Managing Recurring Events Using Single Documents

We have already discussed the primary elements of the calendar applicationa form and a view. The next step is to discuss options for managing recurring events. This first approach is a simple and efficient method to manage sequential calendar events.

A sequential event is an appointment that continues beyond the initial date. In other words, you can create a single appointment that is displayed on numerous calendar dates. However, all calendar dates must be in sequence, such as April 4 through 7.

The "Single Document" approach creates one document and displays the appointment across the calendar date range. This approach is simple to implement. If you're looking to quickly build a calendar application or add a calendar to an existing application, this is a good starting point (see Figure 8.1).

Figure 8.1. Single Document recurring event

This architecture is quick and simple to implement.

Single Document Recurring Event

The primary advantage to this approach is the simplicity of implementing it. You can generate a new application (or enhance an existing application by adding a couple of fields and creating a calendar view) with minimal effort.

Also, because all calendar dates reference the same (or single) document, users only need to update one document, and changes will be reflected across each calendar date. For example, let's say the author wants to include a conference phone number in the body of the appointment. The author can make one update, and the change is immediately available across all calendar dates. With this design, other team members can open any of the documents and see the same information.

The disadvantage to this approach is the inability to manage complex recurring events. If you're looking for the ability to schedule events for the second Friday or third day of each month, then the single document approach will require the user to manually create an entry for each date.

The next section will cover a more robust, comprehensive architecture for repeating events.