Archive for the ‘Addons’ Category

A New Direction For the Event Espresso 4 Support Licenses

Wednesday, April 16th, 2014

Since February when we released EE4 without any add-ons, we’ve realized that many people don’t need add-ons (such as the calendar); all they need is the core plugin. These users also do not want to be required to purchase something they do not need. As such, we’ve changed our method of packaging add-ons with the core plugin. The Event Espresso 4 Personal and Developer Licenses will no longer include add-ons. Add-ons can be purchased separately by anyone with at least a Personal Support License (whether EE3 or EE4 Personal Support License).

What is happening to the EE4 Developer License?

The EE4 Developer License is now an even better value. The EE4 Developer License includes five license keys, AND you can purchase any EE4 add-on ONCE and use it with as many licenses as are on your account. This makes the EE4 Developer License more valuable with each add-on you purchase because you get even more great event registration software at a greater discount.

Where is the EE4 Business License?

In the near future we will offer a “Business License” (might be a different name) that is essentially a package that offers “one of everything” at a significantly discounted rate. This will allow event managers to get access to all our great event registration software for a super price. This support license package is yet to released.

These changes make Event Espresso more affordable and accessible to all event managers and WordPress developers.

Posted in Home Page, News, Addons, Calendar, Licenses, Developers, EE4 | 2 Comments »

Event Espresso 4.2 and Events Calendar

Tuesday, April 8th, 2014

Now Available!

We’d like to announce that Event Espresso 4.2 and the Events Calendar Add-on are now available. EE 4.2 includes over 60 changes and this is the first release of the Events Calendar Add-on for EE4.

Please note, EE 4.2+ is required before the EE4 Calendar Add-on will work.

Two New Major Features

Support for Mijireh Chekout

mijireh-checkout-largeAnnouncing the ability to integrate with over 90 different gateways and payment providers, using the Mijireh Checkout system! Mijireh Checkout is a PCI compliant checkout page that looks exactly like your site, with support for over 90 gateways and payment providers to use on Mijireh’s secure PCI compliant servers. (see the Payment Settings inside EE 4.2).

Mijireh Checkout helps increase your conversion rates by using your existing website design. Your checkout process remains seamless to your customers while Mijireh Checkout securely handles the collecting and transmitting of the credit card data for you.

Calendar Add-on for EE 4.2+

The Events Calendar allow you to display your events in a way that customers are familiar with, gives you another page of your website or another way for customers to find your events, and allows you to invite attendees to add the events to their own calendars as a friendly reminder.

The EE4 Calendar Add-on includes:

  • Inline calendar images
  • Category filtering
  • Venue filtering
  • Featured images
  • Datetime and format settings
  • Tooltips
  • Color coded categories
  • Better compatibility with themes
  • and much more!

Compatible with most responsive themes

Compatible with most responsive themes

EE4 Events Calendar

EE4 Events Calendar

2014-04-08_01-54-19

Calendar Tooltips

Please note, EE 4.2+ is required before the EE4 Calendar Add-on will work.

Additional Features & Enhancements in EE 4.2

In addition to better out of the box support for themes and plugins, we have added an array of new features. These include drag and drop ordering of tickets in the event editor, ordering of questions within question groups, datetime names and descriptions, and the option to turn off the ticket selector in the event details page, and much more:

  • Added support for Mijireh Checkout
  • Added support for the Calendar Add-on
  • Drag and Drop ordering of tickets in the event editor
  • Order Questions by Question Group (no longer ordering questions by question order)
  • Option to turn OFF the Ticket Selector in the Event Details page for events without tickets/registrations
  • Ability to add/edit Event Datetime Names
  • Ability to add/edit Event Datetime Descriptions
  • Added Event Datetime Name messages shortcode
  • Event Datetime Description messages shortcode
  • Added datetime titles and descriptions to the order confirmation
  • Added front-end “Maintenance Mode” option
  • Added “Register Now” or “View Details” button in the event list when the Ticket Selector is turned off

New Hooks, Filters, and Stuff for Developers

Here are a few more of the new features and cool stuff for developers available in 4.2 and we’d like to invite you to take a look and offer feedback (praises, report bugs, etc.):

  • Hook/Filter to Set No-cost events as “Free”
  • Add filter so the email messenger CSS file can be swapped out by developers for another CSS file
  • Added a hook in the Admin panel after each ticket row description
  • Added a hook in the Admin panel after each ticket create and update model
  • Added hook in the Front-end after each ticket date on a single event
  • Made Single Page Check Out (SPCO) button text filterable
  • Models make acceptance of empty strings more consistent
  • Simplified the EE_System Constructor and Hook point’s to allow for external module/add-on/plugin development
  • EEH_Template::locate_template() to accept full paths as well as relatives paths (from plugin root)
  • Filter for adding caffeinated modules to EE_Config $modules_to_register array
  • Make Single Page Check Out (SPCO) button text filterable

4.2 Screenshots

Re-order tickets EE4

Drag and drop reordering of tickets.

Drag and drop ordering of questions in categories

Drag and drop ordering of questions in categories

Mijireh Event Espresso

Mijireh Checkout settings

2014-04-08_01-50-09

Datetime Editor

Posted in Beta, Home Page, News, Addons, Versions, Calendar | 1 Comment »

New: Custom Event List Templates Add-on

Monday, January 6th, 2014

If you have a lot of events and find it difficult to display or organize them all in a nice way, then the custom event list templates may help. With the Custom Templates Add-on you can easily build a custom event list layout (or use/purchase a few that we’ve already prepared) to make your website more beautiful and easier to use.

The Custom Templates Add-on comes bundled with the Events Table template and is available in all Support Licenses), but there are several additional template packs that can be purchased separately then downloaded from your account page:

Events Table

This is the default template. It is a classic table structure for displaying events, with a category filter dropdown. Works with Multiple Event Registration.

category-filter

Calendar Table

A list style template, with a bold date and customizable register now button. The template can be customized to show the event thumbnail, instead of the date by using the show_featured=true parameter.

If you wish to change the Band/Artist title, use the change_title parameter.

calendar-table

Category Accordion

Similar to the CSS Dropdown template, the Category Accordion template displays the categories in a simple list. On clicking the category name, the events associated with that category will be displayed in brief. Clicking another category, that will open, but the previously open category will close.

Please Note: Currently the Category Accordion does not work with the Multiple Event Manager add on.

category_accordion

Grid

Displays events in a pure CSS grid like structure, using the featured image. Hovering over the image will display further information. If the event does not have a featured image available, it will use a default one. Optionally, a small code change in the template can allow you to use the Organization Logo from the General settings as the fallback image.

grid

Vector Maps

This template makes use of SVG maps and the venues. Each event in the event list that has a venue attached will be scanned to get the venues State, and a map of the USA will then highlight which states have events. Clicking the state will display the events below the map.

There are four maps available: USA, UK, Canada and Australia.

vector_maps_examples

The default map is USA, to access others simply add one of the following parameters to the shortcode: country=”uk”, country=”australia”, country=”canada”, e.g.:

[EVENT_CUSTOM_VIEW template_name="vector-maps" country="uk"]
Important – Due to the use of SVG files, this template will not function on Internet Explorer 8 or lower.

Please also note that states/provinces/regions can be entered in long form or short form, for example New York or NY, or Victoria or VIC. Please see the template file for a full list. The UK map is a little different, as there is no short form variants, and London venues must have London entered into the state field or it won’t work.

Date Range

This template uses a basic table structure and allows you to set date range of the shown events. It also allows the user to manually filter the displayed events by date as well.

date-range

Recurring Events Drop-down

This template is great for listing events in a table, but also adds support for recurring events by displaying a button that lists selectable dates of the events.

recurring-events-table

recurring-events-table-dropdown

Dozens of Event Espresso users have found these templates useful to display events in a way that better fits their needs. We hope you’ll find a template that helps you too.

Posted in News, Addons | No Comments »

Event Espresso Brings Official Integration with Infusionsoft

Friday, June 21st, 2013

 

infusionsoft-logo

At Event Espresso we’re all about making our customers’ lives easier. We know that your time is precious. That’s why we are excited to announce the stable release of our Infusionsoft integration add-on.

Infusionsoft is touted as, “The only all-in-one sales and marketing software built for small business”. Just check out their latest press releases. With Infusionsoft, you can attract customers, automate marketing, close sales, and even sell online. Infusionsoft is designed to meet the needs of small businesses with less than 25 employees. They combine customer relationship management (CRM), marketing, and e-commerce into one, web-based system.

Now, with Event Espresso running along side your Infusionsoft account, you can push valuable customer data from event registrations on your website straight to your Infusionsoft database. No more copying and pasting data. Did I mention the process is automated?

Here is how the integration works:

1. A customer registers for an event on your website and the data is transferred to InfustionSoft.

2. The customer pays for the event using either a built-in Event Espresso payment gateway or your Infusionsoft Merchant account.

3. The customer is shown a payment confirmation back on your website.

4. Once the customer has made a successful payment, the payment record is updated within the Infustionsoft app.

 

The add-on is included in the Developer License Package, so our Developer License holders can take advantage of this tool today, at no extra charge! The add-on can also be purchased separately and used with any of the other license packages.

Get it here!

 

Expand your possibilities today with the Infusionsoft integration for Event Espresso.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Addons, Registration, Ticketing, Event Registration | No Comments »

JSON API Officially Released

Wednesday, May 15th, 2013

Event Espresso WordPress Events ApI

We’d like to officially announce that the Event Espresso JSON API for WordPress events has been officially released. Yes!

The Event Espresso JSON API add-on allows other applications (such as other websites, mobile apps, etc.) to access your Event Espresso data through an JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) application programming interface (API).

Seth Shoultes, Co-Founder of Event Espresso, commented about this new product: “We’re taking another step forward in empowering event mangers to make their events more successful. This API opens the door for any customer or developers to build their own applications that use the registration data contained in Event Espresso. Customers and WordPress developers aren’t tied to the limitations of WordPress or WordPress plugins. We’re really excited to see what people do with this, the sky is the limit.”

The API is available to all Event Espresso customers who have a current support license. They can download the API files from their account page on EventEspresso.com.

The Event Espresso API also works with the iPod touch, iPad and iPhone mobile apps.

Posted in Home Page, News, Addons | 2 Comments »

Event Espresso Plugin updates – May 2, 2013

Friday, May 3rd, 2013

Wow, we have a lot of updates going out. Don’t believe me? Check it out:

Event Espresso plugin updates

I was going to split this out into separate posts, but there’s just too much stuff. It would take a month to separate things out. Instead I’ll give you the highlight reel.

Event Espresso 3.1.32

The big new changes with Event Espresso is the database optimization. Some serious database optimization. Admin pages in this version load 200% faster, even with a lot of events or attendees. We’ve also fiddled with the event overview ordering so the stuff you want to see is in front of you, rather than having to page down to it.

There are four new gateways introduced in 3.1.32, including Google Wallet and the Canadian gateway, Moneris.

But the thing you’ll see right away is this thing:

user experience improvement program

The main reason for this is that now that we have finished the beta version of Event Espresso Arabica (which, as has been mentioned previously, is the “decaf” — or “lite” — version, with no premium gateways added) and have moved on to Event Espresso 4.1, we need to start gearing our development toward how the plugin will be best used. We have no real idea, for example, how many people are using the eWay gateway, or how many people are using 2Checkout as compared to, say, FirstData. And since there may be gateways that no one is using, we are trying to optimize our development by building the gateways that are being used most first for 4.1. In the future, this will give us information about what features you are using, so we can get an understanding of how you are using Event Espresso which will help us gear our development more toward your needs. Surveys are great, but you only get a limited number of people responding to surveys and that might not be representative of the whole picture. This will securely transmit information to our server that we can aggregate and use to directly guide the future development of the plugin. You can read more about the User eXperience Improvement Program here.

Event Espresso 3.1.33 Pre-release

A new version in the wild means a new pre-release. 3.1.33 will be a smaller release but adds three new gateways, including an Infusionsoft integration and a Quickbooks gateway. Oh, and a cool new function, espresso_get_event that can be used to get all the information for an event when passed an event_id (e.g. espresso_get_event($event_id). This is used by the updated Espresso Social add-on, described below.

Espresso Mailchimp 1.1 Pre-release

Mailchimp 1.1This update adds only one thing, but it’s a biggie. The Mailchimp 1.1 add-on adds support for Mailchimp Groups. You may have heard us talk about it on the Espresso Bar hangout with Eric from IvyCat (if not, go check it out). This is a sweet little feature that we thought warranted a major feature version bump and came out of some real-world scenarios and uses of Mailchimp and the Event Espresso Mailchimp Integration add-on. You can thank Eric in the forums or send him some love via the Event Espresso Pros page.

Infusionsoft Integration 1.0 Pre-release

This one was probably largely inspired by Seth’s insomnia. We’ve had requests in the past to integrate some kind of CRM into Event Espresso. Infusionsoft is great because they have an open API that made it really easy to do some really interesting things. If you’re already an Infusionsoft user, you can basically use your Infusionsoft dashboard instead of your Event Espresso dashboard in the WordPress admin. Customer records are created automatically even when the attendee was registered with a manual or offline payment. Payment records are updated automatically and you can use any of the built-in Event Espresso gateways or your Infusionsoft Merchant Account.

Espresso Social Media add-on 1.1.5

Here’s one that I worked on. This update fixes the Facebook like button! However, even more exciting is that it will roll out a feature, when combined with Event Espresso 3.1.33, that will add opengraph tags to the header of your site, allowing better and more specific information to be sent to Facebook with your like. What information, you ask? How about support for event thumbnails? Or descriptions that pull from your event descriptions? This is made possible by the new espresso_get_event function added to core.

But wait, there’s more

What else got some love? I’ll tell you:

  • JSON API 2.0
    • The Event Espresso JSON API is officially available to download. If you didn’t sign up for the pre-release channel when we first added the API, you can get it now with your regular downloads. The latest update fixes some minor bugs as well as speeding up some of the queries.
  • WP User Integration 1.9.7.1 HOTFIX
    • A minor update that adds a security fix to the My Events shortcode.
  • Roles & Permissions Basic 1.5.4 and Pro 2.0.6
    • These have been available for a month on the pre-release channel and add some minor fixes.
  • Espresso Ticketing 2.0.10
    • This update fixes some minor issues as well as addresses the Venue Address 2 line that was not displaying on the ticket by default. It also takes care of some issues with the iPhone app as well as fixes some untranslatable strings.
  • Attendee Reassignment Add-on 1.0 Pre-release
    • The plugin formerly known as the Attendee Mover Tool, this add-on allows you to migrate attendees from one event to another. Pretty cool, huh? This is something we’ve been asked about for a long time. Seth made a video where you can see the plugin in action.
  • Price Modifier Add-on 0.0.3 Pre-release
    • An early version of this plugin, it adds the ability to attach a price to a question. Why would you need this? How about adding a question like “Do you want dinner?” to your event, and if the answer is yes, it adds $15 for a meal. This is a pre-release, so we’re anxious to hear your thoughts about how this plugin can be improved in the pre-release forums.
  • Espresso Calendar 2.0.5 and 2.0.6 Pre-release
    • 2.0.5 adds some new tooltip styles to the calendar as well as fixes some issues with displaying events and other minor issues. 2.0.6 adds the updated styles and javascript from fullcalendar.js.

What about that Arabica thing?

Don’t worry, we’re still busy working on the next generation version of Event Espresso. Development has moved on from the decaf version (4.0) to the regular version which will make it’s first appearance as 4.1 and include a migration script to get you moved over from the legacy (3.1.x) versions of Event Espresso.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think in the forums or the comments below.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Addons, New Versions | 10 Comments »

JSON API Plugin Now Available

Wednesday, February 20th, 2013

Event Espresso API`

The new Event Espresso API addon allows other applications (other websites, mobile apps, etc) to access your Event Espresso data through an application programming interface (API).

What kind of really useful stuff can I build?

Using the Event Espresso API, you can get information on all events and attendees, and even check attendees in and out of events. Supposing you have WordPress installed and active on mysite.com, once this addon is activated you can send an HTTP GET request to http://mysite.com/espresso-api/v1/events/public to retrieve all the event information from your site in JSON or XML format, which your client application can then use and display however you like. You can access and work with most of the Event Espresso admin features, allowing you to create solutions based on your needs. The API enables developers to build innovative and engaging applications that can interface with any website that uses the Event Espresso plugin for events, classes, meetings, scrapbook conventions, concert ticketing, including:

  • Mobile applications (e.g. Event Espresso mobile apps)
  • Custom onsite and offsite calendar integrations
  • Custom event lists with role based (public/private) access to event data
  • Custom website app integrations
  • Role-based access to attendee data
  • Cached database queries
  • Offsite registration forms (coming soon)
  • Ability to create customized analytics

Is the API supported?

Yes, Event Espresso customers have access to our Restful API Codex and support in the support forums. The API is compatible with Event Espresso version 3.1 and 3.2 (coming soon).

How does it work?

The Event Espresso API gives developers a complete API platform for directly accessing data event and attendee data securely and efficiently from outside your web server. All a developer needs to know about is the API Endpoint URL for your site. Example: http://staging.eventespresso.com/testdrive/espresso-api/v1/events/public.pretty_json

How do I get access to the addon?

Anyone with a current Event Espresso Business or Developer Support License or Ticketing addon can download this addon for use on their site, from within their profile/account page.

Is this a replacement for the Espresso Services API?

Yes and No. The current versions of both the Event Espresso iPhone and Android mobile apps CANNOT be used with this API. However, you should have no problems running both API’s side by side. We are working on switching over the iPhone app to the new API as soon as possible. We are also actively looking for someone to help us switch the Android app to the new API. The new Event Espresso iPad app will be available soon.

Why did you create this addon?

We are hoping the addition of this addon will drive developer adoption around for Event Espresso plugin and our community of dedicated users.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Addons, Ticketing, Development, API | 4 Comments »

Update! iPhone/iPod Touch App, Mobile Ticketing API, and Ticketing Addon

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

In order to keep up with the latest, and greatest, changes to the Apple iOS (version 6). We recently launched an update of our own. We completed a major overhaul (mostly performance and stability improvements) of our Mobile Ticketing app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The Ticketing addon and the Mobile Ticketing API have been updated as well. Both of these systems have received security and optimization updates.

It is highly recommended that you update to the latest versions of these systems. If you have questions, comments, or concerns. Please let us know in the forums.

Posted in Addons, Registration, Ticketing, New Versions, WordPress Plugins, Features | No Comments »

Using Event Espresso as a Haunted House Ticketing System

Tuesday, September 11th, 2012

Event Espresso is a powerful event management and registration system that can be used for many different types of events.  It’s been used for everything from Yoga classes to hockey games, but did you know that it can also be used as an onsite ticketing system for your haunted house?

Why go through the hassle when you can manage your ticket sales right from your own website?

The haunted house is fun, and booming, but many haunted houses (like these two based locally in Salt Lake City) waste your money by using a third-party online ticketing system. These third-party ticketing systems tack on a “Ticket Surcharge” or “Booking Fee” for each ticket purchased, in addition to transaction fees that are usually incurred by the company hosting the haunted house company. Not good!

How can Event Espresso help you?

Event Espresso gives you many tools right at your fingertips to handle your haunted house ticketing. Right out of the box, you have access to a registration and payment system through your favorite merchant gateway. Many haunted houses will change their schedules, running more shows/admissions the closer you get to Halloween. With the Calendar add-on, included in all packages, you can let your visitors know what nights your haunted house will be open and let them purchase tickets for the night they want to attend.

Event Espresso - Event Overview 2039 Local Test Site 2014 WordPress

Make your life easier with recurring events!

To make your life easier creating events, you can also use the Recurring Events Manager to create recurring events that happen on a schedule or manually add dates to a recurring series to have more control over the specific pattern of recurrences.  Each occurrence is specific for that event date, so you have full control over the number of tickets you can sell and put a limit on the number of registrations if you need to.

What about volume discounts?

With the new Volume Discounts add-on, you can give your visitors discounted rates if they purchase a specific number of tickets.

Check your guests in at the gate

Once your attendees are registered, you can create custom tickets that can be scanned at the door by our mobile ticketing apps for Android and iOS to grant admission.

prices

Don’t believe us that Event Espresso is suitable for a haunted house?

Visit Panic Park in Scottsdale, Arizona, an amazing, five acre scare park that takes place in an abandoned amusement park.  Frustrated with having to go through third-party services, they turned, instead, to Event Espresso to power their online ticketing and scan print at home tickets at the door.

Posted in Home Page, Addons, Events, Registration, Ticketing, WordPress, Featured Posts, Event Registration, Tips & Tutorials | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Event Espresso - Staging Server