Online Setup - Site Data Fields

This  function (Maintenance / Online Reservations / Other Online Interfaces / Site Data Fields) opens a dialog to set up fields for each site which are specific to online reservation handling.  The fields are listed in a grid format, like in Raw Data tables, because it's very helpful to edit them as a group and see the overall view.

Only the online data fields that are enabled will be shown -- so if you just see an empty list, you haven't enabled any of the expected fields (through Maintenance / Data Field Definitions / Sites).  Of course this might not be a problem, depending on which online functions you need to use and which fields are required.

To change fields values, just edit them directly in the grid.  Some values will be drop-down lists, depending on the type of field.  You can also use copy/paste functions to copy a value to one or more fields.

WARNING -- any changes made here are instant and non-reversible, just like raw data tables.  There is no Cancel or Undo function here.

Field Descriptions

Click here For Hercules 2-way interface information.

(The information below pertains only to other online interfaces)

Some basic field information is given here, but refer to the examples for more detail.  Also refer to the Online Reservations Setup -- Data Fields Used section to see which fields you should enable.

For E-mail request processing:

Email Req. ID -- The site name or number you expect in E-mail requests for this site, which can be different than the Site Name for the sites.  For instance, the name might be "RV Site 1", but in the E-mail requests it might be shown as "RV1". Note: If this field is enabled, you should use this field to identify all sites (and thus set this field's value for all sites and include it in your parsing rules) -- the "Site Name" field will not be used to automatically assign a site even if you include it in your parsing rules.  If you expect all requests to include the exact Site Name of the selected site (e.g. if you're getting the site name directly from a pick list on the web form, or it's coming from Export to Web links), then don't enable this field.

E-mail Req. Site Type -- If requests will be made by the type of site rather than specific site numbers, you can set this to the expected value from the E-mail requests.

For Exporting to a web vacancy grid (on your own web site):

Exclude from Export to Web -- Set this to "Yes" if you want to exclude the site from the online vacancy grid.  "No" and blank have the same result.

Export to Web Release Days -- Specify how many days ahead of time that the site should be removed from online availability.  Leave it blank if it should always be considered available for both online and offline reservations.  Enter 0 if it should never be available offline (locally), and always available for online reservations.  See the section Online Connections -- General for more information on release days.

For Importing or Exporting iCal files:

Note that some of these fields are typically used in the various Expressions in the iCal Profiles.  They are optional and depend on the particular functions and services used.  You may also need to create additional custom fields for iCal exporting (see below).  For the ones used in expressions, you only need to enter the unique portion for each site and could rely on the expressions to create the full value. For instance if you want the "Summary" field in the iCal file to read "{name} Cabin on beautiful Lake Meade", where {name} is the name of the cabin you want to show, then just enter the name in the Summary field and then define a Summary Expression in the profile that adds the " Cabin on beautiful Lake Meade" part.

Exclude from iCal -- Set this to "Yes" if you want to exclude the site from all iCal exporting.  "No" and blank have the same result.  Note that individual iCal Profiles can also filter the sites to be included for each service -- however this field will override that filtering and exclude the site from all iCal exporting if it's set to "Yes".

iCal Release Days -- Specify how many days ahead of time that the site should be removed from online availability.  Leave it blank if it should always be considered available for both online and offline reservations.  Enter 0 if it should never be available offline (locally), and always available for online reservations.  See the section Online Connections -- General for more information on release days.

iCal Unavailable Dates -- Enter one or more date ranges to consider the sire unavailable for online reservations.  See the Edit Site Details function for details on date range formatting.  Since there is only one iCal Unavailable field for the site, this should only be used for dates that you want the site considered unavailable for all iCal services.  If you need different dates Unavailable for different services, you can specify that in the iCal Profiles (however that won't be site-specific).  Also note that if you want the same dates to be unavailable for all sites, then it's easier to specify that in the iCal Profile rather than duplicate this field for each site.

iCal ID -- This can be used to uniquely identify the site when Importing iCal files, in conjunction with the Parsing Set pseudo-field "Unit ID from iCal".  Note however that there is only a single iCal ID field, so if you're importing form multiple sources then it may be of little use.  Identifying the site by the Import Filename is preferred, since that's defined in each profile and can come from a different source or field for each profile.  Another possible use for this field is the identifying name of the site for exporting to iCal (it can be used in the expression for Description, etc).

iCal Summary / iCal Location -- These 2 fields can be used to specify the name or other information for the site, to be used in the SUMMARY and LOCATION fields of the iCal file.  They will be used in the Profile's Expressions for those fields by default if they exist.  If you need different Summary or Location information for different Profiles, then you will need to create additional custom fields and adjust the Expressions accordingly (see below).

iCal Export filename -- This can be set to a specific filename for exporting the iCal file (or even just part of the filename used in the Profile's expression), or you can leave it blank and let the profiles use the Site Name field in the default expression.  If you need different file name information for different services/Profiles, then you will need to create additional custom fields and adjust the Expressions accordingly (see below).

iCal Import filename -- This is the most important field if you're Importing iCal files, since the service you're importing from usually specifies the filename for each unit/site.  You would enter the unique filename that you would download (not including the URL/directory part that's the same for all sites).  See the Profiles Setup for more details.  If you import from multiple services then you will probably need different file name information for each one, so you will need to create additional custom fields and adjust the Expressions accordingly (see below).

Using Custom Fields for iCal expressions

If you need to create additional fields to use in the Expressions for iCal Profiles (specifically for the Location, Summary, Export filename and Import filename, but also any additional site information you might need in the Description), then you would do so by adding custom fields through Maintenance / Data Field Definitions / Site Fields.  While it doesn't technically matter what Field Name you use for these additional fields, we recommend that you include "_iCal_" in the name so that it will be recognized as a field for iCal usage and will therefore be included in the Site Data Fields list.  Otherwise you would have to go to Raw Data Tables to edit the fields.  Make sure you include the underscore on each side of "iCal".  For instance, when naming a field for the export filename for AirBnB, enter "Online_iCal_Export_AirBnB" (which will be added to "Site_User_" to become "Site_User_Online_iCal_Export_AirBnB").