Create a Master Calendar in SharePoint – Part 2 (ScreenCast)
This article is Part 2 in a 3 Part series. The original article was written by Greg Maas to propose a solution to Master Calendars in SharePoint.
This article will restate the problem in more specific terms and offer a detailed solution to the problem through a screencast.
Problem Statement
Create a SharePoint solution that will allow calendars in various locations in a SharePoint implementation to be aggregated into one, Master Calendar. The solution must use the Out-of-the-Box functionality provided by SharePoint, with no server programming.
Overview
A common problem with SharePoint Calendars is the inability to create a Master Calendar which pulls information from subcalendars into a central location within SharePoint. This is typically needed when groups or teams have individual calendars, but would like to aggregate them into one, master calendar at a company level. It is especially difficult because, by default, web parts in SharePoint do not see across site collections.
In MOSS, the Content Query Web Part (CQWP) can access information across sites, but only exposes the information as a simple ‘title’ field. In addition, the CQWP visibility is limited to a single site collection. The CQWP is not available in WSS.
Solution
A solution to this problem is to turn the paradigm upside down: have a Master Calendar that ‘pushes’ information out to subcalendars by exposing views based upon content types. This idea was first brought to my attention by Greg Maas as a response to a question about master calendars.
Creating a content type for each subcalendar makes it possible to dynamically generate views based upon those content types. The problem of seeing across sites/site collections is handled by using a LyteBox script embedded within a Content Editor Web Part (CEWP). The LyteBox opens a transparent window on top of a subsite, exposing the filtered Master Calendar. This solution will work in both WSS and MOSS.
I have created a screencast to demonstrate how this can easily be accomplished.
Embed the screencast on your site for easy access by your team or clients. It is especially useful when talking with upper management so that they can view the solution as part of your discussion. Use the ‘get code’ link on the menu bar beneath the viewing screen.
To be continued in Part 3 …
The use of content types is a big plus, but I don’t get the part about the Lytebox. Wouldn’t it be simpler to use a Page Viewer Web Part?
Christophe,
The page viewer web part is a HUGE hit for screenspace. I guess if you wanted to create an entire page for just the calendar inside one web part, that would work.
I’ve found that the ‘coolness’ factor of the LyteBox helps sell many concepts that would otherwise be overlooked.
Either way, the Master Calendar acts as the driving force. Glad you like it.
Mark
Very nice, Mark. I think the lytebox functionality really makes it a best of all worlds scenario- for all intents and purposes the individual calendars appear to exist at the subsite level. Pretty slick…
Mark, that would be the idea: a tab with a specific page dedicated to the calendar.
I forgot to mention that your screencast makes the concept crystal clear. I need to master these zooming effects!
Mark,
Our Gestapo-like IT dept. tries to block online videos. So unfortunately, the screencast above isn’t even visible. I have been able to view some of your other screencasts such as A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Content Types. Would it be possible to post it like you did with that one? By the way, love your site. I have learned so much from it.
Pardon me if this seems rude for that is not my intention, but this screencast seemed very vague on details.
Was it only intended to be a general conceptual overview?
I was hoping there would be a detailed walkthrough on how to accomplish this or a blog post with the walkthrough in it.
Basically taking us through creating a test calendar, the content types, and then working with Lytebox (which I have never heard of until now).
Will a more detailed post be made freely available that shows the step by step instructions?
Thank you!
Josh – Not rude at all…
The purpose of the demo screencast is to give a high level overview of how to implement a Master Calendar solution in SharePoint.
For those who have ‘been around the block’ a little bit with SharePoint, it will give them ideas on what they can do. Check out Christophe’s response as an example.
If someone needs help implementing the solution, I’m giving a live, online workshop on November 11 to do the walk through and setup you are asking for.
Regards,
Mark
Caleb,
I’m toying with the idea of making the public screencasts available as download packages that you can view from your desktop. Not sure how much of a market there is.
It would take a bit of time and resources, so unless I get a ton of requests, I’d probably pass and keep things going the way they are.
Can you view them at home? Nothing better than a nice, relaxing evening on the couch, a glass of wine and a SharePoint screencast.
Mark
Would Lytebox also work to share lists such as contact, issues, etc…across sites?
Tammy – Kind of… in a way. The LyteBox will expose the entire page. It’s not like you can pull out a section of the page to display.
So, yes, if you are pointing to the list page itself, that should work, not just across site, but across site collections too, which is very powerful.
But at least it allows us to surface the view. I never thought of this. Another great way to use Lytebox. Thank you
Interesting perspective and tutorial on this issue. Does your solution enable users to enter events from their appropriate team calendar? Or would it be required that events be entered from the master calendar?
Taking that question a step further, is there any solution that allows master/team calendars two-way sync, meaning an event entered on the master calendar is updated on the team calendar, and an event updated on the team calendar is updated on the master calendar?
> Does your solution enable users to enter events from their appropriate team calendar?
When the calendar is opened on each team site, what is really being viewed is the Master Calendar with a customized view for that team.
So, in answer to your question, yes, the team members can create events directly in ‘their team calendar’, when actually they are adding to the Master Calendar at the same time.
Mark,
Does this approach address the issue you brought up about spanning across multiple site collections?
I thought it was a great screen cast – thanks so much for making it available! 5 stars!
Jill – Yep, that’s the point of implementing the LyteBox. The LyteBox doesn’t care where the content resides… it could be at Disney.com and LyteBox wouldn’t care.
Let’s be clear on the concept before we start jumping up and down in glee. This DOES NOT act as an aggregator.
What is happening is LyteBox is creating a transparent browser window on top of the existing window and exposing another web page in that transparent browser. The user gets direct access to the content in the new browser window but it is not actually pulling that information into their site as a web part would.
Still, the End User doesn’t really care in most cases. They get the content they need and it doesn’t matter where it resides.
Hope to see you next week.
Mark
Off topic a little bit. What program did you use to create the site collection, content type, site, lytebox relationships?
Thanks,
Paul Liebrand
Paul – Mind Manager from MindJet.com. You’ll want the enterprise edition to be able to create the drag-and-drop custom templates for site content types and other reusable components. — Mark
Hi Mark,
Picking up on a comment above where you mention
“I’m toying with the idea of making the public screencasts available as download packages that you can view from your desktop. Not sure how much of a market there is.”
I ofthen find good a good series of articles on a particular subject is being developed at a time when I don’t specifically need to address the subject (but know I will need the info in the future!)
While it is easy enough to revisit and read the articles and catch up with comments online etc it would be a quantum improvement to download the lot and view/read on a plane, during some quiet moment etc where the web is not available to me.
I’m a big fan of the practical nature of subjects discussed on endusersharepoint.com. Surely getting hold of them from a single archive is just a natural extension of the value the site provides! The ebooks you provided were a perfect example of that.
Mick – Just kicking tires here… from a business model perspective, what is the financial value of the download?
I would have to charge a fee for the download of the package. I want the downloads to be a much higher quality than the little windows shown here on the blog, so I will have to purchase more storage on my hosting service.
What’s the range for a good, downloadable demo like that shown here? $5, $10, $20? Not sure.
Mark
Having attended courses with you Mark there is already trust established about what I’m going to get for my money. I agree there is work in preparing the materials but I’d see downloading a package (ie. recording, mind map, web part, notes etc) as not far short of the experience of actually being on a course.
From a business perspective I note that you can only service 20 or so clients per course and they take energy and effort to deliver. While this may be your premium method of information delivery there is probably a business to be made in having a second fiddle – so to speak.
While I’m a great advocate of free information on the web that is very different to providing a structured course or usable web parts. I’d be happy to pay whatever it costs for the convenience. For example: The dashboards demo was great value at 3 hours of demonstration. It could also be 1.5 hours of reading with web parts and installation instructions. I’d be prepared to pay 50-75% of attending the course to get direct access to the materials at my convenience. Obviously I can’t speak for others but that is what it is worth to me.
Regards,
Mick
Hi Mark,
Unfortunately I didn’t read this post until this week so I missed the presentation on 11/11. I admit I echo the comments of Josh on 10/29. I am not familiar with Lytebox, other than the search I just did to find their site. Based upon the high level overview you did and the rest of your blog, I’m going to try to determine how to add this master page functionality. However, when it comes to Lytebox, I’m hesitant.
1) I’m not clear what they mean by Step 2: Add the following lines to the of your document. What is the they refer to
2) Step 3: not sure which of the 4 options to use. I’m assuming the single image.
Thanks,
Beth
Beth – The workshop includes web parts that incorporate all the functionality of LyteBox. You will not have to ‘add lines to your document’ to get it to work.
I am in the process of scheduling a new series of workshops. This will be one of them. Keep your eyes on the newsletter.
Regards,
Mark
Thanks Mark! I’ll be checking upcoming newsletters.
~Beth
As I understand you use LyteBox for overlapping calendars. So my question is: what happens if in two different calendars planned events occur on Monday 10 AM at the same date? Will their description overlap? How about links to events?
Is it possible to see the code in Content Editor Web Part?
Thanks,
Alex
Please ignore my previous post. I got the idea. Sorry, my bad…
I am not able to view the video.. it says loading video and nothing comes up.. is the screencast still available or removed??
Ganesh – Nope, it is still working. Do you have the latest flash player?
As a side note, this video will be removed as of Saturday since the BrightCove service is being shut down.
So is there another way to get the video?
Chuck – At this time, there is no video to view because the BrightCove service cancelled all accounts. They went to a different business model and closed off their hosting service.
I will be running the workshop again in the near future and will create a new screencast to go with the announcement.
Weekly Newsletter subscribers will get first notice and then it will appear here, on the site.
Mark
OK? So is there a written article on the methodology for the calendar. I started the work last week, just got back to continue/finish it and the source material is gone, oops! :-)
Any help would be appreciated.
Chuck – The video here was only a demo. The resources and full on-demand recording are only available to the people who participated in the live, online workshop. You will need to register for the next workshop in order to have access to the resources. — Mark
OK, I guess there is no help and an surprising unwillingness to assist.
Surprised and dismayed.
If you’ve turned down other requested do you really think people will then support your efforts in the future.
Customer service…argh
Have a great day!
Funny.. I never said I wanted the materials for free either.
As a consultant time IS money and your solution was both elegant and efficient.
So I understand your revenure stream, but LIVE sessions is not the most efficient..for anyone involved.
Also, since this was up online and available to make no effort to replace it seems counter-customer friendly. If I performed my training in the same fashion…I’d be broke…especially in today’s market conditions.
There has to be a PowerPoint stack, notes…something… the video was not comprehensive but I haven’t succeeded by not knowing how to go from point A to Point W …I’m just fairly new to SharePoint and was hoping I found someone to investment my training dollars with…I guess not.
Best of luck.
Chuck – I’m not sure where you are coming from.
To accuse me and my authors of not providing customer service is out of line and not appreciated. We volunteer the content on this site for all SharePoint users.
You are asking for the resources from a workshop that people paid to attend. The resources for that workshop are only available to those who paid.
It has nothing to do with lack of customer service. It has to do with business integrity. When a service is provided to a paying customer, that service can’t be given away to anyone who asks.
I call it good business ethics.
Mark
Again I wasn’t asking for it for free.. Did you offer a price… I was the one who said I would pay for it.
Also, we all know how Bloging works…and why many people do it. I don’t question that …. I question why you would ignore a revenue source…do you have any idea how many people I could have had pay for this and other materials? No you didn’t ask…
Computer people are interesting…very bright and very energetic and many times this is wasted with lack of insight into a market an opportunity. They are too busy with their toys. LOL I understand..yet don’t….see my point.
So, quote a price…. also from a strictly convenience point of view did you ever think that not everyone is ‘available’ when you want to do your ‘live’ show? That on demand is actually easier and overall more profitable. (This I know from LARGE experience)
That is where I am coming from…I’m trying to be a paying customer and you are thwarting me.
I’m not really trying to be mean…I’m trying to educate….you still haven’t given me an asking price.
Regards,
Chuck
I see that this video is no longer available? I would love to get my hands on it…is there any way…for pay or not…that I could see it? I have been tasked with something like this and given 3 days to figure it out. (actually the exact words were “ASAP, but it’s not super urgent – by mid week” – whatever THAT means! :) )
Helen – On February 27, there is a live, online hands-on workshop that walks you through this solution. Check with the powers that be. It will be worth the wait.
Here’s the details and agenda:
http://2009-02-27-eusp.eventbrite.com/
Mark
An alternate solution:
-Create a new Web Part Page in the site that contains the Master Calendar
-Add a Calendar web part to add the calendar to the page
-Add a Content Editor web part that contains the following style tag to hide the master page:
.ms-topnav,.ms-sitetitle,.ms-sbtable,.ms-sbtable-ex,.ms-sbrow,.ms-sbscopes,.ms-sbcell,.ms-sbplain, .ms-sbgo, .ms-sblink,.ms-sbLastcell,.ms-bannerContainer,.ms-bannerframe,.ms-titleimagearea,.ms-topnav,.ms-leftareacell,.ms-globallinks,.ms-siteaction,.ms-areaseparatorleft,.ms-rightareacell,.ms-areaseparatorright,.breadcrumb, .ms-titleareaframe, .ms-pagebottommarginright,.ms-pagetitleareaframe,.ms-pagemargin,.ms-globalTitleArea,.ms-globalbreadcrumb,.ms-pagebottommargin,.ms-consoletitleareaframe,.ms-bodyareapagemargin,
.ms-areaseparatorcorner,.ms-titlearealeft,.ms-titlearearight,.ms-searchform,.ms-banner,.ms-buttonheightwidth,.ms-buttonheightwidth2{
display:none;}
-Hide the Content Editor web part (minimize/no chrome)
-Add a Page View web part to any extra-site locations you want the calendar to appear
-Point the Page View web part to the newly-created web part page; force height to around 900-1000px to get rid of scrollbars
Sorry, the above CSS was missing the <style></style> tags.
The above CSS was missing the <style></style> tags.
(Sorry, moderators!)
I totally agree with Chuck here.
Wouldn’t make sense from a business point of view to make the screencasts available for a fee?
The way I see it is that I could use your solution and I would be more than happy to pay for it. But because I have missed the live workshop now I am simply unable to access those resources so you will ultimately miss my custom.
Also I don’t see how offering these materials, be it for a price or even free, would represent bad business ethics. Surely that customers can appreciate the extra value of having a hands-on live workshop.
thanks
Will there be another live cast? How can I get my hands on how to implement this solution?
Hi Mark,
Will you be holding this event again? I have an interest in learning how to do this.
Thanks
Lisa – I’ve set the schedule for this month, but maybe in August or September. – Mark
Am very interested in this. An on demand solution would be great, however if we have not figured out our own solution by the time of your next event, I will probably attend.
Hi all,
I’d just like to point out that a very straight-forward alternate solution is described in detail by me in the comments above. No need to wait for a live cast :)
Jon K’s solution works beautifully. I combined the inherited content type on the master calendar with Jon K’s solution for displaying the parent web part. Thanks Jon K!
Can be possible that you can move your site with the personalization of the content type to other site when you save the site like a template?
Is the screencast still available anywhere? This seems like a great solution!
(wow – HUGE thread!)
BIG question: how to create new calendar events (with appropriate content types) from incoming email?
>>Its just WAY too easy to (after enabling incoming email) send your outlook event to the team calendar….