Modern Events Calendar Placeholder text

Support
#1

Hi, I have made a booking notification in MEC and the placeholder text is not covering to the correct info in the email that is sent.
Here’s the template:
Thank you for registering for %%event_title%%.
%%event_link%%
We hope you will find the topic as interesting as we have.
We look forward to meeting you at %%event_location_name%%, %%event_location_address%% Friday, November 15 8:30 for registration (9:00 start).

And here’s the output:
Thank you for registering for .
http://thepositivitycompany.com
We hope you will find the topic as interesting as we have.

We look forward to meeting you at , Friday, November 15 8:30 for registration (9:00 start).

So, no event title, incorrect link for event, no location name or address. The only thing that worked was “Dear %%first_name%%,”, which did insert the correct first name.

You can see from the event that the correct data is filled in for the event, just the placeholders are not working. Any ideas?

Also, is there a way to test these notifications? I only got to see all the errors once a registrant had been sent this error filled notification.

As always, many thanks for your expertise and time.

#2

Hello @djguitar,

Thanks for writing in!

Based on the information you have shared, one thing for sure is that the event time and date works and gets displayed in the notification. You are having this issue because you haven’t filled out the event details correctly. You must make sure that you have added the event title, event link, etc so that it will get displayed in the notifications.

I have checked one of your events and I found out that you leave some of the fields blank.

Kindly complete all the event details and do not leave them empty.

#3

I’m afraid I don’t understand. I only see two places to enter the event title and I’ve already filled both of them in, yet title isn’t showing up in the notification.

Same for location, which I’ve filled in, yet it doesn’t show.

You’re pointing to “event link” as a blank field, but the info for that field says “If you fill it, it will be replaced instead of default event page link.” Are you saying the default event page link is something other than the link to the event that is working fine when I click on the event within my site? So MEC uses “default event page link.” to refer to the site URL rather than the permalink that exists for the event?

You’re also pointing to “cost”, which is filled in on my event.

As for the “more info” fields; I don’t have or need to share more info other than what’s already in the event and I’m not trying to reference those fields in the notification email.

Perhaps you’re saying that I must fill every field, even those which I’m not using, in order for my already filled fields to work with notification placeholder text. Is that right?

#4

Having written all that in my previous message I have now seen a second email sent to a registrant and in it all the placeholder text has been filled in properly. No changes were made to any fields for the event, so I guess there was some kind of glitch that resolved itself.

I’d still really appreciate learning how to be able to preview one of these notifications instead of relying on seeing it only after it’s been sent to a client.

Thanks

#5

Hello @djguitar,

It nice to know that it is working now. Most probably, it was just a misconfiguration or the settings did not take effect yet while the notification was reported. Regretfully, the plugin does not provide a preview of the notifications at the moment. It is one of the limitations of the plugin. This is something we can add to the list of feature requests for the plugin. This way it can be taken into consideration for future development by the creators of the plugin.

Thank you for your understanding.

#7

Hmmm, I spoke too soon. It seems that the email notification placeholder text worked well when someone at Themeco registered, however since then another registration has revealed that the same problem persists: placeholder text within the notification sent after registration does not get replaced with corresponding data pulled from the event.

Since my first support request no settings have been changed, no fields have been filled in for the event, and no relevant fields have had missing data (as far as I can tell). I believe the empty fields highlighted in the above image don’t pertain to my issue.

Sure hope this feature can work. Thanks.

#8

Ok, the more I look at MEC, or at least the booking module, the more I realize it’s probably too buggy for me.

I have it set to send a “Please verify your booking” notification. This notification contains this essential placeholder: %%verification_link%%. Clearly the link is the whole point of the email and when the email is sent the placeholder text converts to “Please verify your booking by clicking on following link: /verify//”. So totally useless while making us look unprofessional.

Can this work, or should I find an alternative now? I know Themeco didn’t build it, but at the moment I wish you hadn’t even suggested, or included it.

#9

Hi @djguitar,

We’re sorry you’re having this issue. I made some testing by making a booking. See Test entry. I cannot confirm your issue at the moment because I did not receive any booking notification or booking verification. I can see settings is correct. Can you check server if mail setup settings is working correctly? Note that I asked another colleague and he did not receive an email too. I understand the inconvenience but at the moment we need to check the issue directly see the email content so we can logged more information once we report the issue. Once you have confirmed the mail setup is working, we will try again the booking process and the issue you have discuss above.

#10

Hi, thanks for trying to test the system. I can confirm that email for the site is working. I also just ran a test myself. Using a separate browser, not logged in, I registered for the event. I received email notifiers which I’ll paste below in the order I received them.
1st
Hi dkj,
Please verify your booking by clicking on following link:
/verify//
Regards,
The Positivity Company
As you can see, the verification link is missing.

2nd (partial, only to indicate errors)
Dear dkj,
Thank you for registering for .
http://thepositivitycompany.com
We hope you will find the topic as interesting as we have.
We look forward to meeting you at , Friday, November 15 8:30 for registration (9:00 start).

Placeholder text was used to include a link to the event, but instead it links to the home page.
Placeholder text was used to include location after “meeting you at…”. Location is missing.

3rd sent after I confirmed the registration as admin in a separate browser.
Hi dkj,
Your attendance at The Science of Medicinal Cannabis: Implications for Mental Health Practitioners has been confirmed.
We look forward to seeing you at 84 Silk Farm Road, Concord, NH, USA on November 15, 2019.
You can contact to event organizer by calling 877-418-4234.
Regards,
The Positivity Company
This notification worked perfectly and included the placeholder items:
%%event_title%%
%%event_location_address%%
%%book_date%%
%%event_organizer_tel%%
%%blog_name%%

#11

Hi @djguitar,

I also made a test booking and I received this in my email:

It seems that the issue has been resolved already.

#12

Thanks for trying. Right after your test, which caused a successful notification to be sent to you, someone else registered and the notification failed to include the correct text. I’ve attached a screenshot.

I’m curious to know, did you receive an email requesting you to verify, and did it have a link that worked? The Verify Booking notification says “Please verify your booking by clicking on following link:
%%verification_link%%”
Every example I’ve seen of this notification has been non functional, having no actual link to verify the registrants’ email with. It confuses registrants and really looks amateur, and there’s no toggle to simply disable it the way you can with the booking notification. I also can’t find any place to make adjustments to its functionality in settings.

I guess this plugin is buggy and intermittent, so I need to turn off the notifications feature, however that doesn’t seem to be an option while keeping the booking feature.

I really hope there’s a fix, I’ve put too much time into this already. As have you folks, for which I’m grateful.

Thanks

#13

Hello @djguitar,

I have two tests going to two different emails. The first one displays correctly. In the second email, I received this:

Hi Rue Nel,

Please verify your booking by clicking on following link:

/verify//

Regards,
The Positivity Company

And then I got this message added in the secure note.

This could be a bug in the plugin. I will be reporting this to the creators of the plugin.

Thank you for your understanding.

#15

Thanks for checking. Yes, it seems to be a bug and I hope it gets sorted out.

Would you happen to know of any css, or other code, or settings even, that would allow me to disable all notifications? I’d like to continue using the calendar and the booking form, but currently it seems to mean anyone registering for an event has to receive a confusing email from us with the missing verification link.

Thanks

#16

Hi @djguitar,

You can disable the notifications by going to:
M.E. Calendar > Settings > Notifications.

Regretfully, only the New Events added verification can be enabled. All other notifications can be disabled or customized are only exclusive to the Pro version of the plugin. You can check it here:

Hope this helps.

#17

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