X Game Schedules Plugin (Replaced with MSTW Schedules & Scoreboards) Users Manual

Game Schedules Plugin Overview

The MSTW Game Schedules plugin manages multiple sports team schedules including: game dates and times, opponents, locations, results, and links to media (print stories or video on games). It features a countdown timer from the current time to then next game or next home game. Shortcodes and widgets are available to display schedule tables, sliders, and countdown timers. NEW IN … Continue reading

Add/Edit Game

The Games menu item allows you to add or edit the games on your schedule(s) using the screen shown below. The following paragraphs describe each of the fields on the screen. Title. The title does no appear on the front end. Thoughtful use of the title can be a valuable aid in sorting and searching games. For example, one convention … Continue reading

Add/Edit Schedule

The Schedules menu item allows you to link the teams from the Teams DB to schedule ID’s (slugs). This essentially identifies the home team for a given schedule. When you add or edit a schedule, you see the screen shown below. The following paragraphs describe the two fields on this simple screen. Unique Schedule ID.. Be as descriptive as you … Continue reading

Add/Edit Team

The Teams menu item allows you to add or edit the teams on your schedule(s), including the home team. When you add or edit a team, you see the screen shown below. The following paragraphs describe each of the fields on the screen. Team Full Name, Team Short Name, Team Full Mascot, Team Short Mascot.. You only need to enter … Continue reading

Change Log

4.0.1 Lots of clean-up intended to suppress PHP Notices and Warnings plus bug fixes: * Problem with Schedule slider at the end of a season * Problem with Schedule DB entries, Team selection from Teams DB being ignored * Problem with Game entries, Location selection from Locations Plugin DB being ignored * Problem with table and slider opponent name formats … Continue reading

Countdown Timer Shortcode & Widget

The countdown timer SHORTCODE [mstw_gs_countdown] accepts the following three arguments: 1. sched=”schedule-slug” tells the shortcode what schedule to display. 2. intro=”text string” defines what string to display before the countdown. Defaults to “Time to kickoff:” 3. home_only=”true/false” tells the shortcode to countdown to home games only. Defaults to false (all games). The sched argument is REQUIRED. Nothing will display without … Continue reading

Creating Schedules with Team Logos … the right way

New in version 4.0 is the ability to display team logos in schedule sliders, schedule tables, and countdown timers. However, some groundwork is required to take advantage of this capability (nothing is free). I will probably create some videos on all this, but in the meantime here’s a step-by-step version of the how’s and why’s. Note: Besides providing increased functionality … Continue reading

CSV File Format

Comma Separated Value (CSV) files are normally created in Microsoft Excel, or a similar spreadsheet program, and saved in CSV format. Sample .csv files are located in the plugin’s csv-examples folder. I recommend viewing, editing, and testing import with these files first. The .xlsx files in MS Excel format. Each row in the file corresponds to a game and each … Continue reading

CSV Schedule Import (Admin Page)

Starting in version 3.0, Game Schedules may be uploaded from CSV files. Please see the CSV Format documentation for more information on version 4.0 CSV imports. From the admin pages, select Games->CSV Schedule Import, which provides the following admin screen: Select a team ID to upload. This is the Team ID, NOT the slug. If the ID exists, games will … Continue reading

Display Settings – Colors

The display settings colors provides control over display colors for the schedule tables, sliders, and countdown timers on the front end. These settings override the plugin’s default stylesheet (mstw_gs_styles.css), and apply to all displays. More precise control of the colors for specific team schedules is provided by editing this stylesheet. For examples of what can be done, visit the MSTW … Continue reading

Display Settings – Data Fields & Columns

The Display Settings Data Fields & Columns tab allows the admin to control the visibility, labeling, and formats of data fields and their labels/titles. The following paragraphs describe the controls offered in the Display Settings Date & Time Format tab shown below. Data Field and Table Column Settings These settings allow the admin to customize the display of schedule tables … Continue reading

Display Settings – Date & Time Formats

The Display Settings Date & Time Formats tab allows the admin to control the date and time formats on the Admin screens, Countdown Timers, Schedule Tables, and Schedule Sliders. There are three types of controls – date, time, and date-time-group (or date and time). In each control type, built-in formats are available in a drop-down list. If none of these … Continue reading

Display Settings (Admin Page)

The Display Settings admin page (WP Admin Games->Display Settings) allows the website administrator to control the following settings: Hide Media Column – show or hide the media column in the schedule table shortcode. Date-Time Formats – control the date-time display on the shortcodes, widgets, and admin pages as shown below.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get the team logos to work in my schedule tables and sliders? Team logos require use of the new Teams and Schedules Custom Data Types. While there is quite a bit of setup required to enable these new cool features, the setup work then makes it very easy to enter games. Please read the full documentation on … Continue reading

Game Location

There are several fields on the Add/Edit Game screens that control the logic and display of a game’s location. Perhaps the simplest way is to add each team’s home location to the Game Locations plugin database, add opponents to the Teams DB, then select each opponent using the “Select Opponent” pull-down list. No other location entries are required; Game Schedules … Continue reading

Installation

INSTALLATION NOTES: If you are upgrading, please read the upgrade notes. You won’t lose schedule data but you COULD lose and changes you’ve made to the plugin stylesheet. The first thing you want to do after installation is make sure the WP default timezone is set correctly in the WordPress Settings->General screen. The AUTOMATED way: 1. Go to the Plugins->Installed … Continue reading

Schedule Slider Shortcode [mstw_gs_slider]

The Game Schedules slider shortcode is: [mstw_gs_slider sched=schedule-slug] The sched argument is REQUIRED. Nothing will display without it. Many other arguments are available to control the table as discussed below. The schedule slider shortcode supports the display of schedule slider as shown below and on the MSTW Development Site. To use the shortcode, one argument is critical SCHED='schedule-slug'. You may … Continue reading

Schedule Table Shortcode [mstw_gs_table]

The Game Schedules table shortcode is: [mstw_gs_table sched=schedule-slug] The sched argument is REQUIRED. Nothing will display without it. Many other arguments are available to control the table as discussed below. The schedule table shortcode supports the display of a tabular schedule. The columns can be hidden and their labels can be customized. The colors can be customized via the Fields/Columns … Continue reading

Schedule Table Widget

The Schedule Table Widget accepts the following arguments: Schedule Title: the widget title (if your widget structure displays the title) Schedule ID: the schedule to display (use the schedule’s slug) Display Start Date: show games scheduled AFTER this date and time. Use ‘now’ to show games after the current time. For other dates and times use the format “YYYY-MM-DD 13:15:00” … Continue reading

Upgrade Notice – Version 4.0.1

The current version of Game Schedules was developed and tested one WordPress 3.7.1. If you use older version of WordPress, good luck! Much of the plugin was originally developed on 3.4.x so that might work okay. (No guarantees.) If you are using a newer version of WP, please let me know how the plugin works, especially if you encounter problems. … Continue reading

Why a Child Theme?

Three paragraphs for WordPress newbies on why you ALWAYS want to use a child theme. Continue reading