Preselect First Available Date is a feature that automatically selects the earliest available date for customers:
in the current month for products available year-round, or
in the product's starting month for limited availability.
This provides helpful guidance, especially when tours are scheduled far in advance, and reduces the need for customers to manually search for the next available date. The calendar modal remains open for the customer to browse dates at their convenience.
When the feature is disabled, the calendar modal will still be displayed, but no date will be preselected, giving customers the option to select a date entirely on their own.
Update Data-Config
Add the below piece of code in the data-config attribute of your checkout script, see the Implementation Guide for more information.
"features": {
"preselectFirstAvailableDateModalCalendar": true
}
Simply adding the feature in the data-config enables the feature on all products in the checkout. If you wish to limit this feature to specific products, you can do so by specifying the product ID in the data-config attribute.
You can add the preselectFirstAvailableDateModalCalendar feature to your data-config for script or button.
<script src="https://cdn.checkout.ventrata.com/v3/production/ventrata-checkout.min.js" type="module" data-config='{"apiKey":"<YOUR_API_TOKEN>", "features": { "preselectFirstAvailableDateModalCalendar": true } }'></script>
Product Setup
Specify the start and end dates, as appropriate, for products that are available only during specific periods. This setting will ensure the calendar automatically displays the calendar month when the product becomes available, skipping any months where it is unavailable.
In the Ventrata dashboard, go to Products > Products.
Select the required product.
Press the pen and paper icon
to edit the product detail. Enter the start and end dates as appropriate.
Press the Update Product button to save your settings.
If any of the product options have different start and end dates, make sure to reflect that in the option settings.
On the Option tab of product level, press the pen and paper icon
next to the appropriate option to edit it.
Enter the start and end dates as appropriate.
Press the Update Option button to save your settings.
First Available Date Flow
Product is Available during the Current Month
Current month: January
Product/option availability: open all year
It is January and the customer selects a product. They select their preferred option and number of tickets. The calendar searches for the nearest available date in January and preselects it for the customer. The customer then proceeds to complete the booking.
Product is Available Months Ahead
Current month: January
Product/option availability: from April 1 (this must be set up in the 'Starts On' field of the product or option)
It is January and the customer selects a product that is not available until April. They select their preferred option and number of tickets. Because the product's (or option's) availability is not open until April, the calendar view jumps to April and the first available date in that month if there is one. The customer then proceeds to complete the booking.