Calendar Mode Creation in a Nutshell

In order to create a useful calendar mode for a particular catalog you need to do the following:

1. Enable Calendar Mode

   In the current version of Valuemation, Calendar Mode has to be enabled before it can be used. See 'Enabling the Calendar Mode'.

2. Define a Calendar Definition for the catalog

   A calendar represents a definition specifying how calendar events will be generated from objects of the calendar's underlying object type. From the end user perspective, a calendar can also be seen as a set of calendar events (i.e. events generated according to the same criteria)

3. Generate Calendar Events

   Rather than displaying catalog data itself, calendar mode displays calendar events generated out of the catalog data using rules defined by the corresponding calendar. Thus it is necessary to use the calendar (defined in the previous step) to generate calendar events.

   After examining the first set of generated calendar events, you may want to go back to the calendar definition and redefine it. It is, for instance, possible to specify an object condition to ensure that only relevant data is used during calendar events generation. (See step-by-step example) Remember that calendar events need to be re-generated after each such calendar definition change.

4. Assign the Calendar to Catalog(s)

   The Calendar needs to be assigned to the catalogs it is going to be used with.

5. Optional: Automate Calendar Events Generation

   In order to display the current state of catalog data, calendar events have to be re-generated after the data have been changed. This need, however, can be eliminated by automating the calendar events generation. (See 'Optional Steps' in the step-by-step example below).