[MKDoc-dev] Proposed event/calendar functionality

[Sam Tregar]

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004, Bruno Postle wrote:

> What does need to be implemented is a listing of 'upcoming events'
> component, this would be similar-to or an extension-to the existing
> headlines component.

Ok, that makes sense.

> > Does the editor have to manually add each instance of a repeating
> > range?  For example, an event might occur every other Wednesday
> > from 4pm to 5pm.
> 
> I think so, otherwise we are going to end-up implementing the entire
> iCAL specification and the user interface is going to be beyond
> anything we can expect a normal user to cope with.

I'm sure you're correct about the user-interface issues.  I've done
several implementations of a recurring events widget and none of them
would pass the Mom test.  This is also something that could be
expanded later after the initial system is working.

> (1) is very much in the spirit of the existing MKDoc, (2) would be
> taking it in a direction that might ultimately result in all
> 'components' being stored independently of the document itself.
> 
> It was part of the original plan years ago to migrate to such a
> system, but this existing system works very well - Why break it?

That's a good point.  It's tempting as a new developer on a project to
try to remake things the way they "should" be, but it's definitely not
warranted in most cases.  I think (1) will work and the difference in
performance is likely too small to measure.

> > Can you elaborate on why Document_ID is missing and why this is
> > important?
> 
> It's missing because it was just pasted from the initial unfinished
> implementation.  When I looked at it, there was clearly no way that
> an item could be easily related to it's 'parent' document.

Right, and that's what you need to provide lookups based on the index
data.  Got it.

Let's see if I understand the work which is needed to realize this
plan:

  - create a new TimeRange component, which will manage the storage of
    data ranges associated with documents

  - create a new editor template for the TimeRange component which
    allows users add date ranges to their documents

  - create a new UpcomingEvents component, which will provide a list
    of documents with TimeRange components within a configurable range

  - create a new editor template for the UpcomingEvents component
    which allows users to add a list of upcoming events to their
    documents

  - modify the Newsletter code to allow the inclusion of upcoming
    events

  - modify the Headlines code to allow the user to toggle between
    Recently Updated, which is the current behavior, and Upcoming
    Events

Did I miss anything?

-sam