I released the last version of My Calendar – a minor bug fix release for the 2.2 version cycle – on October 29th, 2013. The first release in the 2.2 code base was April 17th, 2013. So, I’ve been sitting on this code base for just under a year.

It’s time for an update.

But I hope it’ll be worth it — this new release has a lot of great updates. I’ve re-worked a number of back-end operations, and hopefully you won’t even notice any of those. But I’ve also got a ton of great new features, and a handful of bug fixes that have waiting too long.

Accessibility Services & Features

My Calendar has always embraced the challenge of being accessible to people using assistive technology. But what use is an accessible events calendar if it’s not easy to disclose what kind of accessibility features are available at an event?

My Calendar 2.3.0 includes two sets of access features: one for events, and one for locations. For any location in your database, you can indicate specific characteristics such as ramped access, accessible restrooms, or braille signage. For events, you can indicate availability of features such as audio description, ASL interpretation, or large-print playbills.

I’ve included a pre-defined set of options; but you can add custom filters on the mc_venue_accessibility and mc_event_accessibility hooks to add or remove default options.

This also includes a new calendar filter, usable to limit your events views by available accessibility features.

My Calendar’s Data API (Application Programming Interface)

My Calendar has had the ability to pull data from remote servers since version 1.11.0, but only within the existing My Calendar framework. With this release, My Calendar has a data API that can be used to pull event information in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), RSS (Really Simple Syndication), or CSV formats.

The API is disabled by default, and doesn’t include any authentication, but you can attach custom authentication to the filter hook mc_api_key.

Custom Field Support

Although My Calendar isn’t yet totally converted over to using custom post types for support, it is now using them as a back-end data repository. With that change comes support for custom fields in your events. With just a few lines of code, you can now add your own custom-defined fields to your event interface, and into the My Calendar template tags.

The data API and custom field support are fully documented in the My Calendar User’s Guide.

And much more…

Also in this release, I’ve got a new default stylesheet (the last new stylesheet appeared in 2011!); the ability to search for events in your event manager; a shortcode generator to create shortcodes for the main calendar, upcoming events list, today’s events, and the My Calendar: Submissions form – and a ton of other great new features.