PlotCalendar modules - make nice Calendars in html or Ascii
===========================================================

TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------

1. Description
2. Availability
3. Prerequisites
4. Installation
5. Running Tests
6. Demonstration scripts
7. Bugs
8. Copyright
9. Author Information



1. DESCRIPTION
--------------

This is a collection of modules for generating nice-looking calendars.
There are 4 related modules in this set. 

The modules are :

PlotCalendar::Day
PlotCalendar::Month
PlotCalendar::DateTools
PlotCalendar::DateDesc

Day.pm generates a single day, with (for html) controls for colors, fonts, etc.

Month.pm calls Day 28-31 times to create a proper Month-type calendar. Size,
day to start week with, colors, etc are all controllable.

DateTools.pm is a pure perl replacement for parts of Date::Calc because I
can't compile the c-code in Date::Calc on my webhoster's system.

DateDesc.pm is a simple parser for converting date descriptions like
"First Tuesday" into an actual date.

Examples :

Day.pm
------
my $day = PlotCalendar::Day->new($digit);
$day -> size(100,100);
$day -> color('WHITE','RED',); # foreground and background
$day -> font('14','10','8'); # font size for digits, day-name, and text
$day -> style('bi','nbu','i'); # font styles for same
$day -> cliptext('yes'); # clip long text
$day -> dayname('Groundhog Day');
$day -> nameref('<A href="http://ooga.booga.com/">');
$day -> text('text string 1','text string 2','abcdefghijklmno'); # 3 lines of text
$day -> textcolor('BLUE','RED','GREEN',);
$day -> textsize('8','10','8',);
$day -> textstyle('b','u','bi',);
my $html = $day -> gethtml;

Month.pm
--------

my $month = PlotCalendar::Month->new(01,1999);
$month -> size(700,700);
$month -> font('14','10','8');
$month -> cliptext('yes');
$month -> firstday('Sun'); # first column
$month -> fgcolor('BLACK',);
$month -> bgcolor(@bgcolor); # background per day
$month -> styles('b','bi','ui',);
$month -> htmlref(@url); # url for each day
$month -> dayname(@daynames); # names for each day
my $html = $month -> gethtml;


2. AVAILABILITY
---------------

  The newest version (which should be considered a beta version) is available
  through my home page:
    http://www.ajackson.org/software/plotcalendar
  Feel free to try it out.

  The current (non-beta) version of this module is available from your nearest
  CPAN site.

  The two will frequently be the same.

3. PREREQUISITES
----------------

Perl 5.004_01 is where I developed this. It may work with earlier versions,
but I haven't tried it. I'm not too sophisticared, so I'd be a little
surprised if I used anything not in 5.003 for example.

Time::DaysInMonth
Time::JulianDay

Both these are called by DateTools.pm. I have maintained compatibility with
Date::Calc, so if you wished, you could edit the 
use PlotCalendar::DateTools 
lines, make them 
use Date::Calc
and forget about the Time:: modules and DateTools.

4. INSTALLATION
---------------

To install, just type
  perl Makefile.PL
  make
  make test
  make install

For help with Makefile.PL, try
perldoc ExtUtils::MakeMaker

If you wish to install in a non-standard place, use 

perl Makefile.PL LIB=~/lib PREFIX=~

5. RUNNING TESTS
----------------

I can't imagine the tests failing, unless you were missing some key part
of perl, but hey, things happen. If it fails, email me. Try running
make test TEST_VERBOSE=1 and send me the results.

6. DEMONSTRATION SCRIPTS
------------------------

In the /demo directory are some scripts that show what it can do. Hope they
make the documentation clearer.

To run events_calendar.pl in it's fullest mode, type :
events_calendar.pl  -mon 7 -yr 1999 -reg y -spec y > events.html
and view the output in your favorite browser.

7. BUGS
-------

None that I know of - when you find one, let me know.

If you do report it, please include :
- version of perl
- version of PlotCalendar
- Operating System and version
- description of problem
- a *short* piece of code that demonstrates the problem

8. COPYRIGHT
------------

Copyright (c) 1999 Alan Jackson. All rights reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

9. AUTHOR INFORMATION
---------------------

Alan Jackson
alanj@ajackson.org
http://www.ajackson/org/


