Idea behind the module is that there are already existing events, events of different kind like conferences, training dates, deadlines and others. Each kind is managed its own application. Now you want to provide your customers an aggregated view to all your events.

The module creates mappings between event sources and existing Google calendars. Synchronization happens always one way only, so the data sources are never affected. You can connect one single event source with his own Google calendar and show all these calendars, each in its own color, in a Google Embeddable Calendar inside your DotNetNuke site..

Further on multiple data sources can also be connected to one single calendar, using a unique context string for each event source. Only events within the same context are getting compared during a sync run, so there will be no interference between different sources. Now you can provide that single calendar as ICal feed containing all events. Your customers can subscribe to that feed using his favorite organizer like Outlook2007, Vista Calendar or Apple iCal.

Currently two different source providers are included in the release: SQL query and User Defined Table. It is extensible though. I am already working with  RSS+Event feeds as additional event sources.

Each data source is retrieved as a data table. Therefore the setup for the SQL source asks for data provider (SQL Server/Ole DB), connection string and SQL query. The setup for a User Defined Table source asks only for the concrete module instance inside the portal. The columns of the data table are finally mapped to the event properties id, start date, end date, title, content and location.

Multiple data sources can be connected to one single calendar by defining a unique context string for each data source.  Only events within the same context are getting compared during a sync run.

The module uses Google calendar’s batch feature, so every sync run consists out only two http requests to Google. You can start synchronization manually or by configuring a task for the DotNetNuke scheduler.

Have fun.