Whenever a user designs a Calendar report, some settings are already in place, even before the Report Builder opens. If you're an application administrator who likes Calendar reports set a certain way, you can customize the default settings that appear automatically whenever a user creates a new calendar report. It's way to give users a head start and lead them in the right direction.
FAQ - Why should I bother to set up a Calendar Default?
As you just read, it saves your users some time, but there's another
feature that creation of a calendar default offers your end users. If
you have a default calendar in place, you and your users can instantly
convert any regular table report into a calendar. When a calendar default
exists for a table, a list report's Other menu features
the option to view that report as a calendar.
To set calendar defaults:
Open the Default Calendar Settings screen.
You can do so in one of the following ways:
In the table bar on any application page, click the table for which you want to set defaults. Within the menu that appears, select Customize --tablename-- Table > Reports. Then, on the upper right of the report list that appears, click the More button and select Change the Default Calendar Properties.
In the menu bar on any application page, select Help> Application Site Map. Click the Change the Default Calendar Report link and select the table whose default calendar you want to edit.
Tell QuickBase what to show on the Calendar.
Use controls in the Calendar section to design the
events that appear on your calendar. You can:
Show one-day events. If your calendar shows events that take place in less than a day—like meetings, for instance—make a selection in the Create a calendar report based on the field dropdown. Select the date field that schedules the event. (You'll select the event label in a minute. See the select fields to display bullet below.)
Show longer durations by selecting Start and End dates. If you want to show events that stretch over many days, like tasks or projects, you must tell QuickBase which date fields bookend each event. Set the beginning by selecting the field that marks the start from the Create a calendar report based on the field dropdown. Then, within the End Field dropdown, tell QuickBase which date field marks the finish of the event.
Select fields to display. What information do viewers need to know about each event? In the For each day section, you can select up to three fields. The values of these field display for each record. However, the report's "maximum characters" setting (see next step) may truncate these entries. If so, expand the character limit, or just let your viewer's know that they can mouseover any record to get more information. (Show me.)
Set display options.
Some additional options set the display and behavior of event records.
You can:
Set maximum characters per item. Use this box to enter the maximum length of the record description.
Set Maximum items per day. If you have a lot of records to cram into each date on your calendar, you may want to put a cap on the number that should appear. When you do, QuickBase displays a more... link at the bottom of the list so viewers know that there's more to the story.
Include an Add a record button. Turn on this checkbox, and your users will be able to add records directly from the calendar report. The "button" in question is really more of a link. It appears in the upper right corner of each date's box. Note: If the calendar report you are creating is based on a built-in date field (like Date Created or Date Modified), you cannot select this option.
Show weekends. Turn this checkbox on to show Saturdays and Sundays. Turn it off to hide weekends. (You can also show and hide weekends directly from the Calendar report itself. Read how.)
Display each record in the calendar as:
text only. This option makes your report most like your mother's old paper calendar. The record won't display as a link. But you'll retain the tool tip feature that appears when viewers mouse over linked records.
a link to edit the record. Selecting this option displays the event as a hyperlink. When clicked, the link opens the record in edit mode.
a link to display the record. This is QuickBase's automatic setting. This display mode shows the item as a hyperlink which opens the record's display form.
Tip: If your table contains a URL field that you're fond of, you can display that instead. To display a URL field on your calendar as a hyperlink to its destination, do the following: Make sure the URL field is the only field displayed on your calendar. From the Display each record in the calendar as drop-down list, select text only.
Click Save.