With a normal calendar, every door leads to the same page. The Advanced calendar add-on gives every day its own page. Behind door 1 there can be a scratch card with a coffee voucher, behind door 2 a quiz, and behind door 24 the wheel with the big prize.
How it is different from the normal calendar
| Normal calendar | Advanced calendar | |
|---|---|---|
| What is behind the doors | The same page or link for every door (Navigation) | A separate page for every day |
| Games and prizes | One game for all days | A different game and prizes per day |
| Shared pages (form, thank-you page) | Shared | Shared, but you can make a special version for one day |
| Calendar completion on the dashboard | No | Yes, people per door |
| Rule for opening doors | Today's door (and past doors if allowed) | The same, and also checked by Scratcher when the door is opened |
Turn on the advanced calendar
- Click the calendar and set the Period (or the dates of the doors) first. See the tip below.
- Open the Settings tab and turn on the add-on Advanced calendar.
- A calendar group and a Calendar: Day 1 dropdown appear in the page list under Flow.
- Build Day 1: add the game, texts, images and prizes to the day's page, just like on any page.
In an advent calendar, the dropdown shows weeks instead of days: Calendar: Week 1.
Good to know: Set the dates before you build the days. Days are stored by number (Day 1, Day 2 …), not by date. If you make the period shorter later, the pages of the days that fall off are deleted. If you move the start date, the content stays on the same day number and so ends up on a different date.
Build the other days
- Open the Calendar: Day 1 dropdown and choose a day, for example Day 2.
- If the day has no page yet, Scratcher asks: "Do you want to create a blank page, or re-use an existing page you've already created?"
- Create blank page starts from scratch.
- Re-use existing day copies a day you already built. Choose it under Select which page to copy and click Copy page. The copy also includes that day's own versions of shared pages.
- Change the day's game, texts and prizes.
- Repeat for every day. Click Cancel (the cross) to go back to the day you had open.
You can also ask Rex, for example "Copy day 1 to day 2". The day you copy to must still be empty.
Build every day before the calendar goes live. A door whose day has no page doesn't open.
Start a day over
Choose the day and click the undo arrow in the dropdown (Reset day). You confirm: "Are you sure you want to reset this day? This will delete all pages made specifically for this day." The next time you choose the day, you can build it again. Day 1 can't be reset.
Give one day a special version of a shared page
Pages outside the calendar group, like the form or the thank-you page, are shared by all days. To change one for a single day:
- Choose the day in the dropdown.
- In the page list, click the lock icon next to the page (Override page).
- The day gets its own copy, named for example "Thank you (Day 5)". Change it without affecting the other days.
The dialog Overriding a page for this day explains it: "By default, every day shares the same page. Clicking the lock icon creates an override — a copy of that page just for the day (or item) you currently have selected, which you can then customize without affecting any other day."
To go back to the shared page, choose the day and click the open lock (Remove override). Scratcher asks: "This will remove the overridden page for this day. Are you sure?"
On the day's own page in the calendar group, the lock adds more pages to that day, so a day can have several pages, for example a game and then a special result page. Removing it asks: "This will remove all pages for this day (except the first). Are you sure?"
Prizes for each day
Every day's game has its own prizes, so you can give a different prize behind every door. Open the day, click the game, and add its prizes under Prizes > Manage. See Add a prize.
- When you copy a day with Re-use existing day, check the game's prizes on the new day.
- With Allow clicking past days, people can still play the games of earlier days. If a day's prize should only be won on that day, give the prize an Active period.
- A big prize at the end? Use a draw among everyone who opened any door. See Draw winners.
Turn the advanced calendar off
Turn off Advanced calendar on the calendar's Settings tab. Scratcher asks: "Are you sure you want to disable the calendar? This will delete all associated calendar pages." All day pages and day overrides are deleted, and the shared pages go back to normal.
Use an interactive graphic as a calendar
You can also build a calendar from an Interactive graphic: a picture, for example a Christmas village, with clickable spots that open over time.
- Add an Interactive graphic page and upload your picture under Image.
- Click Add map item for each spot and place it on the picture.
- On the Settings tab, turn on Schedule map items activity and then Enable advanced calendar.
- Click each item and, under Schedule, click Add schedule. Choose when it changes (From, On (single day) or Between), the Date type (Campaign day with a Day and Hour, or Fixed date), and the Initial state.
- Choose the items in the Calendar: Item 1 dropdown and build a page for each, just like days.
With the add-on Override item actions ("Allow specifying a custom action on items"), an item can open a link or another page instead of its own day page. Choose Go to item to keep the day page.
Good to know: In the editor and the preview, every item can be clicked, whatever its schedule. Check the dates in the schedules carefully, and remember that Campaign day counts from the campaign's start date. See Interactive graphics with clickable hotspots.