, farmerswife's own authentication needs to be bypassed, which makes this calendar links "public". Also the refresh-rate on Google Calendar can be up to 12 hours. This manual explains how you can use WebCal to share some of your farmerswife object schedules with your clients. E.g. if one of your clients needs to see availability of one of your studios.
General configurations:
In Toolbox > Settings > Server Setup (only Advanced Users with Server Setup permissions can configure this) > WebCal:
- Enable WebCal
- Enable Allow WebCal URL Key Access
- Configure Show Days Before and After: define the time range that will be available in an external calendar when subscribing to an object’s calendar.
Web Profile Configuration:
Open the Client Contact window and click on the drop-down arrow next to Permission Profile to open the Web Profile Manager.
As the Web Profile Manager opens, do a right-mouse click on the top left area to create a New Profile that can be call e.g. “Clients - TV Studios”.
As it gets created, click on it to start setting it up.
Enable:
- Webcal (ical, outlook etc. calendar subscription)
- Events > Objects > Specific Object Level Control > as the window opens, right click to Add Objects > search for the object for TV Studio and as it gets added enable Can View
- Events > Show Events > Always > Yes, But Hide The Event Details
Click OK on the Web Profile Manager window to go back to the Client Contact window.
Configuration per Client:
1. Back in the Client Contact window select this new profile under Permission Profile.
2. Next, enable the Web Access option.
3. And click on the drop-down menu to select Define WebCal Direct URL Key Access. As a key you can setup e.g. the client’s full name and the date when this was added. Keep in mind, that this "key" makes this a "public link". Adding some complexity to this key is a very good idea!
4. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the screen.
5. Finally, click again on the drop-down menu next to Web Access to select Open WebCal Index
Share WebCal Link with Client:
A web browser will open with the details of the WebCalendars available for that client, as defined in the web profile.
Right-click on the ics icon to copy the link. This is what you can email to your client.
Subscribing to a WebCal
As they click on that link, their calendar application will open (iCal, Outlook…) and they need to follow the steps from that application to subscribe to this object’s calendar. If clicking on the link does not automatically open their calendar application, they need to find the option to add a New Calendar Subscription. Each calendar application is different – see the example below showing how it looks like in iCal.
This is how the events on TV Studio display in iCal: on 22nd November there is an “undisclosed” event (no information about the project or client using that studio). And the rest of the week it is available.
Project Calendar
To allow Clients to subscribe to Project Calendar make sure two additional settings are enabled:
1. Project That He Has A Relation to in the Web Profile Manager is ticked
2. Web Profile "Has Relation" Flags Are True If Contact Is In The Same Company in the Toolbox > Server Settings is ticked. This way all contacts that belong to the same company can see all projects from that company. If that is not ticked Client can only see projects that are assigned specifically to him.
