as-cornell/as_events

Provides a block of events from a json feed.

v2.0.3 2026-03-12 20:29 UTC

GPL-3.0-or-later

• Mark Wilson

README

AS Events (as_events)

Provides events integration with Cornell Localist API for Drupal 10 sites.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Architecture
• Services
• Usage
• Twig Functions
• Blocks
• Requirements
• Installation
• Configuration
• Maintainers

Introduction

The AS Events module fetches and displays upcoming events from the Cornell Localist API. It provides:

• Service-based architecture with dependency injection
• Automatic caching (2-hour cache TTL)
• Twig function for parsing event data in templates
• Block plugin for displaying event lists
• Controller for custom event pages
• Flexible formatting utilities for event data

Architecture

The module uses an object-oriented architecture with separate service classes:

as_events/
├── src/
│   ├── Service/
│   │   ├── EventsApiService.php       # API calls and caching
│   │   └── EventsFormatterService.php # Data formatting utilities
│   ├── Controller/
│   │   └── EventsController.php       # Route controller
│   ├── Plugin/Block/
│   │   └── ASEvents.php               # Events block
│   └── parseEventsJson.php            # Twig extension
├── as_events.services.yml             # Service definitions
└── as_events.module                   # Hooks only

Key Benefits:

• ✅ Testable service classes
• ✅ Reusable via dependency injection
• ✅ Clear separation of concerns
• ✅ Follows Drupal 10 best practices

Services

EventsApiService

Handles API communication with Cornell Localist and manages caching.

Service ID: as_events.api

Dependencies:

• @cache.data - Cache backend
• @logger.channel.as_events - Logger channel

Methods:

getEventsJson($events_shown, $keyword_params)

Fetches events from Cornell Localist API with automatic caching.

Parameters:

• $events_shown (int) - Number of events to retrieve
• $keyword_params (string) - Keyword filter for events (e.g., "casfeatured")

Returns: array|null - Array of event data or NULL if no events found

Example:

$events_api = \Drupal::service('as_events.api');
$events = $events_api->getEventsJson(5, 'casfeatured');

Caching:

• Cache ID: as_events:{count}:{keyword}
• Cache Duration: 2 hours (7200 seconds)
• Cache Bin: cache.data

EventsFormatterService

Provides utilities for formatting event data.

Service ID: as_events.formatter

Methods:

nameize($str, array $a_char = ["'", "-", " "])

Converts a string to name format with proper capitalization.

Parameters:

• $str (string) - String to format
• $a_char (array) - Characters to use as separators for capitalization

Returns: string - Formatted string

Example:

$formatter = \Drupal::service('as_events.formatter');
$name = $formatter->nameize("o'connor"); // Returns: "O'Connor"

formatEventDates($startdate, $enddate)

Formats event start and end dates into components.

Parameters:

• $startdate (\DateTime) - Event start date
• $enddate (\DateTime|null) - Event end date (optional)

Returns: array - Array with formatted date components:

[
  'start_month' => 'Jan',
  'start_date' => '15',
  'start_time' => '2:30',
  'end_month' => 'Jan',    // If enddate provided
  'end_date' => '15',      // If enddate provided
  'end_time' => '4:00',    // If enddate provided
]

Example:

$formatter = \Drupal::service('as_events.formatter');
$start = date_create('2025-01-15 14:30:00');
$end = date_create('2025-01-15 16:00:00');
$formatted = $formatter->formatEventDates($start, $end);

generateEventItemMarkup(array $event_data)

Generates HTML markup for a single event item.

Parameters:

• $event_data (array) - Event data from Localist API

Returns: string - HTML markup with schema.org microdata

Example:

$formatter = \Drupal::service('as_events.formatter');
$markup = $formatter->generateEventItemMarkup($event_data);

Generated Markup Includes:

• Event title with link
• Date and time
• Location and room
• Schema.org Event markup

Usage

Using Services in Custom Code

In a Controller:

namespace Drupal\my_module\Controller;

use Drupal\Core\Controller\ControllerBase;
use Drupal\as_events\Service\EventsApiService;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerInterface;

class MyController extends ControllerBase {

  protected $eventsApi;

  public function __construct(EventsApiService $events_api) {
    $this->eventsApi = $events_api;
  }

  public static function create(ContainerInterface $container) {
    return new static(
      $container->get('as_events.api')
    );
  }

  public function myPage() {
    $events = $this->eventsApi->getEventsJson(10, 'chemistry');
    // Process events...
  }
}

In a Service:

# my_module.services.yml
services:
  my_module.my_service:
    class: Drupal\my_module\MyService
    arguments: ['@as_events.api', '@as_events.formatter']

namespace Drupal\my_module;

use Drupal\as_events\Service\EventsApiService;
use Drupal\as_events\Service\EventsFormatterService;

class MyService {

  public function __construct(
    EventsApiService $events_api,
    EventsFormatterService $events_formatter
  ) {
    $this->eventsApi = $events_api;
    $this->eventsFormatter = $events_formatter;
  }
}

Twig Functions

parse_events_json()

Parses events JSON into a structured array for theming.

Syntax:

{% set events = parse_events_json(events_shown, keyword_params) %}

Parameters:

• events_shown (int) - Number of events to display
• keyword_params (string) - Keyword filter (e.g., "casfeatured", "chemistry")

Returns: array - Array of event records with the following structure:

[
  [
    'title' => 'Event Title',
    'url' => 'https://cornell.localist.com/event/...',
    'location' => 'Rockefeller Hall',
    'room' => 'Room 101',
    'status' => 'published',
    'description' => 'Event description HTML',
    'image' => 'https://...',
    'experience' => 'in_person',
    'stream_url' => 'https://...',
    'stream_info' => 'Zoom link info',
    'month' => 'Jan',
    'date' => '15',
    'time' => '02:30 PM',
    'day' => 'Monday',
    'all_day' => false,
    'street' => '123 Main St',
    'state' => 'NY',
    'zip' => '14850',
    'contact_email' => '[e-mail]',
    'contact_name' => 'John Doe',
    'contact_phone' => '555-1234',
    'speaker' => 'Dr. Jane Smith',
    'speaker_affiliation' => 'Cornell University',
    'dept_web_site' => 'https://...',
    'open_to' => 'Public',
    'localist_ics_url' => 'https://...',
  ],
  // ... more events
]

Example Usage in Twig:

{# Get 5 featured events #}
{% set events = parse_events_json(5, 'casfeatured') %}

{# Loop through events #}
{% if events %}
  <div class="events-list">
    {% for event in events %}
      <article class="event">
        <h3><a href="{{ event.url }}">{{ event.title }}</a></h3>
        <time datetime="{{ event.date }}">
          {{ event.month }} {{ event.date }}, {{ event.time }}
        </time>
        {% if event.location %}
          <div class="location">{{ event.location }}</div>
        {% endif %}
        <div class="description">{{ event.description|raw }}</div>
      </article>
    {% endfor %}
  </div>
{% else %}
  <p>No upcoming events.</p>
{% endif %}

Blocks

Events Block

Block ID: events_block Admin Label: "Events Block" Category: "Upcoming Events"

Displays a configurable list of upcoming events from Localist.

Configuration:

• events_shown - Number of events to display (default: 0)
• keyword_params - Keyword filter (default: "casfeatured")

Usage:

1. Navigate to /admin/structure/block
2. Click "Place block"
3. Search for "Events Block"
4. Configure number of events and keywords
5. Save

Requirements

• Drupal: >= 10.0
• PHP: >= 8.1
• Access to Cornell Localist API (http://cornell.localist.com)

Drupal Modules:

• No additional module dependencies

Installation

Via Composer (Recommended)

composer require as-cornell/as_events
drush en as_events -y
drush cr

Manual Installation

1. Download the module to /modules/custom/as_events
2. Enable the module: drush en as_events -y
3. Clear cache: drush cr

Configuration

API Endpoint

The module connects to: http://cornell.localist.com/api/2/events

Default Query Parameters:

• days=364 - Events within the next year
• pp={count} - Number of events per page
• keyword={keyword} - Keyword filter

Cache Settings

Events are cached for 2 hours in the cache.data bin.

To clear events cache:

# Clear all cache
drush cr

# Or manually clear specific cache IDs
drush php-eval "\Drupal::cache('data')->deleteAll();"

Logging

The module provides its own logger channel: logger.channel.as_events

View logs:

drush watchdog:show --type=as_events

API Reference

Cornell Localist API

Documentation: https://developer.localist.com/doc/api

Event Data Structure:

{
  "events": [
    {
      "event": {
        "title": "Event Title",
        "localist_url": "https://...",
        "location_name": "Building Name",
        "room_number": "Room 101",
        "description": "<p>Event description</p>",
        "photo_url": "https://...",
        "event_instances": [
          {
            "event_instance": {
              "start": "2025-01-15T14:30:00Z",
              "end": "2025-01-15T16:00:00Z",
              "all_day": false
            }
          }
        ],
        "custom_fields": {
          "contact_email": "[e-mail]",
          "speaker": "Dr. Jane Doe",
          ...
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Troubleshooting

Events Not Displaying

1. Check API connection:

   curl "http://cornell.localist.com/api/2/events?days=364&pp=5&keyword=casfeatured"

2. Clear cache:

   drush cr

3. Check logs:

   drush watchdog:show --type=as_events --severity=Warning

Performance Issues

• Events are cached for 2 hours by default
• Reduce events_shown count if pages load slowly
• Check network latency to Localist API

Debugging

Enable verbose logging:

// In settings.local.php
$config['system.logging']['error_level'] = 'verbose';

Test API service directly:

drush php-eval "
\$api = \Drupal::service('as_events.api');
\$events = \$api->getEventsJson(5, 'casfeatured');
print_r(\$events);
"

Development

Running Tests

# PHPUnit tests (if implemented)
vendor/bin/phpunit modules/custom/as_events

# Code standards
vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=Drupal modules/custom/as_events

Contributing

1. Follow Drupal coding standards
2. Add PHPUnit tests for new functionality
3. Update this README for new features
4. Use semantic versioning for releases

Maintainers

Current maintainers for Drupal 10:

• Mark Wilson (markewilson)

License

GPL-2.0-or-later

Changelog

2.0.0 (2025-02-18)

• Refactored to OOP architecture with service classes
• Added dependency injection throughout
• Improved caching and logging
• Enhanced documentation

1.x

• Initial procedural implementation
• Basic Localist API integration