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Questions and Answers
AVAILACAL calendars are easy to use but we recommend that calendar owners study the User Guide to ensure a proper understanding of how to manage and administer the calendars. The following questions and answers are a supplement to the User Guide. If you have a question which isn't answered here, in the user guide or elsewhere on the web site please contact us, we are here to help.
Q. Can I try out the system for free?
A. Yes. Our live demo account lets you create, manage and administer fully functional calendars. You are free to experiment with the demo calendars in your own web pages so you can try out every aspect of the system.
Q. Do the calendars show historical calendar information?
A. No. The calendars only show future availability from today's date and up to two years ahead.
Q. What are the key differences between the Flash-based calendars and the table-based calendars?
A. Both types of calendars show the same information but look different. Our Flash-based calendars have rounded corners, the table-based calendars are rectangular.
The table-based calendars show a number of months (adjustable) in one view whilst the Flash-based calendars display one month at a time and have buttons to navigate forward and backward to other months. The size and many aspects of the appearance of the Flash-based calendars can be altered (e.g. to fit in with different web page designs). The table-based calendars are basically fixed in size and appearance (but the height changes when displaying different numbers of months). Table-based calendars show a key chart below the calendar, on the Flash-based calendars a button is clicked to show the key chart. The Flash-based calendars require browsers to have Flash plug-in (version 6 or later), they are visible to approximately 99.0% of internet users, the table-based calendars are visible to approximately 99.9% of internet users.
Q. Is there a difference in the price of accounts with Flash-based or table-based calendars?
A. No, the same account works for both. All account holders can use either or both types of calendar with their account at any time.
Q. Can I include links for both Flash and non-Flash versions of a calendar in the same web page?
A. Yes.
Q. I am currently using the table-based calendars, what do I need to do to change over the Flash based calendars?
A. Basically just change one letter in the link URL for each calendar... Specifically change the part of the link address that reads ac.asp to fc.asp.
If you are embedding the calendar with an Iframe or using or pop-up window you will most probably also want to adjust the height and width properties to suit the different size calendar.
Q. I own a holiday rental apartment and my letting agent has given me a password so I can update the calendar he has created for me. How do I use it?
A. To update your calendar, go to the calendar and type your password in the password box...
On Flash type calendars (i.e. if your calendar has rounded corners): Click on the word AVAILACAL logo below the calendar to display the calendar Key, then click the word AVAILACAL to display the password box. Enter your password in the box and click OK.
On table-based calendars: the password box is found just below and to the left of the calendar, type-in your password in the box and press Enter on your keyboard.
Updating the calendar is very simple. Full instructions are provided in the User Guide in the section headed "Calendar Administration".
Calendar-specific passwords are set by the account owner. If you cannot log-in with your password please contact the account owner (i.e. your letting agent) to confirm that your password is correct. If the actual AVAILACAL account is not your own we cannot and will not confirm your password. If neither you nor the account owner can remember the password for your calendar, ask the account owner to set a new password for it.
Q. Why can't I see the password box on the table-based calendar display?
A. Because the password box is not relevant to most people who view the calendar it is designed to be as inconspicuous as possible. On some low resolution displays it is possible that the password box will not be visible at all. Move your mouse pointer around in the space just below and to the left of the calendar until the pointer changes to an 'I' shape, then click. It is also possible for the password box to not actually be there at all, this is by design and happens for security reasons after multiple attempts to log-in with a wrong password. In such a case, re-check your password, and try again a few hours later making sure that your keyboard [Caps Lock] is off. Also, of course, the password box isn't present if you are already logged in.
Q. How can I adjust the number months shown on a web page calendar?
A. By default the calendars show 6 months ahead of the current date and users can click to see 12 months ahead instead. However, by adding &mo=M to the link you can display between 1 and 24 months ahead on one calendar. Simply replace the M with the number of months to display. The following link would show a table-based calendar for 8 months ahead...
http://availacal.com/ac.asp?id=ID&mo=8
To show a 24 month Flash based calendar the link would be...
http://availacal.com/fc.asp?id=ID&mo=24
Q. Can I clear a calendar and then start to use it for something else?
A. Yes, if you are the account holder. Log-in using your master password, follow the procedure outlined in the user guide to delete the calendar and then create a new calendar.
Q. Why would I want to choose a time zone for a calendar?
A. It is not essential to do this but the timezone setting controls the time of day when a calendar indicates that the current day has ended. If you enter a higher number than your real time zone offset, calendars will automatically 'shut-off' availability earlier in the day. For example: If the rental location is in EST timezone (-5) and you set the calendar timezone to GMT (0), the calendar will show that availability for the current day expired at 7 PM instead of at midnight. People viewing the calendar do not see any mention of the timezone. It just tells the calendar what time 'today' becomes 'yesterday' as far as your availability is concerned.
Q. How do I embed a calendar into an existing web page?
A. You can do this using an 'Iframe'. Iframes provide a neat way to seamlessly integrate AVAILACAL calendars into any existing web page. Below are two snippets of HTML script to do this. Just copy and paste the script into the HTML of your web page in the place where you want the calendar to appear.
The scripts will display an existing calendar called "Example". To display your own calendar the only change you need to make is to replace each instance of the word Example with the ID (name) of the actual calendar that you want to show.
Some older browsers don't support Iframes, and for this reason there is link labeled 'SEE CALENDAR' in these scripts, this link will be shown automatically if a browser doesn't support Iframes and enables people with those older browsers to see the calendar in a new browser window.
To embed a Flash type calendar in a web page copy and paste this script into the page script...
<IFRAME align="center" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" height="270" width="250" src="http://availacal.com/fc.asp?id=Example" frameborder="no" style="background-color:transparent;" allowtransparency="true" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" >
<A HREF="http://availacal.com/ac.asp?id=Example" target="_blank">SEE CALENDAR</A></IFRAME>
To embed a table-based calendar in a web page copy and paste this script into the page script...
<IFRAME align="center" frameborder="no" scrolling="yes" height="406" width="660" src="http://availacal.com/ac.asp?id=Example frameborder="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" "><A HREF="http://availacal.com/ac.asp?id=Example" target="_blank">SEE CALENDAR</A></IFRAME>
Q. How do I get the calendar to pop-up in a new browser window?
A. A quick and easy way is to put the text target="_blank" in an HTML link, like this...
<A HREF=http://availacal.com/ac.asp?id=ID target="_blank">Check Availability</A>
A drawback of this method is that you don't really have any control over the size of the pop-up window.
A better method is to use Javascript. Download one of the two
examples below and paste it into a web page script. These files are zipped text files containing the scripts and simple instructions....
Click here to download script for a Flash calendar popup.
Click here to download script for a table-based calendar popup.
Q. If, instead of embedding the calendar or using a pop-up, I use a simple HTML link to a table-based calendar can I include a link to allow the user to return to the previous web page without needing to use the browser's back button?
A.Yes. Simply include the address of the web page to return to in the link with &ret= before it, like this...
http://availacal.com/ac.asp?id=ID&ret=www.mysite.com/mypage.html
Don't include the http:// part of the return page address and remember that link addresses should not contain any spaces.
Q. Can I change the heading text on a calendar?
A. Yes. Simply add the string &hx=My+New+Title to the link address. e.g. http://availacal.com/ac.asp?id=Example&hx=My+New+Title or
http://availacal.com/fc.asp?id=Example&hx=My+New+Title. Remember that there must be no spaces in the link address. To include a space in the title, use a
+ as shown here. This works for both Flash and table-based calendars.
Q. Can I change the text that appears on the calendar key? For example: Can I make green days specify "Open", red days specify "Closed" and change the "AM Available" text to "Open till 1PM" or something similar?
A. Yes. The text for orange days can be set in the Advanced Options Panel, or this item can be removed from the key completely if you wish. The text for red/green/am-green/pm-green days can be set by altering the link string. A guide for this is provided at the foot of the Advanced Options Panel. This works for both Flash and table-based calendars.
Q. How can I change the appearance of a calendar?
A. The appearance of the Flash type calendars can be changed in almost unlimited ways. The color and transparency of the calendar's background, heading and
date numbers can be set via the Advanced Options Panel. Calendar displays can also be modified individually by the altering the link string so it's perfectly possible to have the same calendar showing on different web pages but each display being matched to the style of the page that it appears on. Using a medium-high transparency setting will achieve this automatically to some extent but it is also possible to tint each calendar to almost any shade. A guide for these settings is provided at the
foot of the Advanced Options Panel. The table-based calendars do not provide these features.
Q. How can I change the size of a calendar?
A. The size of a Flash type calendars display is governed by the size of the 'container' in which it is displayed. For example: If you display the calendar in an HTML table cell, Iframe, pop-up window or div the calendar size will automatically adjust to fit it. The size of the table-based calendars cannot be altered in this way.
Q. Can I display two or more specific calendars on the same screen or web page?
A. Yes, simply create a web page containing an Iframe as described above for each calendar you want the page to display. Also see below for an instant way to display all the calendars in your account.
Q. What's the quickest way to view all of my calendars at once on the same screen?
A. You can see all the calendars in your account in a table format using a multiview link like this...
<A HREF=http://availacal.com/multiview.asp?u=AccountID>Show all Calendars</A>
This multiple calendar view will display calendars showing any two or three month period during the next 12 months (24 months when logged-in). To see this working with the calendars that are currently active in the Live Demo account click
here. If you are logged-in to the Demo account you will be able to edit these calendars.
Q. How do I get a multiview multiple calendar view to show 3 months instead of 2, and include a link back to my web page?
A. To show three months per calendar instead of two; add &mo=3 to the multiview link. To include the address of the web page to return to add &ret= followed by the URL of the web page but exclude the http:// part of the URL.
You can also include a page title by adding &t= followed by the desired title. If you want to use spaces in the title use a + instead of a space, like this: &t=My+Title
A multiview link address with all these features will look something like this...
http://availacal.com/multiview.asp?u=MyAccount&mo=3&t=My+Title&ret=mysite.com
Q. I have an active calendar but its URL address doesn't work. Why not?
A. Check all the spelling and also remember that the ID is case sensitive. The address
http://availacal.com/fc.asp?id=abcde is not the same as http://availacal.com/fc.asp?id=Abcde (the latter has a capital A).
Q. When I look at a calendar it has the calendar administration control panel above it. How can I prevent other people from changing my calendar?
A. You are only seeing the control panel because you logged-in with the password. To see the calendar as the public sees it (no control panel), click the Log Out link. If you log-out and return to the calendar in the same browser you may still see the control panel because the page hasn't been refreshed in your browser. In this case even though you can still see the control panel above the calendar you will not be able to edit it because the server has already logged you out. When you are not logged in the control panel will disappear if you refresh the page or attempt to edit the calendar.
Q. How safe is my calendar data from hackers, hardware failure or viruses?
A. AVAILACAL employs a whole battery of advanced security techniques including multiple distributed backups of calendar data. Calendar owners also have a role to play in this scheme by safeguarding passwords and keeping separate records of bookings. We recommend that passwords chosen use mixed characters and are not simply words which appear in a dictionary. If you suspect that someone has gained unauthorised access to your account please contact us immediately.
Q. Can I view or update a calendar from WAP enabled cellphone?
A. To access a calendar with a WAP device: Use the device to go to http://availacal.com/wap and enter the calendar ID. Alternatively, if you want to access a calendar directly without keying in the calendar ID. you can create a bookmark on your WAP device like this...
http://availacal.com/wap/c.asp?id=ID
(Replace ID with the calendar ID.)
See the User Guide for instructions for editing a calendar on a WAP device. A calendar specific password must be set for any calendar that want to edit on a WAP device.
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