Putting CiviCRM Event Info in a Drupal Block

[farmrchrys]

Hello,

I have been using the civicrm_eventblock module that is supposed to list the first (soonest) ten civicrm events in a Drupal block, but it has inexplicably stopped working properly, so I'm giving up on it.

I have tested the following by replacing Icalendar.tpl with this code (which condenses the events info) and it works.

Code: [Select]

{foreach from=$events key=uid item=event}
    {if $event.start_date}{$event.start_date|crmDate}{if $event.end_date}&nbsp;<em>{ts}to{/ts}</em>&nbsp;{strip}
                {* Only show end time if end date = start date *}
                {if $event.end_date|date_format:"%Y%m%d" == $event.start_date|date_format:"%Y%m%d"}
                    {$event.end_date|date_format:"%I:%M %p"}
                {else}
                    {$event.end_date|crmDate}
                {/if}{/strip}{/if}
        {else}{ts}(not available){/ts}{/if}<br />
    {if $event.event_type}{$event.event_type}{else}&nbsp;{/if}<br />
    <a href="{crmURL p='civicrm/event/info' q="reset=1&id=`$event.event_id`"}" title="{ts}read more{/ts}"><strong>{$event.title}</strong></a><br />
    <a href="{crmURL p='civicrm/event/info' q="reset=1&id=`$event.event_id`"}">Read more...</a><br /><br />
    {/foreach}
Two questions for you coders (I don't consider myself much of a coder):

1) How would I write php code for a Drupal block to make this data appear in the block?

2) Can code be added to a) limit the listing to the ten soonest events or b) insert a pager within the block? If so, what would the finished code look like?

Thanks for your help.

[Michael McAndrew]

Hi there,

Have you considered using Drupal's view's module to acheive the same?  I did so for this website http://stethelburgas.org.

If you don't consider yourself much of a coder, it is probably the right way to go.  Views in configurable through the UI (no coding required, and it will do things like allow you to easily do things like add a pager, filter so you only see the next 10 events, etc.

You'll need to install views in Drupal and add a few lines to drupal's settings.php to allow it to see civicrm's tables, but once you've done that, the sky's the limit

[farmrchrys]

Thank you. I had been thinking of that. I've played with views some-- it's also a mind bender for me, but I'll give it a try. Can you be more specific about what I need to add to settings.php to allow Drupal/Views to see CiviCRM tables?

[Michael McAndrew]

Had a look in the wiki but couldn't find it.  As someone that is doing it for the first time, it would a great thing for you to add to the documentation.

The basic idea is that you have to tell drupal where it can find the civicrm tables so you add some lines to your settings.php that look like this

Code: [Select]


$db_prefix = array(
  'civicrm_acl'                              => 'your_civicrm_database_name',
  'civicrm_acl_cache'                        => 'your_civicrm_database_name',
  'civicrm_acl_entity_role'                  => 'your_civicrm_database_name',
  'civicrm_activity'                         => 'your_civicrm_database_name',
  'civicrm_activity_assignment'              => 'your_civicrm_database_name',
  'civicrm_activity_target'                  => 'your_civicrm_database_name',
  'civicrm_address'                          => 'your_civicrm_database_name',
  'civicrm_cache'                            => 'your_civicrm_database_name',
  'civicrm_case'                             => 'your_civicrm_database_name',

...

  'civicrm_uf_match'                         => 'your_civicrm_database_name',
  'civicrm_worldregion'                      => 'your_civicrm_database_name',
);


replacing your_civicrm_database_name with, you've guessed it, the name of your civicrm database.

Does that help?

[Eileen]

You also need to include what the default is in the array

eg.

Code: [Select]

$db_prefix = array(
  'default'                                  => 'main_',
 'authmap'                               => 'ssodb.main_',
  'civicrm_acl'                            => civicrm_etc

in this e.g the main drupal install is in tables like

main_nodes

some tables are being accessed from another db for single signon where the prefix main is also used

ie. ssodb.main_authmap

and the civicrm tables are prefixed by civicrm

ie. civicrm_acl