Using DayPilot 2 (Outlook-like calendar/scheduling control for ASP.NET)

• DayPilot 3.0 source code
• Example source code - 30 Kb
• Live demo

Day view screenshot

Week view screenshot

Features

DayPilot is an Outlook-like open-source event calendar/scheduling control:

• Simple and clean look.
• Views:
• Day view,
• Work week view
• Week view.
• Custom number of days
• Customizable fonts and colors.
• Clicking an event can run one of the following:
  • a custom JavaScript action
  • a server-side event (using PostBack)
• Clicking a free-time slot can run one of the following
  • a custom JavaScript action
  • a server-side event (using PostBack)
• Flexible data binding:
• DataTable/DataSet
• XmlDataSource/SqlDataSource
• ArrayList
• and others...
• Supports ViewState.
• Supports both 12-hour (3 PM) and 24-hour (15:00) time format for hour names.
• Visual Studio 2005 design-time support.
• Browsers:
• Internet Explorer 5.0/5.5/6.0/7.0
• Firefox 1.0/1.5/2.0
• Safari 2
• Opera 9
• Supports concurrent events.
• Supports events that end another day.
• Support for business hours. Supported modes:
• All day always visible.
• Only business hours visible.
• Business hours extended to show all events.

Getting started

The only required step to make DayPilot working is to bind it to a data source. It supports DataTable (and DataSet) as a data source so you can easily supply the data from your database.

Let's have a following table:

In order to show the events in DayPilot calendar you have to do the following steps:

1. Place the DayPilot control on a WebForm.
2. Set the DataSource property.
3. Set column name properties.
4. Select the days that will be shown.
5. Call DataBind().

Setting the DataSource property

After loading a DataTable from a database (or other source) you should assign it to the DayPilotCalendar.DataSource property:

DayPilotCalendar1.DataSource = MyDataTable;

In our example we are building the DataTable by hand:

DataTable dt;
dt= new DataTable();
dt.Columns.Add("start", typeof(DateTime));
dt.Columns.Add("end", typeof(DateTime));
dt.Columns.Add("name", typeof(string));
dt.Columns.Add("id", typeof(string));
    
DataRow dr;

dr = dt.NewRow();
dr["id"] = 0;
dr["start"] = Convert.ToDateTime("15:30").AddDays(1);
dr["end"] = Convert.ToDateTime("16:30").AddDays(1);
dr["name"] = "Partner conf. call";
dt.Rows.Add(dr);

// ...

return dt;

When loading the events from a database I recommend limiting the SELECT so only the necessary events are loaded (not all events from the table). DayPilot will work properly in both cases (it only select the relevant events) but all the events will have to be loaded and they will be stored in the ViewState.

Setting column name properties

You need to indicate which columns contain the necessary data:

DayPilotCalendar1.DataStartField = "Start";
DayPilotCalendar1.DataEndField = "End";
DayPilotCalendar1.DataTextField = "Name";
DayPilotCalendar1.DataValueField = "ID";

Setting the visible dates

Let's say we want to show just a single day:

DayPilotCalendar1.StartDate = Convert.ToDateTime("1 June 2006"); 
DayPilotCalendar1.Days = 1; // default (not necessary) 

But we can show multiple days as well. This is a new feature of DayPilot 2.0.

DayPilotCalendar1.StartDate = Convert.ToDateTime("1 June 2006"); 
DayPilotCalendar1.Days = 5;

Example:

Data binding

Bind the data in the Page_Load() method:

if (!IsPostBack)
    DataBind();

Data-related properties overview

Here are the data-related properties of DayPilotCalendar:

Property	Description	Type	Default value
DataSource	Source of event data.	DataSource or DataTable	null
DataStartField	Name of the data source column that contains the event start date and time.	string	null
DataEndField	Name of the data source column that contains the event end date and time.	string	null
DataTextField	Name of the data source column that contains the event name.	string	null
DataValueField	Name of the data source column that contains the event ID. The Id will be passed to the event handling code when clicking on the event.	string	null
StartDate	The first date that should be shown by the calendar.	DateTime	DateTime.Today
Days	The number of days that should be rendered.	integer	1

Integration with System.Web.UI.WebControls.Calendar

In our sample we will use the DayRender event to improve the calendar:

• the days will become links to a specific day (i.e. no PostBack)
• the days that contain an event will be bold

private void Calendar1_DayRender(object sender, System.Web.UI.WebControls.DayRenderEventArgs e)
{
    string fontWeight = "normal";
    if (isThereEvent(e.Day.Date))
        fontWeight = "bold";

    string color = "black";
    if (e.Day.IsOtherMonth)
        color = this.Calendar1.OtherMonthDayStyle.ForeColor.Name;

    e.Cell.Text = String.Format("<a href="/KB/aspnet/Default.aspx"?day={0:d}' style='color: " 
        + color + ";text-decoration:none; font-weight:" 
        + fontWeight + "'>{1}</a>", e.Day.Date, e.Day.Date.Day);        
}

The method isThereEvent() returns true if a specific day contains any event. This method will be specific to your application. You can go through the data returned from the database (and supplied to DayPilotCalendar.DataSource) to avoid another database request. We are not using the database in our sample so it is hard-coded:

private bool isThereEvent(DateTime date)
{
    DateTime today = DateTime.Now;
    DateTime tomorrow = today.AddDays(1);
    DateTime anotherDay = today.AddDays(3);

    // there are events today
    if ((date.DayOfYear == today.DayOfYear) && (date.Year == today.Year))
        return true;

    // there are events tomorrow
    if ((date.DayOfYear == tomorrow.DayOfYear) && (date.Year == tomorrow.Year))
        return true;

    // there are events on another day
    if ((date.DayOfYear == anotherDay.DayOfYear) && (date.Year == anotherDay.Year))
        return true;

    return false;
}

Integration using UpdatePanel

Since version 2.3 DayPilot can be used inside UpdatePanel (ASP.NET AJAX Extensions/.NET Framework 3.5). If you place both the Calendar (System.Web.UI.WebControls.Calendar) and DayPilotCalendar inside the same UpdatePanel you can switch the date using Calendar.SelectionChanged event handler. It can be used like a regular PostBack event:

    protected void Calendar1_SelectionChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        DayPilotCalendar1.StartDate = Calendar1.SelectedDate;
        DayPilotCalendar1.DataBind();
    } 

Changing the appearance

There are many options to change the default appearance:

Property	Description	Type	Default value
HourHeight	Hour height in pixels. Minimum is 30. It must be even.	int	40
HourWidth	Width of the hour name in pixels.	int	40
BusinessBeginsHour	Hour when the business hours start.	int	9
BusinessEndsHour	Hour when the business hours end.	int	18
NonBusinessHours	Determines whether the non-business hours should be visible (if there is no event).	NonBusinessHoursBehavior	NonBusinessHoursBehavior.HideIfPossible
ShowHours	Determines whether the hour names column should be visible.	bool	true
TimeFormat	The time format - 12-hours cycle (3 PM) or 24-hours cycle (15:00).	TimeFormat	TimeFormat.Clock24Hours
Width	Width of the control. Can be in pixels or in percent (like <table> width attribute).	string	"100%"

Appearance examples

Default appearance

24 hours

2 days, 12-hours time format

Working week

Handling user actions

There are two types of user actions:

• clicking a free time (you will typically use this action to create a new event)
• clicking an event (you will typically use this action to show event details)

The actions can be handled on the client (by custom JavaScript code) or on the server (by handling the server event).

Property	Description	Type	Default value
EventClickHandling	Handling of a click on a calendar event.	UserActionHandling	UserActionHandling.JavaScript
FreetimeClickHandling	Handling of a click on a free-time slot.	UserActionHandling	UserActionHandling.JavaScript
JavaScriptEventAction	JavaScript code that should be executed when the user clicks on a calendar event (provided that EventClickHandling is set to JavaScript). The string "{0}" will be replaced with an event ID.	string	"alert('{0}');"
JavaScriptEventAction	JavaScript code that should be executed when the user clicks on a free-time slot (provided that FreetimeClickHandling is set to JavaScript). The string "{0}" will be replaced with the date and time specified in the standard format produced by DateTime.ToString("s") - e.g. "2006-05-15T07:00:00".	string	"alert('{0}');"

Server-side event handling

Event	Description
EventClick	Occurs when the user clicks on an event and EventClickHandling property is set to UserActionHandling.PostBack.
FreeTimeClick	Occurs when the user clicks on an event and FreetimeClickHandling property is set to UserActionHandling.PostBack.

Your server-side event handling methods will get the important data:

EventClick knows the primary key (PK column)

private void DayPilotCalendar1_EventClick(object sender, EventClickEventArgs e)
{
    Label1.Text = "Selected event: " + e.Value;
}

FreeTimeClick knows the time clicked

private void DayPilotCalendar1_FreeTimeClick(object sender, FreeClickEventArgs e)
{
    Label1.Text = "Selected time: " + e.Start;
}

Resources

• DayPilot Lite Home
• DayPilot Lite Roadmap
• DayPilot Lite Tutorial
• DayPilot Lite Demo
• DayPilot Forums

History

• December 28, 2006 - DayPilot 2.1 SP3 released
• February 4, 2007 - New user forums online
• March 19, 2007 - Feature list updated
• April 22, 2007 - DayPilot Lite 2.2 released
• May 2, 2007 - Links updated to DayPilot Lite 2.2
• July 9, 2007 - DayPilot Lite 2.3 released
• September 10, 2007 - Data-related properties overview and usage fixed (according to DayPilot Lite 2.3)
• December 14, 2007 - Week view screenshot link fixed, UpdatePanel integration section added 
• May 15, 2008 - Screenshot links fixed  
• March 4, 2009 - Link to DayPilot Lite 3.0 release added

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Apache License, Version 2.0