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The Sign Me Up! Add-on

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Plugin Name: signmeup

Availability:  Separately available add-on, requires Zap Calendar Basic, Standard or Pro version (Lite version not supported)

Purpose: Create and manage sign-up lists for upcoming events

"Sign Me Up!" allows people to easily sign-up for items for an upcoming event. Who is bringing the dessert? Will we have plates? "Sign Me Up" answers these questions using this Zap Calendar Add-on.  A special "Sign Me Up" package includes the add-on with either the Basic, Standard, or Pro versions of Zap Calendar. The "Sign Me Up" add-on can be also purchased separately for users with current subscriptions (the Lite version is not supported).

Features

E-Mail Notification - Users are sent a thank-you e-mail when they sign-up for an item.  The event owner is also notified by e-mail.

Public and Registered Users Welcome - Sign Me Up! can be configured to accept all sign-ups or only sign-ups from registered users.

Reminder E-Mail - A reminder e-mail can be sent to each user prior to the event to summarize their signed-up items.

 

These features are available to the owner of the event:

Create Sign-up Items - Specify the title and quantity you need for your event and perhaps a short description.  You can also limit the # of items a person can sign-up.

Sign-up Invites - Owners can invite friends to sign-up for an event.  Friend lists can be created so invites can be sent to the same group of friends for other events.

Custom field - Owners can utilize a custom field to request additional info or create a select list (i.e., shirt size selection of small, medium, large and extra large selection is possible)

Sign-up Export - Export your sign-ups to a CSV or Excel file

Manage Sign-ups - Update or cancel sign-ups created by other people

Re-order Sign-up Items - Drag and drop sign-up items to re-order them on the event page.

 

These features are available to the website administrator:

Customizable E-mail templates - Add header and footer images to e-mails, or customize the e-mail templates using Zap Calendar's built-in form editor.

Allow Public Sign-ups - The site administrator can enable or disable sign-ups by non-registered users.

Sign-up Verification - The site administrator can require public sign-ups to be verified by e-mail before the sign-up is accepted.

Sign-up Invites - Allow or disallow event owners from using the friend invite list.

 

 


Installation

Installation Requirements

"Sign Me Up!" is a web-based application that requires Joomla, a content management system (CMS), and Zap Calendar, a Joomla application that provides the framework for managing events and calendars. Zap Calendar Basic, Standard and Pro versions are supported.  Zap Calendar Lite is not supported.

Version Requirements:

Joomla 3.3 or higher

Zap Calendar 4.2.0 or higher, Basic, Standard or Pro versions

Installation

  1. Install and configure Joomla if this is a new site
  2. Install and configure Zap Calendar or Zap Calendar with "Sign Me Up!".  Click here for installation instructions.
  3. If you purchased "Sign Me Up!" separately, Install the add-on from the Joomla Administrator.  Select "Extensions | Extension Manager", select the "Upload Package File" tab and use the page to upload and install the add-on.
  4. The "Sign Me Up!" add-on is disabled by default if installed separately. Enable it from the Joomla Administrator by selecting the "Extensions | Plugin Manager" item.  The add-on will appear in the "zapcalendar" filter type.
  5. Optionally set the global settings for "Sign Me Up" from the plugin in the Joomla Plugin Manager.  These settings will affect sign-ups for all events. You can modify the following parameters:

    E-Mail Header Image, E-Mail Footer Image: These images will be included in  e-mails sent by "Sign Me Up!".
    E-Mail Header Color, E-Mail Footer Color: The background color of the e-mail header and footer.
    Maximum e-mails per job: If your hosting company limits your ability to to send e-mails from your webhost server, set this parameter to keep your hosting company happy. Recommended value: 50, for e-mail limiting hosts
    Sign-up Verification: Set to "Yes" to require users to verify their sign-up by e-mail.  This helps reduce sign-up SPAM.
    Verify within this # of hours: If verification is set to "Yes", enter the number of hours to allow a user to respond to the verification.  If not verified, the sign-up is cancelled and available to others.  Enter a value of zero "0" to not cancel the verification. Event owners can also verify sign-ups on behalf of a user.
    Allow Invites: If disabled, the invite friends feature will be disabled.
    Allow Public Sign-Ups: Public sign-ups are allowed by default.  If you wish to limit sign-ups to only those that have logged into the site, set this option to "No".

  6. Go to the "Components | Zap Calendar | Panel" page and click the "Complete the "Sign Me Up" Installation" button.  This appears when the Sign Me Up add-on is installed for the first time and creates the SQL tables needed by the add-on.
  7. Configure Zap Calendar with at least one category and calendar.  For new sites, create the category first, then create a new calendar or update an existing calendar. The calendar will need at least one category defined (under the category tab).  Select the Plugin tab to enable "Sign Me Up!" for the calendar.  The remainder of the "Sign Me Up!" settings are defined in each event.
    To include an iCalendar attachments of the event in the thank you e-mail, enable the "iCalendar Export" option, available in the calendar manager page.
  8. Configure a cron job to handle maintenance tasks.  The cron job performs several housekeeping tasks: creating reminder e-mails, sending reminder and invite e-mails, purging unverified sign-ups and purging previously sent e-mails.  From the tools page, view the URL needed for the cron job in the "Sign Me Up! section.  You will also need to allow your host access to run the cron job.  Enter the host's IP address in allowed IP list in Zap Calendar's global settings.  Running the cron job at 5 or 10 minute intervals is recommended.  An example of the command to use in the cron job is below:
    wget -O /dev/null -q "http://yourdomain.com/index.php?option=com_zcalendar&view=plugin&name=signmeup&task=cron&tmpl=component" >/dev/null 2>/dev/null
  9. You can manually run the cron job if the cron job is not configured from the tools page in the "Sign Me Up!" section.

 


Adding Sign-ups to Events

 

The article, "Tutorial: Creating a Sign-up Page Using the Sign Me Up! Add-On", describes how to create a sign-up page, which is done from the website front-end.