SubmissionSystem:NewConference

Create the Conference in the Database

The first step in creating a new conference in the Submissions System is to log in to an existing conference (the demo conference will work for this [1]) as the conference chair role. Click on the button called 'Manage Conference', on the manage conference page you will find a link to 'create a new conference'. This new conference page will allow you to create a new in the conference database.

http://www.example.com/submissions/demo/

Choosing a Conference Identifier

On the new conference page take care what value you enter for your 'conference identifier' this will be used for making customizations to your conference and in the URL for you site. For example if you choose 'foo2010' as the conference identifier you conference will be acessable at this URL:

http://www.example.com/submissions/foo2010/

Checking in the Conference specific code

Now that the conference has been created in the database you will need to get the code ready for any customizations you will want to make to your new conference. You can either copy an existing conference customization as a starting point or create your customizations piece by piece. The conference identifier will also be used as the name of the directory you will check in your customization. All customization are in the 'conferences' directory then the conference identifier, for example:

/conference/foo2010/

The basic idea of the conference customization is that most anything you put into your conference sub directory will be picked up and used by the conference code instead of the default code.

Customizing the Emails and Work Flow

The emails and work flow allow you to customize what emails get sent out and what events trigger the sending of these emails. The work flows are called at key points within the conference pages and callback functions. The work flow then handles sending emials based on the conditions of the event that happened. Actions a work flow is setup to respond to (even ones that send email or have other side effects) log their action to the conference log table. The conference log table can be used as an audit of all major actions that have been taken for a given conference. This can be very helpful when trying to trace what happened to put the conference web application into a given state.

Customizing Emails

The customized per conference emails are stored in the 'conference/foo2010/emails' directory (foo2010 can be replaced with the current Conference Identifier). Each email must have an unique file name and the class must include and extend 'abstractemail' class. Each email has access to the conference configuration details such as the name of the conference. Here is a list of those details:

The conference ID used for form URL back the Submission System:

 $confident = $context->theconference->getConferenceIdentifier();

The short name of the conference (example: foo2010):

 $confname = $context->theconference->getName();

The long name of the conference (example: Foo Conference 2010)

 $conflongname = $context->theconference->getLongName();

Customizing Workflows

There are normally 2 work flows available that can be customize for a conference the talk work flow and the conference chair work flow.

The talk work flow deals with events that happen when an speaker makes changes to a talk. This includes (but is not limited to) creating a talk, updating a talk, adding/removing speakers and signing a speaker agreement.

The conference work flow deals with events that happen when the conference chair takes action. This includes (but is not limited to) accepting/declining talks (clicking on the big button), scheduling talks (clicking on the little button) and adding/removing program committee members.

There are more events that each workflow is setup to respond to but at the moment most of them just log the action to the conference log table.

Customizing the look of a conference

To control the look and feel of a conference you can override the basic look by customizing the 'fragments' files for your conference. To start you can copy the default 'fragments' directory under your 'conferences/foo2010/ directory (for example). The customization are picked up by one of two functions 'conference_require_once' or 'conference_include_once'. These function work by looking first into you conferences directory for files and if non exist it uses the default files.

Any images or other files you might need to reference can be checked in under the images directory (example: 'conferences/foo2010/images/').

Any CSS changes you might need to make can be do by creating a 'subsystem.css' file (example: 'conferences/foo2010/subsystem.css').