Event registration for events with multiple dates/places

Question

I'm making a event content type (representing academic conferences) for a Drupal 7 site, and I'm thinking of give visitors the posibility of registering in these events. But in some cases, these conferences can occur several times, in different dates and places. When registering, the registrant must choose in which date/place he wants to go.

For now, the date/place pairs are being stored in the event via a Field Collection. I've also checked two common modules for registrations in D7: Node Registration and Entity Registration.

Right now I'm thinking in 2 alternatives to implement this:

1. Several registrations forms per event, one for each date/place:

   Pros:

   • I could (in theory) manage each presentation separately, with different capacity/end of registration date.

   Cons:

   • As now, I don't find a module that permits multiple registrations in a node. (custom code?)

2. One registration form per event, with a list field that permits to choose the date/place

   Pros:

   • Implementable right now through Node Registration module + private fields per node

   Cons:

   • I can't manage capacity/end of registration date separately, and when the end date of one presentation comes, I must update the list field manually (custom code?)
   • The list options are defined per field (not by field instance) so I have to create a new field on each event that has multiple dates/places (each one with different machine name. Consider this is going to be done not by site admins, but event organizators with its own user role)

Is there another way to implement this feature? An module I haven't found? A hidden feature or creative use of Node/Event Registrations? Custom code/module?

Answer 1

I would suggest that you create two different content types. Event Display and Event Entity

1. Event Display : Will be just used as a placeholder or display item. It will contain all jazzy text fields and images. It will also contain Node References to the Actual Event Eneities.
2. Event Entity : This will just contain Location, Date and Capacity.

Now Enable Entity Registration for the content type Event Entity.

Suggestion : Use Inline Entity Form so that you can edit the Event Entities directly from the Event Display Content.