ICS link?

Hi Steve,

Yes it is.
You start the synchronization at the bottom of the Import/Export section of the Admin interface.
If you check the -Run automatic sync- checkbox the synchronization is repeated at regular intervals.
Before starting you need to set the -List of external upload links- and the -Schedule recurrance- in the Settings page.

Two remarks:
1. The automatic sync relies on a WordPress mechanism to schedule jobs. This mechanism only runs when the site is visited. When the site is not visited for a day the job does not run even if it is set at an hourly interval.
2. The iCal (ics file) format includes an UID (unique identifier) to identify an appointment (booking) uniquely over the different calendars. So in a sequential download appointments already present can be skipped or updated. Unfortunately some external calendars do not comply to this standard. Each time a download requested from such an external calendar generates a new different UID for the same appointment which result in multiple records with the same appointment. A workaround is first to delete all appointments before downloading the external calendar. For these external calendars the possible recurrent schedule of the download is not very useful.
AirB&B is one of the sites with this problem.

Regards,

Jan

Thank you so much for the prompt and detailed reply Jan. I’ll give that a go and get back to you if I encounter difficulties.

Thanks for writing this plugin.

Hello Jan,
My clients have given me this url:
https://www.homeaway.co.uk/icalendar/9000b43b7b1549098a48d15cb7934a78.ics

Is that all I need to configure the calendar?

Hi Steve,

Yes this is all you need.
I tested the link with success. The UID for separate tries is identical so no problems with duplicated bookings.

Prefix the link with name> where name is the name of the room and put that in the -List with external upload links-. Hit save and start the sync on the -Import/Export page-

As an example: Voorkamer>https://www.homeaway.co.uk/icalendar/9000b43b7b1549098a48d15cb7934a78.ics. In this example -Voorkamer- is the name of the room.

Regards,

Jan

Thanks Jan,
Sorry to keep bothering you with this but my client has no knowledge of a ‘room’ prefix. Can it work without one or should I login to the site that hosts the calendar and ask them what it should be?

Hi Steve,

There is a misunderstanding about the prefix. No need to do anything in the external calendar. The prefix is only needed in the settings page of the Availability Calendar Plugin. In the text field with the external upload links the prefix is placed before the link. The purpose of this is to link the external upload link with a name known in the plugin.

The external link doesn’t contain any information about the room name. The plugin needs that information to store the bookings from the link together with the room name.
All bookings from the link relate to the same room. If your client has more rooms they need to supply a separate link for each room.

Regards,
Jan

Hi Jan,
It is now working.

Thanks for all your help. Happy New Year.

regards,
Steve.