# Event Object Operations

## Getting the event object

To get the event object, use the [getEvent](api/method/getevent.md) method:

~~~js
scheduler.parse([
   {id:1, start_date:"2019-05-13 6:00", end_date:"2019-05-13 8:00", text:"Event 1"},
   {id:2, start_date:"2019-06-09 6:00", end_date:"2019-06-09 8:00", text:"Event 2"}
]);
... 
var eventObj = scheduler.getEvent(1);
//->{id:1, start_date:"2019-05-13 6:00", end_date:"2019-05-13 8:00", text:"Event 1"}
~~~

## Getting events from the specified time period

To get a collection of events that occur during the specified period, use [getEvents](api/method/getevents.md) method:

~~~js
var evs = scheduler.getEvents(new Date(2019,1,10),new Date(2019,2,10)); 
//where evs is an array of events' objects
~~~

## Getting all events of the scheduler

To get all events loaded to the scheduler, call the [getEvents](api/method/getevents.md) method without parameters as in:

~~~js
var evs = scheduler.getEvents();
// returns all events as an array of objects
~~~

## Getting the next event starting from the current date

~~~js
var evs = scheduler.getEvents(new Date(), new Date(9999,1,1));    
//evs - list of all oncoming events
evs.sort(function(a,b){ return (a.start_date > b.start_date ? 1 : -1); });
//evs[0] - nearest upcoming event
~~~

## Getting the event's id

To get the event's id by the value of one of the event's properties, use the following technique:

Example: getting the event's id by the event's text.
~~~js
scheduler.parse([
   {id:1, start_date:"2019-05-13 6:00", end_date:"2019-05-13 8:00", text:"Event 1"},
   {id:2, start_date:"2019-06-09 6:00", end_date:"2019-06-09 8:00", text:"Event 2"}
]);
...

var evs = scheduler.getEvents(); //gets all events of the scheduler
for(var i = 0; i < evs.length; i++){  //goes through all events to find the one needed
    if (evs[i].text == "Event 2") 
        var eventId = evs[i].id;// -> 2
};
~~~

 If you know an approximate time when the needed event occurs, you'd better to limit the returned collection of events, in order to increase the app's speed:

~~~js
var evs = scheduler.getEvents(new Date(2019,05,01),new Date(2019,05,10)); 
for(var i = 0; i < evs.length; i++){  
    if (evs[i].text == "Event 2") 
        var eventId = evs[i].id;// -> 2
};
~~~


## Changing the event's id

To change the current id of an event, you may use the [changeEventId](api/method/changeeventid.md) method as in:

~~~js
scheduler.changeEventId("ev15", "ev25"); //changes the event id "ev15" -> "ev25"
~~~


## Setting the lightbox option's label as the text of the event

By default the text of a Scheduler event is set via the mapped text field from the lightbox. 

![default_event_text](/img/default_event_text.png)

It is also possible to redefine the default behavior and use the label of the option selected in the combobox as the text of the event. 

![option_event_text](/img/option_event_text.png)

The text of an event is specified by one of the following templates: [event_text](api/template/event_text.md) or [event_bar_text](api/template/event_bar_text.md), depending on the type of the view. So to change 
the scheme of adding text into an event, you should redefine the corresponding template.

~~~js
scheduler.config.lightbox.sections = [
    { name:"type", height:21, inputWidth:400, map_to:"type", type:"select", 
        options:scheduler.serverList("options", [
            {key:1, label:"Simple"},
            {key:2, label:"Complex"},
            {key:3, label:"Unknown"}
        ]
    )},
    {name:"time", height:72, type:"time", map_to:"auto"}
];

scheduler.templates.event_text = scheduler.templates.event_bar_text = function(start, end, event){
    var options = scheduler.serverList("options");

    for(var i = 0; i < options.length; i++){
        if(options[i].key == event.type){
            return options[i].label;
        }
    }
    
    return "";
};
~~~

There are several notes concerning the above code:

- The [serverList](api/method/serverlist.md) method is used to provide options for the combobox and retrieve them inside the template. You can load options together with event data via JSON collections (see [Data formats](guides/data-formats.md#json-with-collections)) and update them later with [updateCollection](api/method/updatecollection.md).

- Inside the template there is a linear search for a selected item. In some cases when you have a lot of events/options, it may have a noticeable impact on performance, since these templates can be called quite often. To solve this issue, you can create a hash for a quick search instead of constantly iterating an array.

- The client side should have the complete list of options in order to display them. Otherwise, you will need to load the options manually, e.g. if you use the autocomplete search functionality, which pulls the required options dynamically.