I am pleased to announce that we have released version 1.5.2 of JEvents (see a list of changes from 1.5.1).  You can download this from the links below.

For club members we have released version 1.5.3 of JEvents (see a list of changes from 1.5.2) - this will be available for general release at the end of the 2009.

Unlike many Joomla calendars we do not charge to download JEvents - please show your support for this project by becoming a member of the JEvents Club.  Club members get access to early releases (like 1.5.3), get access to exclusive club member forums, and Silver and Gold members can use many exciting JEvents addons.
Your membership will ensure that JEvents continues to be the best events calendar for Joomla.

You will of course need the main component (remember after installation you must open the JEvents component page in the backend of your site to complete the configuration/installation - this should happen automatically).

Everything else is optional:

• Mini-Calendar Module - which gives an overview of events which can be placed on any page
• Latest Events Module - which gives a brief summary of upcoming events
• Legend Module - this gives the key to the category colours and is needed by the main calendar component if you want this to display at the bottom of the calendar
• Search Plugin - if you want events to appear in the main Joomla search page
• Official translations are available here.  You can also find other translations in the forum.
• Joomfish Content Element File - if you want to translate your event descriptions

You can view a getting started document and migration instructions if you click Getting Started in the top menu.  This is especially important for users upgrading from JEvents 1.4.3.

JEvents 1.5 features multiple layout options giving immense customisation potential - try them out with the JEvents Switcher Module on the side of this page.

Geraint.

The demo offers a preview of some of the new features which are already available to club members - more to follow!

1. Location/Venue Manager (used in the demo)

A special add on component for managing events locations and venues complete with geocoding and Google Maps.  You can even create menu items or modules for specific calendars for events at specific locations.

2. Special Layouts (used in the demo)

2.1 Ruthin

Take a look at the Ruthin Layout in the demo. This uses a radically new layout arrangement where multiday events really span many days in the calendar.

The Ruthin layout is available in 4 colour schemes (and more can easily be added).

2.2 Extplus

Take a look at the Extplus Layout in the demo.  This combined the radically new layout arrangement of the Ruthin layout with the styling of the popular Ext layout.  The best of both worlds.

The Extplus layout is currently only available in 1 colour schemes (more will be added later).

3. Managed People/Teams/Resources

You want to create a managed list of artists, event promoters or even the people responsible for making the tea after the event.  The Managed people addon allows you to do this.  Create a menu item or modules for the events associated with one or more artists!

You can use this addon on a sport event calendar - you can associate teams with matches allowing the easy filtering of the calendar by teams.

4. Personal Private Events (used in the demo)

Do your users need to specify that some events can only be viewed by themselves and no one else.  With this Jevents plugin this is now possible.  The plugin can also be used to search for events by creator.  If you login as a demo user and go to the main demo page you can add an event, remember to mark this as private and save it.  The when you view the demo calendar you will see this private event that only this user can view.  If you log out or login as another demo user you will not be able to see this event.

Also if you are logged in to the demo you will see a "private events" sub menu item under Demo - this only shows a user's own private events.

5. Community Builder and JomSocial Plugins

Want to show a list of events created by your CB or JomSocial members?  These plugin adds a user tab to their profile listing the latest event for this user and even offers a link to a full calendar of events they created.  More features will be added later.  Note that these plugins are in final testing and is currently available from the Club Forum.

The JomSocial plugin can be used to mark an event as private to a user's friends - i.e. only the author and his/her confirmed friends can view the event.  See the demo videos here.

6. Event Registration, Invites and Reminders (used in the demo)

Do you need to know who is going to attend your event?  Do you want to invite certain users and make the event invitation and attendance list private to these invitees?  To you want to enable your users to request event reminder emails?

This plugin (available to Gold Club Members) allows you to do all of this.You can read more about this addon here.

A more comprehensive event registration solution is currently in the testing phase but this plugin will meet most users' needs.

7. Calendar Specific Menu Item and Modules

This addon allows you to create multiple native iCals in the backend and associate these with menu items and modules in the same way that you can do with categories.  

This means that you can share 'slice' your data in 2 dimensions e.g. a sports club site can now have a calendar called "men", a calendar called "women" and a calendar called "children" and share the same categories ("tennis", "swimming", "kayaking" etc.)  across all the calendars.

8. Simple Event Registration

Do you need to know who is going to attend your event.  This plugin allows logged in users to record their intention to attend the event.  A more comprehensive event registration solution is currently in the testing phase but this plugin will meet many users needs.

There are other developments in the pipeline:

• Advanced event registrations
• Other special templates/layouts

How can you get hold of these extras?

JEvents is a open source project that doesn't charge you to download and use the application unlike other components like JCal Pro.  Development and support of JEvents takes a huge amount of time therefore after JEvents 1.5 is released we wll be starting the JEvents club which you can join to show your support of the project.  Membership will be reasonably priced and you will get access to exclusive club benefits:

• Exclusive club member forums which will always get priority in terms of support response
• Exclusive club member documentation and demo videos/tutorials
• Access to pre-releases of new versions
• Access to club member only addons like the locations manager, event registration component etc.

Conclusion

JEvents will continue to be OpenSource and  the core component, modules and search plugins will continue to be free to download.  If you choose to join the club you will be helping to keep the project going and also get access to lots of extra features and goodies.