By default when we create an event in calendar it display with same colour. For e.g. below there are many calendar events created with different categories and all appearing in blue colour.
In this article we will create a feature which will assign different
colour to different event category. When we enable this feature the calendar
will look like as below:-
To implement this functionality you can go with one of the two approach:-
1. Calendar Overlay:- This is OOB SharePoint approach. We will be implementing this approach programmatic. So it is highly recommended to go through below article:-
2. Client side approach:- I came around one of the article which shows the client side approach:-
We will first understand how we can accomplish this by manual configuration and latter we will automate it through feature deployment.
Manual Configuration :-
By default there are 8 categories appear when we create events, therefore we need to first consider and fix color for each category:-
First select colors for each category, following image shows some colors selected for category:-
We will use SharePoint calendar overlay mechanism to enable
coloring of event. According to this mechanism if we create different calendar
overlay and assign a view to each overlay then at the time of rendering
SharePoint display all the overlay together combined in single view. It sounds
little complex to understand therefore let’s do it and see actually how it
works.
First step is to create views for each category. Below I
have created view for each category:-
Note while creating above views we have to put filter
criteria for category, so that view only active when condition matches.
Update calendar view and put filter condition matches
below:-
For "other" view put condition as below. Basically you are applying other view to
appear when there is category other than any of standard 8 categories:-
Now create calendar overlay for each category as follows:-
Please note while creating overlay for each calendar overlay
associate a color to display and associate view to take effect which we created earlier:-
That's it, now when you choose “Overlay” in “current view”, you will notice each category appears in different color in the calendar :-
Code approach:-
In this section we will automate all the manual steps mentioned
above. We will be creating a site collection feature “Calendar Overlay”. On
activation of this feature we will create views, overlays etc…:-
1. Below is Feature activation event where we will be creating view, creating calendar overlay etc. for each operation we have separate function which will be discussed in next steps:-
public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
{
string calendarList = "Calendar";
string[] targetwebpartTitle = { "Team Calendar", "Contract Calendar", "Community Calendar", "Project Calendar", "Project Calendar", "Bid Calendar" };
string[] viewArray = { "Meeting", "Work hours", "Business", "Holiday", "Get-Together", "Gifts", "Birthday", "Anniversary", "Other" };
int[] colorArray = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 };
string targetViewTitle = "Calendar";
string pageUrl = "Pages/default.aspx";
using (SPSite site = properties.Feature.Parent as SPSite)
{
SPWeb web = site.RootWeb;
// SPWeb web = properties.Feature.Parent as SPWeb;
SPList list = web.Lists[calendarList];
SPViewCollection allviews = list.Views;
//Create all views in calendar list
CreateViews(web, viewArray, allviews, list);
// refetch web and list objects as otherwise earlier updates make the next piece of code fail
web = site.RootWeb;
list = web.Lists.TryGetList(calendarList);
//Add calendar overaly for each views added above
AddAllCalendarOverlay(list, viewArray, colorArray);
//Update calendar view filter
UpdateCalendarView(list);
//Update calendar webpart to refer default view.
UpdateCalendarViewWebPart(web, list, pageUrl, targetwebpartTitle, targetViewTitle);
}
}
2. In below code we are
creating view for each category of event. For e.g. for meeting category create meeting view, for birthday category create birthday view and so on. Note in below code i have put a condition so that the filter for "Other" view is different:-
public void CreateViews(SPWeb web, string[] viewArray, SPViewCollection allviews, SPList list)
{
// For each item in view array create view.
foreach (string viewName in viewArray)
{
System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection viewFields = list.Views["Calendar"].ViewFields.ToStringCollection();
string myquery = "" + viewName + "";
if (viewName.Equals("Other"))
{
myquery = GetFilterQueryForOther();
}
SPView newView = allviews.Add(viewName, viewFields, myquery, 100, true, false, SPViewCollection.SPViewType.Calendar, false);
newView.Scope = SPViewScope.Recursive;
newView.ViewData = GetViewDataQuery();
newView.Update();
Addrecurrence(newView);
}
}
public string GetFilterQueryForOther()
{
string camlQuery = @"
Meeting
Work hours
Business
Holiday
Get-together
Gifts
Birthday
Anniversary
";
return camlQuery;
}
public string GetViewDataQuery()
{
string camlQuery = @"
";
return camlQuery;
}
///
/// This is required to set reoccurance property. Without this we will see issue in reoccurance event.
///
///
public void Addrecurrence(SPView viewMasterCalendar)
{
using (var webPartManager = viewMasterCalendar.ParentList.ParentWeb.GetLimitedWebPartManager(viewMasterCalendar.Url, PersonalizationScope.Shared))
{
foreach (Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPart webPart in webPartManager.WebParts)
{
if (webPart is IListWebPart)
{
var listWebPart = (IListWebPart)webPart;
if ((listWebPart.ViewFlags | SPViewFlags.RecurrenceRowset) != SPViewFlags.RecurrenceRowset)
{
listWebPart.ViewFlags = listWebPart.ViewFlags | SPViewFlags.RecurrenceRowset;
webPartManager.SaveChanges(webPart);
}
}
}
}
}
///
/// Update calendar view filter
///
///
public void UpdateCalendarView(SPList list)
{
SPView calendarView = list.Views["Calendar"];
calendarView.Query = "";
calendarView.Update();
}
3.
Below code is to create calendar overlay for each view we have created:-
///
/// Add calendar overlay for the view created previously.
///
///
///
public void AddAllCalendarOverlay(SPList list, string[] viewArray, int[] colorArray)
{
for (int i = 0; i < colorArray.Length; i++)
{
AddCalendarOverlay(list, viewArray[i], list, colorArray[i], false, false);
}
}
public void AddCalendarOverlay(SPList targetList, string viewName, SPList overlayList, int color, bool alwaysShow, bool clearExisting)
{
bool sharePoint = overlayList != null;
string linkUrl = string.Empty;
if (sharePoint)
linkUrl = overlayList.DefaultViewUrl;
SPView targetView = targetList.DefaultView;
/*if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(viewName))
targetView = targetList.Views[viewName];*/
XmlDocument xml = new XmlDocument();
XmlElement aggregationElement = null;
int count = 0;
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(targetView.CalendarSettings) || clearExisting)
{
xml.AppendChild(xml.CreateElement("AggregationCalendars"));
aggregationElement = xml.CreateElement("AggregationCalendar");
xml.DocumentElement.AppendChild(aggregationElement);
}
else
{
xml.LoadXml(targetView.CalendarSettings);
XmlNodeList calendars = xml.SelectNodes("/AggregationCalendars/AggregationCalendar");
if (calendars != null)
count = calendars.Count;
//aggregationElement = xml.SelectSingleNode(string.Format("/AggregationCalendars/AggregationCalendar[@CalendarUrl='{0}']", linkUrl)) as XmlElement;
//if (aggregationElement == null)
//{
if (count >= 10)
throw new SPException(string.Format("10 calendar ovarlays already exist for the calendar {0}.", targetList.RootFolder.ServerRelativeUrl));
aggregationElement = xml.CreateElement("AggregationCalendar");
xml.DocumentElement.AppendChild(aggregationElement);
//}
}
if (!aggregationElement.HasAttribute("Id"))
aggregationElement.SetAttribute("Id", Guid.NewGuid().ToString("B", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
aggregationElement.SetAttribute("Type", "SharePoint");
//aggregationElement.SetAttribute("Name", overlayList.Title);
aggregationElement.SetAttribute("Name", viewName);
aggregationElement.SetAttribute("Description", overlayList.Description);
aggregationElement.SetAttribute("Color", ((int)color).ToString());
aggregationElement.SetAttribute("AlwaysShow", alwaysShow.ToString());
aggregationElement.SetAttribute("CalendarUrl", linkUrl);
XmlElement settingsElement = aggregationElement.SelectSingleNode("./Settings") as XmlElement;
if (settingsElement == null)
{
settingsElement = xml.CreateElement("Settings");
aggregationElement.AppendChild(settingsElement);
}
if (sharePoint)
{
settingsElement.SetAttribute("WebUrl", overlayList.ParentWeb.Site.MakeFullUrl(overlayList.ParentWebUrl));
settingsElement.SetAttribute("ListId", overlayList.ID.ToString("B", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
//settingsElement.SetAttribute("ViewId", overlayList.DefaultView.ID.ToString("B", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
settingsElement.SetAttribute("ViewId", overlayList.Views[viewName].ID.ToString("B", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
settingsElement.SetAttribute("ListFormUrl", overlayList.Forms[PAGETYPE.PAGE_DISPLAYFORM].ServerRelativeUrl);
}
targetView.CalendarSettings = xml.OuterXml;
targetView.Update();
}
4. Below code is optional and can be used if the list view webpart is placed on the webpage. In this case we need to modify view setting of the list view web part:-
///
/// //Update calendar webpart to refer default view.
///
///
///
///
///
///
public void UpdateCalendarViewWebPart(SPWeb oWeb, SPList oList, string pageUrl, string[] targetwebpartTitle, string targetViewTitle)
{
/// Gets the page SPFile objectC
SPFile pageSPFile = oWeb.GetFile(pageUrl);
try
{
//// If file is not checked out then do a check out
if (pageSPFile.Level != SPFileLevel.Checkout)
{
pageSPFile.CheckOut();
}
SPLimitedWebPartManager oWebPartManager = oWeb.GetLimitedWebPartManager(pageUrl, PersonalizationScope.Shared);// change the wepart page absolute URL to your webpart page URL
foreach (System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart oWebpart in oWebPartManager.WebParts)
{
if (targetwebpartTitle.Contains(oWebpart.Title.Trim()))
{
ListViewWebPart myWebPart = (ListViewWebPart)oWebpart;
SPView targetView = oList.Views[targetViewTitle];
Guid oGuid = new Guid(myWebPart.ViewGuid);
SPView oWebPartView = oList.Views[oGuid];
oWebPartView.ViewFields.DeleteAll();// deleting the existing view fields for adding new one
foreach (string strField in targetView.ViewFields)
{
oWebPartView.ViewFields.Add(strField);
}
oWebPartView.Query = targetView.Query;
oWebPartView.RowLimit = targetView.RowLimit;
oWebPartView.ViewEmpty = targetView.ViewEmpty;
oWebPartView.ViewFooter = targetView.ViewFooter;
oWebPartView.ViewHeader = targetView.ViewHeader;
oWebPartView.Scope = targetView.Scope;
oWebPartView.GroupByFooter = targetView.GroupByFooter;
oWebPartView.GroupByHeader = targetView.GroupByHeader;
oWebPartView.CalendarSettings = targetView.CalendarSettings;
oWebPartView.Update();
oWebPartManager.SaveChanges(myWebPart);
break;
}
}
oWeb.Update();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
finally
{
if (pageSPFile.Level == SPFileLevel.Checkout)
{
pageSPFile.CheckIn("Setting view for calendar webpart");
}
}
}
The end result is we have a site collection feature ready to do the magic of coloring events. To test this first create number of events in the calendar. You will observe all events are displaying with same color:-
Now go to site collection feature and enable calendaroverlay feature we created through code approach.
Navigate back to calendar list and you will observe all the events are now appearing in color:-
I hope this article have helped you. Looking forward for your comments. Thanks for reading.
