Thread

Hello.

I’m working with the calendar module, and everything seems to be working fine, except that the {expiration_date format="xxxx"} variable is not rendering (is that the right word?), i.e., it won’t give me the expiration date. Other date variables work fine, such as {entry_date format="%l, %j %F"}. The variable {expiration_date format="%g:%i %a"}, for example, will render exactly as ‘{expiration_date format="%g:%i %a"}’.

The curious thing is that when I omit format=“xxxx” (where xxxx is the date variable formatting), I get a Unix time stamp, which shows that at least it’s getting a value.

Here’s the simplified code:

{entries}
    {entry_date format="%l, %j %F"}
    {entry_date format="%g:%i %a"} - {expiration_date format="%g:%i %a"}
    <a href="http://{title_permalink=events/eventdetails}">{title}</a>
{/entries}

I have absolutely no idea where I’ve screwed up, and I’m pretty sure it’s probably something really arcane like I’m not allowed to have 3 date variables in a row or something random like that!

I would really appreciate any help! Thanks!

Joseph, the exp:calendar tag doesn’t take entry_date or expiration_date. At least not in the docs.

However, you are correct in that entry_date works, but expiration_date doesn’t.

I’m not sure if this is a defect or a feature. You might be able to get around it by using the query module to pull out the expiration_date and format it that way.

Hi Sue,

Sorry for my late reply, I had to fly halfway round the world!

Anyway, thanks for the reply. I was reading this thread (http://ellislab.com/forums/viewthread/59482/) and I got the impression that the user is trying to use the expiration_date variable within the calendar module, or am I wrong about that?

Thanks again!

I’m pretty sure that thread is focusing on the weblog entries tag.  The calendar doesn’t have all of the same variables available.

Hi Robin, thanks for the quick reply!

Hmm, I suppose I’ll have to use the query module/PHP. Not looking forward to doing that! Just one more quick clarification: at the bottom of this wiki page ( http://expressionengine.com/wiki/Events_Calendar/ ) it says:

When listing multi-day and single-day events, you can use PHP in your templates to conditionally display the end date as described in this forum thread.

Is that using the same PHP technique/query module which Sue was referring to?

Thanks!

Seems weird to me you’d get a time for the expiration date when you ditch formating.  If that’s the true expiration date, would be easy enough to format via php.  I’d try it out, but I don’t really have any expiration dates.

Anyway- you can try this- see if it works:

{entries}
<?php
global $LOC;
$y = $LOC->convert_timestamp('%Y', '{expiration_date}', TRUE);
$m = $LOC->convert_timestamp('%M', '{expiration_date}', TRUE);
?>
    {entry_date format="%l, %j %F"}
    {entry_date format="%g:%i %a"} - <?php echo $m.' '.$y; ?>
    <a href="http://{title_permalink=events/eventdetails}">{title}</a>
{/entries}

php parsed on output.  But- I’m not thinking why it would be there and unparsed.  Still, can give this a shot.  And I’m going to shift this one over to ‘how to’ as we’re getting into php.

Cheers Robin! It worked!

I changed some parameters:

{entries}
        <?php
        global $LOC;
        $g = $LOC->convert_timestamp('%g', '{expiration_date}', TRUE);
        $i = $LOC->convert_timestamp('%i', '{expiration_date}', TRUE);
        $a = $LOC->convert_timestamp('%a', '{expiration_date}', TRUE);
        ?>
        {entry_date format="%l, %j %F"}
        {entry_date format="%g:%i %a"} - <?php echo $g.':'.$i.' '.$a; ?>
        <a href="http://{title_permalink=events/eventdetails}">{title}</a>
{/entries}

With the output being:

Wednesday, 19 September
8:00 pm - 11:30 pm Event Title

Now my next challenge is to see if I can insert, say, the words “next day” if {expiration_date} != {entry_date}. I thought of doing it according to this thread (http://ellislab.com/forums/viewthread/25029/#110246) but it doesn’t work—all entries carry the text “next day” even if it doesn’t end the next day. Any suggestions?

Again, thanks for your help, I really appreciate it!

I think it should work- parsing is definitely on output- correct?  (Must be.)  So- did you try it like:

{entries}
        <?php
        global $LOC;
        $g = $LOC->convert_timestamp('%g', '{expiration_date}', TRUE);
        $i = $LOC->convert_timestamp('%i', '{expiration_date}', TRUE);
        $a = $LOC->convert_timestamp('%a', '{expiration_date}', TRUE);
        $comp_exp = $g.$i.$a;
        $comp_entry = '{entry_date format="%g%i%a"}';
        ?>
        {entry_date format="%l, %j %F"}
        {entry_date format="%g:%i %a"} - <?php echo $g.':'.$i.' '.$a; ?>
        <a href="http://{title_permalink=events/eventdetails}">{title}</a>
        <?php if ($comp_exp != $comp_entry) { echo 'Next day'; } ?>
{/entries}