Visalia Community Calendar FAQ - Sponsored by the Visalia Convention and Visitors Bureau

Q. What is the Visalia Community Calendar?

A. The Visalia Community Calendar is a free, online listing and event promotion service that encourages members of the community community to promote their community events, receive reminders and RSS feeds of upcoming community events, download community events to their personal calendars, and search for community events in and around Visalia.



The service is provided and sponsored by the Visalia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

If you have questions regarding the service or the policies of using the service, please contact the Visalia Convention and Visitors Bureau at 559-334-0141. If you have technical questions submitting a community event, please continuing reading the FAQ. If this does not solve your problem, feel free to contact Happy Jack Software at 307-766-6177.

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Q. What browsers and settings do I need to use the service?

A. Currently, the Visalia Community Calendar supports the following browsers:
Note: JavaScript, cookies, and popups must be enabled on all browsers for http://www.visitvisalia.org

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Q. How do I join the service?

A. Joining the service is simple. Simply select the "Join" link on the Visalia Community Calendar page. This link is under the heading "MyEvents." Fill in the form. You will be asked for your first and last name, your email address, and a password. Note: We respect your privacy and your email will never be given to others.

Once you have joined the service, you are automatically logged into the service and you can add community events, set reminders for events, and customize which community events you want to view. The next time you come back to the service, simply login.


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Q. Do I have to join the service?

A. No. You can use the service for free. However, if you want to use some of the great features of the service such as add community events, get reminders (via email or cell phone), customize your categories, or get notifications about new community events added, you must join the service. We cannot offer these features to you unless we have a valid email address.

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Q. How do I set a reminder?

A. To set reminders you must be logged into the service. First select the event that you are interested in getting a reminder about and then select the "Reminder" from the Tools area as shown below.



The reminder window displays:
From the "Remind me" pulldown on the window, choose when you want to be reminded. Then select the reminder addresses where you want the reminder sent. (All address you have added will be listed.) "Submit" the reminder. You wiil notice a little alarm clock on the event in which you have a reminder set.


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Q. Can I send reminders to my cell phone or a different email address?

A. Yes! By default, your username (your email address) is where reminders are sent. You can add other email addresses and other cell phone numbers by using the "Reminder List" window.   Any cell phone numbers must be verified before reminders will be sent to a cell phone.

When opened, the Reminder List window has two (2) sections. The top section (Current Addresses) displays your current addresses (both email and phone) available to get reminders.
The bottom section (Add Addresses) gives you the ability to add other address where you can receive reminders.

Cell phone numbers and additional email addresses added must be verified. This is done by the application sending the cell phone a text message with an activation key. That activation key must entered next to the address that you want to use for reminders.


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Q. What happens when an event is changed or deleted that I have a reminder on?

A1. If the event is changed:
We try to do the right thing. First off, if we can, we automatically change your reminder. Secondly, we send you an email letting you know that the event was changed and, so too, was your reminder.

A2. If the event is deleted:

We automatically delete your reminder and we send you an email stating that your reminder was deleted.

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Q. How do I delete a reminder?

A. If there is a reminder set on an event, there will be an alarm clock icon on the event to indicate the reminder. Simply, select the reminder icon (alarm clock) and a dialog bubble will pop up giving you an opportunity to delete the reminder.



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Q. What are categories and how do I use them?

A. Categories are ways to filter the events you view. By turning categories on and off, the user expands or reduces the number of events they view. If you join the service and are logged in and set your categories, your category settings will be saved. The next time you log in, the categories will display as you saved them.

When users come to the Visalia Community Calendar web page they will see the categories as shown below.
By default, all events are set to view. Users can toggle the appropriate category on or off.


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Q. How do I search for an event?

A. There are two ways to search. A simple search and an Advanced Search.
To use the simple search, type your search criteria into the search input box.
The application searches the caption, the description, and location to find matching events.


To use the Advanced Search, select the "Advanced Search" link under the simple search to refine your search.
The Advanced Search allows you to choose different searching criteria. You may find events based on dates, categories, and special keywords by filling in and submitting the Advanced Search form.


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Q. How do I receive RSS feeds?

A. The available RSS feeds are set by categories that you have selected. After your categories are set that indicate what RSS feeds you want, simply select the RSS action from your Tools.



The RSS window will display allowing you to select your feeds.

If you have an RSS enabled browser, simply click the link of the feed name. If you don't have an RSS enabled browser, select the "Select and Copy" button and then paste that link into RSS reader.

Your web browser or RSS reader will notify you of any updated events for the selected feed.


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Q. How do I log in?

A. You must have joined with a username and password to be able to log in. Select the Login link from the Visalia Community Calendar web page and the login window will display. Simply supply the username and password you used to join the service.

The login window.
You may set the "Remember Me" check box to set a cookie so that the computer remembers your username and password.


You will notice that after log in the Visalia Community Calendar web page is customized with a "Welcome, YourName."

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Q. How do I get a printout of events?

A. To get a nice printout of events, select the events by simply clicking on the event. You can select more than one. They will highlight. Then simply select the Print action from the Tools area as shown below.



You will then be asked to select your printer.

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Q. Can I send an invitation of an event to somebody?

A. Informing people about events is easy!

Select the event(s) you are interested in sharing with someone. then simply select the Share action from the Tools area as shown below.



If you are not logged in, you can still send the event(s) to a friend, but the form will ask for your email address. If you are already logged in, you do not have to supply your email again because we know your email address.

You are allowed to send up to five (5) people event information.


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Q. How do I add an event?

A. Anybody can add a community event!

Select the "Submit an Event" off the Visalia Community Calendar web page.


Follow the window through and submit your event. Your event will be submitted to a moderator. You will receive an email within 4 hours letting you know whether your event was accepted or rejected for inclusion in the Happenings. You want to add as much information to your event is possible so that possible attendees get good information.

Below we discuss each window during the add event process.

The basic tab of the "Add Event" window wants the following:

A Caption: (a short and exciting title to your event)
The date and time of the event. Is it all day, it's duration in general, etc.
A photo should you have one. Select "Next" to move to the Detailed tab of the window...


The detail tab of the "Add Event" window wants details.

An external link is a website where people can find more information about the event.
The price of the event.
Someone to contact about the event for more information.
By whom is the event sponosored.
Where they can register for the event-- location, or again, a website.
A description of the event.
Select "Next" to move to the Category table of window....


The category tab of the "Add Event" window lets you categorize your event.

You may select more than one category but please attempt to categorize your event the best you can.
People use this category tagging for filtering and searching on events.


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Q. I forgot my password. What do I do?

A. Simply bring up the login form and and select the "Forgot your Password?" link.

Put your username for your password into the form and select the "Forgot your Password" link. You will be sent your username and password via email.

To exit the form select the X on the right hand corner of the Login form.


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Q. I found a problem. Who do I contact about it?

A. If you have found some problem or issue, please fill out the feedback form to explain to us your problem. Please use as much detail as possible to help us solve your problem. We will get back with you as soon as possible.

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Q. How do I download an event to my personal scheduling calendar, e.g. Outlook?

A. Downloading events is easy. Happy Jack software stores its data in the standard iCalendar (.ics) file format, which is used by other calendar programs, like Outlook, Mozilla Calendar, and iCAL. Because of this, there is no problem downloading events onto those calendar programs or mobile devices that use this standard format (most do!).

Select the event(s) you want to download. Select the Download action from the Tools area as show below.



You can either save the file or simply let your computer open your default calendaring system and add the events.

Note: If you download more than 1 event and "open" the file automatically, and you are using Outlook, Outlook automatically builds you a new calendar with those events. In the case that you want to download those events into an already existent calendar of your choice, save the .ics file to disk and use Outlook's Import feature to bring those events in a calendar of your choosing.

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