Author Archive

Third-party Add-ons Directory Launched

Tuesday, June 9th, 2015

third-part-addonsGreat News! We’ve recently launched a new Third-party Add-ons directory on our website. So now Event Espresso 4 customers can explore an ever growing selection of plugins, and themes from third-party developers.

TL;DR

Be sure to check out the new Third-party Add-ons directory! If you’re a developer, the EE4 Github repo is now public, be sure to submit your add-ons.

Short Backstory About Our Event Ticketing & Registration Framework

As we were building out the Event Espresso 4 core event ticketing and registration framework for WordPress, we took extra time to make sure it was as extendable, and scalable as possible. With many hours of  very careful planning, and development, we were able to build in hundreds of action hooks, and filters throughout the core Event Espresso 4 codebase. Therefore exposing an enormous amount of data, and WordPress accessible endpoints throughout the EE4 framework. Leaving Event Espresso 4 wide open for developers to build great new extensions, and features on top of.

Exciting, right?

Get Noticed!
Developers submit your add-ons to our Third-party Add-ons Directory.

The Directory

Well, as time progressed, we started seeing more and more developers getting involved, and asking about promoting their theme’s, and/or plugins somewhere on the Event Espresso website. However, we didn’t really have a place for developers to promote their new extensions. So, I went ahead and built a small directory for third-party developer’s to promote their add-ons.

The add-on directory has actually been available for a while, but I got busy with WordPress security updates, testing and documenting new features (Multiple Event Registration and Promotions), and never got around to telling anyone about it, until now.

What add-ons are we launching with?

So far I’ve added three popular themes, two gateways, and a plugin integration.

Also, it’s TOO EARLY to promise anything right now, but it sounds like there might be an integration with a popular affiliate plugin, and maybe even a redesigned calendar widget. So be sure to keep your eyes peeled for new stuff from other third-party developers.

third-party-addons-page

 

Public Github Repository Now Open

OctocatIn other news, we’ve recently opened up our Event Espresso 4 Github repository to the general public. Since then we’ve seen an influx of new developers, who are starting to build exciting new integrations for Event Espresso 4. Any developer with an account on Github.com can now download and install the EE4 Core Plugin on their development sites, without having to purchase a support license. This means that WordPress plugin and theme developers can now build add-ons for EE4 much faster than ever before.

Calling all WordPress Plugin & Theme Developers

Say what!?!? Did you hear the great news above, about our Github repository going public? And now you want to know how to get started developing add-ons for Event Espresso 4, right?

Start learning about developing for Event Espresso on our Developer Resources page, right away!

Submit Your Add-on!

Submitting a new add-on to our repository is easy, and will help your add-on get noticed by thousands of Event Espresso customers. Just fill out the form at the bottom of the Third-party Add-ons page to get started.

Have an idea for an add-on?

If you have an idea for a new feature/plugin/theme, or are currently developing an add-on to integrate with Event Espresso 4, please be sure to post about it in the comments below, or use the Github Issue Tracker to let us know.

We are look forward to seeing what you will come up with next!

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Posted in Product & News | No Comments »

WordCamp Philly 2015

Thursday, June 4th, 2015

wcphilly-sponsorLive in, or around Pennsylvania? If so, you might want to make sure you check out WordCamp Philly this year. Why? Because WordCamp Philly is freaking awesome, and we just happen to be a Silver Level sponsor this year.

If you want to learn more about WordPress, meet new people, and have a great time while doing so, then WordCamp Philly is the place to be. You might even get to meet some of the biggest names in the WordPress community, such as Brad Williams, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, and Dre Armeda from WebDev Studios, as well as an astounding group of speakers.

This looks like an amazing event, and we hope to see you there! If you plan on attending, please let us know in the comments section below. I (Seth Shoultes) will also be there, handing out shirts, so if you’re around, come say hello 🙂

When is WordCamp Philly?

WordCamp Philly 2015 is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, June 13th and 14th!

Schedule

This year’s schedule looks jam-packed with great speakers, and lot’s of great sessions!

What is WordCamp?

WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other.

 

Posted in Product & News | 2 Comments »

Authorize.Net SIM Payment Gateway Now Available

Wednesday, May 20th, 2015

authorize_net-logoThe Authorize.net SIM Payment Gateway will allow your attendees/registrants to pay for their event registration with a credit or debit card on a secure webpage on Authorize.net.

Get Started!
Purchase the Authorize.Net SIM Payment Gateway add-on for Event Espresso 4.

Authorize.Net SIM is a hosted payment form ideal for handling the secure collection and transmission of customer data. The experience can be tailored to match the look and feel of the merchant’s website so that the customer doesn’t realize they are on a hosted page. No Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate is required; instead, a unique digital fingerprint is sent and authenticated with each SIM transaction.

howitworks_sim

The Authorize.Net SIM Payment Gateway can handle all the steps in the secure transaction process – payment data collection, data submission and the response to the customer – while keeping Authorize.Net virtually transparent.

  • Payment gateway hosted payment form employs 128-bit SSL data encryption.
  • Digital fingerprints enhance security, providing multiple layers of authentication.
  • Customize the look and feel of the payment gateway hosted payment form and/or receipt page.
Get Started!
Purchase the Authorize.Net SIM Payment Gateway add-on for Event Espresso 4.
View documentation for Authorize.Net SIM payment gateway
https://eventespresso.com/wiki/authorize-net-sim-payment-gateway/

Get help with the Authorize.Net SIM payment gateway in our support forums

Ask a pre-sales question about this payment gateway.

Posted in Product & News | 4 Comments »

Event Espresso 4 REST API Development Started on Github

Tuesday, April 21st, 2015

We are happy to announce that development of the Event Espresso 4 REST API has begun. You are invited to get involved with the API development by: sharing feedback on the direction of the API, contributing code, testing what is already completed, and encouraging others to get involved.

APIs are for Sharing, Please Share

Hey #app #developers a brand new #API is available for @EventEspresso https://github.com/eventespresso/event-espresso-core/tree/master/docs/C–REST-API #WordPress #events #plugin #eventtech #mobile.

Please click to share this.

WordPress and Event Espresso Developers will be most interested in the EE4 REST API, because it will allow for faster development of a wide array of features, including custom reporting tools, mobile application development, and theme development. The EE4 REST API will provide an easy to use API, available via HTTP, to grab your site’s event and registration data in simple JSON format. Retrieving or updating data is as simple as sending a HTTP request.

Purpose of the Event Espresso 4 REST API

RESTful-APIAs you may have guessed already, the Event Espresso 4 REST API is not a new way to relax or catch some Z’s in between coding sessions. The Event Espresso 4 REST API is actually an application programming interface (API), intended to allow client-side JavaScript, and apps on different servers, to be able to interact with the WordPress Plugin Event Espresso. It is built on WordPress, Event Espresso 4 and the WP API; however once the WP API is merged into WordPress core, it is anticipated that this Event Espresso REST API will likewise be merged into Event Espresso 4 core.

Other WordPress plugins that intend to use Event Espresso 4 data server-side (in the PHP code) generally do not need to use the API, and can instead use Event Espresso 4’s models, config, and other modules directly. Check out developer.eventespresso.com for tutorials on how to use many of these systems.

Example applications could include:

  • JavaScript and HTML snippets that could be pasted onto non-WordPress sites that could list events from Event Espresso
  • Mobile applications for signing attendees into events in Event Espresso
  • WordPress plugin that controls Event Espresso data entirely on the client-side

Roadmap

Generally, the work will be organized into 3 main milestones:

  • READ functionality (API clients will be able to read just about anything from EE4, including information from add-ons)
  • WRITE functionality (API clients will be able to create and update most EE4 info, but we’d like to prevent API clients from breaking the DB so that will be a bit of a challenge)
  • Single page checkout (SPCO) functionality (we will want to present similar functionality to SPCO, except over the API. This will require rather tight integration with SPCO in order to keep them almost identical)

Progress

Current progress (as of this writing):

  • READ functionality is approximately 85% completed. We are actively working on the compatibility with the permissions and capability controls that are built into Event Espresso core.
  • WRITE functionality: 0% completed
  • SPCO functionality: 0% completed

Generally, the central hub for the API should be the EE4 REST API Github repository and milestones; along with blogging about it from developer.eventespresso.com.

Information for Non-developers

I’m not a developer, how does this affect me?

Not a developer, that’s okay! The Event Espresso REST API will allow other applications (other websites, mobile apps, etc) to access your Event Espresso data through an application programming interface (API).

We recommend you share this with your development team, agency or app developers because they will be excited about this. You should ask them to consider building an integration for the Event Espresso 4 API so that you can use your data in their applications.

Hey #app #developers a brand new #API is available for @EventEspresso https://github.com/eventespresso/event-espresso-core/tree/master/docs/C–REST-API #WordPress #events #plugin #eventtech #mobile.

Please click to share this.

Another benefit of the API is that if you want a certain edge case feature that is not available in our core products, you can hire a developer to build it for you, without having to understand the Event Espresso 4 code base.

Have ideas for the API, fill out the survey below or leave a comment.

Information for Developers

How do I get access to the files?

Anyone with an account on Github.com can download and install the EE4 REST API on their site.

How do I get involved?

For the most part, at the time of this writing, we are still in the planing and development stages. Developers that are interested in the Event Espresso 4 REST API can get involved in the development and planning process from within the EE4 REST API page on Github.com.

Participate in a short survey!

How will you, or your company use the EE4 REST API? Let us know by filling out the survey below.

Posted in Product & News | 2 Comments »

People Add-on Now Available for Event Espresso 4

Monday, April 6th, 2015

Sponsored development! This add-on was developed under a sponsored development contract. Learn more about Our Mission and Sponsoring Development.

Get Started!
Purchase the People add-on for Event Espresso 4.

people-addon

The Event Espresso People add-on creates an interface for managing staff, instructors, speakers, volunteers, sponsors, or just about any type of role someone might fill within an event and/or organization.

How does it work?

The People add-on creates a new interface within the Event Espresso 4 admin for managing people associated with an organization and/or event. People can be organized by type (eg. as staff (default), volunteer, speaker, sponsor, etc.) and categories.

Views and Post Types

People archive pages are automatically created using WordPress Custom Post Types, and can be easily added to a WordPress menu or customized by a designer/developer.

The default templates use your WordPress theme’s default archive.php file. Theme designers/developers should be able to create custom post type templates using the Event Espresso People Custom Post Types that are made available, once the add-on is installed and people are added to the system.

For example, this is a list of “Founders” (just a custom type I created earlier), that I can view by visiting the “founders” people type archive page (example: http://mywebsite.com/people-type/founders/):

This is a list of “Founders” profiles, as seen on a People archive page.ee4-people-people-archive

Screenshots

ee4-people-people-event-front-garth
This shows an individual’s profile, type, and events he is assigned to.
ee4-people-manage-people
This is the People manager, or People overview.
ee4-people-manage-types
Multiple staff members can be assigned to a single event, or many different events.
ee4-people-add-to-event
The People display order can also be customized from within the event editor. Drag and drop ordering will be available in a future version.
ee4-people-people-event-front
Events templates automatically display the staff assigned to an event.
ee4-people-people-event-front-2
Your theme controls the style of the People listings within the event pages.
ee4-people-people-event-front-garth-2
Dynamically list events a staff member is involved in on staff page. If a staff member is assigned to an event, each event is dynamically listed on their staff page.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. How are people related to WordPress users?
    In the initial iteration there will be no relationships between a person in the people post type and WordPress users. However, nothing we are planning in the initial iteration will prevent integrating a relationship in the future. Here’s some of the things we are considering for later iterations (again VERY early spec talk).

    • have some sort of mapping between people type and WordPress user roles.
    • ability to “link” a person to a wp-user
    • automate the above process or have manual interaction (tbd)
  2. Is there a way to customize the relationship between people and events?
    Initially we are going to store role and order in the relationship table as for most use cases that will likely be sufficient.One thing we have built in EE is something called an Extra Meta table. This is basically a universal meta table for adding additional meta information attached to object representations. So we could easily use this to extend the saved meta for a people to event (or eventually people to venue) relationship.
  3. What is the relationship between attendees and people?
    When our team first talked about doing a people custom post type early in EE4 development we had considered including attendees (referred to as “contacts” in the UI) as a potential people type. However we decided against this primarily because although much of the same information is shared, there are some unique relationships between not only attendees and events but also attendees and registrations (which in turn relate to transactions), and attendees and system questions (i.e. email, first name, last name) that really complicated things if we wanted the people post type to be really flexible and yet have certain inflexible components to it due to the attendee people type. So in the end we decided that attendees would be their own custom post type that helps to clearly delineate between contact records for attendees and people who function more on the event organization side of things. We recognize that there still will be some overlap. i.e. it’s usually the case where a “speaker” also attends an event. This is why at some point I think we’ll build in some relational connections between the people post type and the attendee post type, at least for an easier way to keep data in sync if necessary. It is our feeling that explicitly separating attendees from more generic people is the better way to go in this case after weighing all the options and nothing we have built yet contradicts that. So to be more specific:

    1. In the initial iteration people will never be tied to attendees.
    2. In the initial iteration attendees (contacts) will never have people records (but we *may* make that possible in later iterations)
Get Started!
Purchase the People add-on for Event Espresso 4.
View documentation for People Add-on
https://eventespresso.com/wiki/ee4-people-addon/

Get help with the People add-on in our support forums

Ask a pre-sales question about the People add-on.

Please post your questions below, we are eager to help.

Posted in Product & News | No Comments »

Developer’s Guide to Payment Methods for Event Espresso 4.6+

Monday, March 9th, 2015

Welcome! Let’s take a brief look at the payment methods as of Event Espresso 4.6.

In the Beginning…

In the old days of Event Espresso (EE3), all of the “payment gateways” (as we called them, then) were included in the core Event Espresso file system, which made the overall file size rather large and unwieldy over time. Some gateway folders ended up weighing in at around 2 – 3 megabytes each!

One of the many reasons we rebuilt Event Espresso 4 (EE4) from the ground up, was to make the gateway system more modular. So, in the beginning, we decided to build a simple payment gateway interface, that included only four of our most popular online payment gateways from EE3.  This approach allowed us to ship a working product, or rather a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), while allowing our developers time to fine tune Event Espresso and rebuild the entire gateway system.

Get Noticed!
Developers submit your add-ons to our Third-party Add-ons Directory.

Fast Forward to Event Espresso 4.6

We’ve now finished the “Gateway Rewrite”, or GWRW as we called it, in Event Espresso 4.6 and things are looking pretty sweet for Event Espresso gateway developers. We are now taking the approach of renaming “payment gateways” to “payment methods” in Event Espresso 4.6.

Payment Methods are now modular, and can be developed as an Event Espresso add-on. This allows us to keep EE4 core code and files lightweight, while providing our developers, as well as any third-party developers more flexibility to add new features, without lots of bloat.

As of  Event Espresso 4.6, developers are now invited to start developing new gateways, by following our in-depth payment method documentation.

Getting Started!

Ok, so you’re ready to build your own payment method? Head over to the EE4 Payment Method Development page on our developer documentation website.

Don’t forget, in order to give you a head-start, our developer’s have created an Add-on Skeleton that has  two working payment methods in it: one onsite and the other offsite. Of course neither actually communicates with a Payment Gateway, that’s what you’re going to do by following our gateway documentation!

The skeleton add-on is located in the event-espresso-core/tests/mocks/addons/new-payment-method. Currently the “tests” folder isn’t included by default in order to reduce plugin size, so you’ll need to get it from our github repo.

How Does the New Payment Method System Work?

In Event Espresso 4.6+, payment methods are PHP classes and associated files that take care of accepting payments from customers. They  define a form for its settings, possibly a form for billing information which can be displayed during Single Page Checkout, and possibly a gateway class which takes care of communicating with a payment gateway (eg Paypal.com) to actually transfer funds from the customer to you. They fall into 3 general categories:

  • ONSITE (where the customer enters their billing info directly on your site, and your site transfers billing data to the payment gateway directly),
  • OFFSITE ( where the customer is redirected to the payment gateway, enters their billing info, and then returns to your site afterwards), and
  • OFFLINE (where payment is marked to occur offline without a separate payment gateway).

Payment methods are more narrow in scope than EE Modules, and are generally placed in an EE4 Add-on. If you are building your own Payment Method as an add-on, please feel free to use our sample “New Payment Method” Add-on. For details, see the section “Using the New Payment Method Add-on Skeleton” section of our documentation.

What’s Next?

So, you’ve created a new gateway, and now you want to release it to the Event Espresso 4 community? First you need to decide if you want to sell and support the gateway, release it for free with limited support, or just keep it to yourself. Here’s some helpful tips on where to go next:

  • Selling & Supporting Your Custom Gateway – The best option is to list the plugin for sale on your website, using a shopping cart system, such as Easy Digital Downloads or eJunkie. Once the plugin is available on your website, please let us know so we can list it for you.
  • Release for Free With Limited Support – There are a few possible options. The easiest is to just release the plugin on Github. If you want other Event Espresso and WordPress users to find it easier, you can post it on WordPress.org plugin repository. Once you’ve uploaded it to one, or both of these locations, please let us know so we can list it on our website for you.
  • Keep it to Yourself – This is by far the easiest option, but no one else benefits from your hardwork 🙁

Wrapping Up

We hope that our gateway documentation works as a helpful guide to incorporating your own payment methods in Event Espresso 4. If you have technical questions, please feel free to post in our support forums. Developers with access to Event Espresso on Github can post questions there.

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Posted in Product & News | 3 Comments »

Announcing the Capabilities System in Event Espresso 4

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015

As of Event Espresso 4.6, there’s a new way to manage event admins/managers. Gone are the days of an unfamiliar roles and permissions system. In EE3 we had the “Roles & Permissions” and “Roles & Permissions Pro“, where you could only allow your “event managers” access to certain areas of the admin. You also had to install two different add-on’s, just so you could get really crazy and allow users even more access to stuff. It was a truly cumbersome system.

Capabilities Are Now Baked Right Into Event Espresso 4 Core!

Now that the new capability system is baked right into Event Espresso 4 core, most of the limitations of the old system are history.

This incredible new feature introduces a large number of WordPress roles and capabilities for restricting access to various actions and views in the users dashboard. A number of capabilities follow the capability mapping system WordPress provides, for not only restricting access to general views, but also restricting access based on whether a user “owns” the item being viewed, or not (i.e. Event Authors only being able to edit their own events, or a user being able to edit only their own custom message templates).

What Else Is New?

Most of you know WordPress has a powerful user management system via its roles and capabilities system. We’d like to get things off to a great start with EE4, and so one of the most powerful things we have added to EE 4.6 core is the intelligently-placed capabilities that we use for restricting access to various parts of EE4. Not only that, but we’ve added plenty more goodies:

  • No UI for user management. The system is entirely hidden to the average user.
  • Over 100+ granular capabilities added. A number of capabilities follow the capability mapping system WordPress provides for not only restricting access to general views but also restricting access based on whether a user “owns” the item being viewed or not (i.e. Event Authors only being able to edit their own events, or a user being able to edit only their own custom message templates).
  • Easy to use plugin API for extending functionality. In EE4 we’ve provided a handy API for developers to quickly integrate add-ons with different core components of Event Espresso.
  • Takes care of initializing new roles and adding capabilities to existing roles. When you hook in your new capabilities using this system you are automatically integrated with all the stuff the EE Capabilities system does.
  • Areas of EE4 admin can also be restricted to certain capabilities. This Google Spreadsheet gives you a high level overview and description of all roles and capabilities as of Event Espresso 4.6. We’ve listed all of the EE4 admin routes in the left column and the capabilities across the top. Along the bottom, each sheet represents a different area of Event Espresso.
  • Use any third-party roles and capabilities plugin to manage access to Event Espresso 4 features. More on that below…

How Are Capabilities Managed?

Capabilities can now be managed using any number of third party role and capability management systems, such as Members by Justin Tadlock, to grant users (by role) access to attendee data, events, registrations, and WordPress pages and post content.

The system is entirely hidden to the average user, as there is no UI for user management. For the average EE4 user updating to 4.6.0, there will be no change in behavior, because all the new capabilities have been added to the core WP administrator role by default.

Getting Started with the EE4 Capability System

To get started, you should try to familiarize yourself with the “EE Capability System” and install a third party plugin, such as Members by Justin Tadlock, to use its extensive role and capability management system to grant users (by role) access to attendee data, events, registrations, and WordPress pages and post content.

Extending the EE4 Capability System

In EE4 we’ve provided a handy API for developers to quickly integrate add-ons with different core components of Event Espresso. The EE Capabilities system takes care of initializing new roles and adding capabilities to existing roles.  It is also used for users to reset default roles easily if needed.  When you hook in your new capabilities using this system you are automatically integrated with all the stuff the EE Capabilities system does.

This document highlights the EE_Register_Capabilities plugin API.

Any Questions?

Please first familiarize yourself with the EE4 Capability System and the EE4 Capability System Plugin API. If you have additional technical questions, please feel free to post in our support forums. Developers with access to Event Espresso on Github can post questions there. Feedback is welcome below!

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WP User Integration for Event Espresso 4

Monday, March 2nd, 2015

ee4-wp-user-integrationWe are pleased to announce that the WP User Integration add-on is now available for Event Espresso 4. The “EE4 WP User Integration” add-on allows you to take full advantage of the WordPress user system. Create member only events and tickets, set the minimum WP User Capability for ticket purchase, create new WordPress users on registration, and more!

Get Started!
Purchase the WP User Integration add-on for Event Espresso 4.

How does it work?

You’ll be able to display member only tickets to your logged-in members; members can store personal information into the WordPress database allowing your members to quickly register for events by auto-filling in the personal information on the event registration form.

What can I do with it?

With the WP User Integration add-on for Event Espresso 4, you can give your users a special incentive by offering member only events and tickets. You can also help streamline registration, create new users when someone registers, and ensure existing customers use their existing accounts to register so you data stays clean.

  • Member Only Events – The “member only” events feature let’s you pick and choose what events are members only. Member only events still appear in your events list, but require login before allowing customers to register for the event.
  • Member Only Tickets – Makes it easy to offer member only incentives on ticket purchases.
  • Streamlined Registration for Members – Members on your site can store personal information into their profile page allowing your members to quickly register for events by auto-filling in the personal information on the event registration form.
  • Create New Users Upon Registration – This feature makes it easy to create new members upon registration.
  • User Traffic Cop – If a member is not logged, and tries to register for an event, they will be asked to login before proceeding. Basically, if the email entered already exists in the WP User database, the user is asked to log in before proceeding.
Get Started!
Purchase the WP User Integration add-on for Event Espresso 4.
Documentation for WP User Integration
https://eventespresso.com/wiki/wp-user-integration/#ee4installation

How does this compare to the EE3 version?

The EE4 WP User Integration add-on was built from the ground up, seamlessly integrated with Event Espresso 4 core code using existing hooks and filters (as of EE 4.6) in the ticket selector and registration templates. Whereas the EE3 version was built into the Event Espresso 3 template system, which made it very hard to keep updates from conflicting with customizations.

Going forward, updates to the EE4 WP User Integration add-on will be seamless and not depend upon EE4 core code. This helps us to keep things updated and running more smoothly.

Please Note:  The “My Events” feature is not yet available. This means that registered members CANNOT cancel, pay for, or view events they’ve registered for in the past. This feature will be available in a later iteration.

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Posted in Product & News | 13 Comments »

Event Espresso vs. Event Smart; Self-hosted vs. Hosted Online Event Registration and Ticketing

Monday, February 23rd, 2015

If you’re not already using Event Espresso or Event Smart, there’s never been a better time to switch to a new and improved online event registration and ticketing management system. The tools available in Event Espresso and Event Smart are professional, fully-featured, polished solutions that make it ridiculously easy. (more…)

Posted in Product & News | 10 Comments »

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