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In the 2021-22 academic year, I used the recurring event function in Scoutbook to add den and pack meetings to the calendar.
If something changed mid-year, and I needed to edit the remaining events, it was easy enough. I would go into the first event needing the change, edit it, and click save. I would receive a pop-up asking me if I wanted to change multiple entries. I would click yes, and all the remaining events would be updated.
I attempted to do the same thing this year. However, after putting in my first series of events, I discovered I AM NOT able to change remaining events. I wanted to update a mistake in the address. I went to the first event of the year and updated the information. The first thing I noticed was that the “Recurring Event” slider was not selected, despite there being the repeat code in the “Notes / Agenda / Minutes” section. I clicked save anyway to see what would happen. Only that event changed.
I then went to the second event in the series and updated that one. This time I toggled the recurring event switch to red (on). This time I noticed that the “Interval”, “Interval Lengtht”, and “Occurences” fields displayed the default (blank - “select …”) answers. I input the information to match the recurrence already established. When I clicked save, it had a prompt about multiple entires. However, instead of correcting the entries I already had, it created a new series of entries.
This is not helpful. And because I’m not able to edit, or presumably delete, a series of events, I not have to individually delete the 40 remaining events that have the wrong address.
I’m hoping that I’m doing something wrong and that recurring events still work the same way it did last year. If not, then this extension is no longer useful.
Just checking the basics - you do have the feature assistant loaded and active on the web browser you are trying to use? This isn’t a function in Scoutbook itself, but the extension.
@MarkYedlowski I just confirmed that there is an issue. Nothing in the extension calendar code has changed recently, so there must be an underlying native Scoutbook change that has taken place. I am investigating to find and correct the issue (if possible) in the extension.
Yep. Extension is loaded; that allowed me to make the recurrence initially. During the same session I noticed my mistake in the address and encountered the issue described.
@MarkYedlowski I tested again, and its actually working properly.
I believe I know what happened in your situation - I can - and did - replicate it.
When you create a repeating event with the extension, as you probably know, it creates multiple events. Each event is tagged in the note field with the event ID of the first event.
So - say you create an event with 7 occurrences. Lets say the event IDs created are 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7.
Each event is tagged with 1 for the initial event ID. In this example Repeat:1:Weeks:8:-4036049 the event ID is 4036049.
When you edit an event somewhere after the beginning, say you edit the 3rd one (ID=3 in our example) and want it to change the rest of the events from there forward, it becomes a new series, and each is tagged with the event ID=3. No problem so far, because it just updates all the “downstream” events.
But - if you were to edit Event ID#2 next, and want all downstream to be update - it won;t find any downstream with event ID=1 - they have all been changed to event ID=3. So, new events are created.
Not sure if that makes sense, but its a limitation of how the extension works.
I’ll try it again after I get the kids to bed. What you described makes sense, but doesn’t seem to match what I did.
After I noticed my error, I opened the first event in hopes of correcting them all. When I opened event #1, the recurring event toggle was off (i.e, NOT showing red). However the repeat code sequence was present in the note section. I thought the recurring toggle being off was odd, but figured it was a software change. So, I saved the new address. When I didn’t get a prompt about changing multiple entries, I figured it had something to with the recurring toggle being off. The result was that the first event now had the correct address and events 2-41 did not.
Next I opened event two, which I figured would be the original #2 entry because the update I made to entry #1 did not trickle down. When I opened event #2, I noted the same thing: the recurring event toggle was off, but the repeat code was in the notes section. This time, I made the address update and slid the recurring event toggle “on” (i.e. showing red). The recurrence options were all default and did not reflect the options of the original recurrence. Not wanting to confuse/mess up the repeat code, I left the recurrence options blank and attempted to save. No good; it prompted me to enter the recurrence options. So, I reentered the original recurrence options, clicked save, and acknowledged that I was adding multiple entries.
When I went back the calendar, I had one entry for the first event (with the correct address) and two entries each for events 2-41 (one with the incorrect address and one with the correct address).
I’ll see what happens when I try again in a bit.
If you ever see the repeat toggle off and there is a code, and you verify the toggle is present - something is wrong - and let me know. And snip the code - maybe it is invalid
BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): Don’t add anything to the “Notes / Agendas / Minutes” section until after setting up the recurrence.
Background:
Our Pack/Dens meet at two different locations, depending on a number of factors. Rather than put a placeholder address in the event (that could be forgotten to be updated later), I wanted to leave the location and location map entries blank. I put the addresses and map links for both locations in the notes section (before saving the recurrence) so Den Leaders could simply copy and paste to update the event location each week. When Scoutbook saved the recurrence, it placed the repeat code AFTER my location notes.
It would appear that unless the repeat code is the first thing in the notes box, Scoutbook does not “know” to place the repeating events toggle to “on”. I verified this by deleting my addresses and map links, saving the single entry, and reopening the event. When reopened, the event toggle was ON.
I then attempted to delete all the extra entries. I reopened the event for which I deleted my addresses in the notes section and, with the repeating event toggle now on, deleted the event. It prompted me that I would be deleting multiple events (good sign!). I clicked “delete” and waited. It then deleted both sets of subsequent entries. (recall I had two before, the original set I needed to fix, and the second set when the recurrence didn’t work correctly).
Two notes about this:
I only altered the notes section in the first event (i.e. deleted the addresses so that the repeat code was the first thing). This seems to indicate that although Scoutbook won’t turn the repeating events toggle on if the repeat code is buried, it will find and delete subsequent entries even if the repeat code isn’t the first thing in the block.
I’m not sure why it deleted both sets of recurrences. Maybe because the “first event” was the start of both sequences?
