Switch content
by date and time

Use Date and Time fields for a start and end schedule, then switch template output between upcoming, active, and ended states.

Create schedule fields

Add these fields to the post type that controls the event, reception, or form.

reception_start_date: Date / start date
reception_start_time: Time / start time
reception_end_date: Date / end date
reception_end_time: Time / end time

Add a schedule helper

Add this to your theme functions.php or a site-specific plugin. It compares field values using the WordPress timezone setting.

functions.php

PHP / Schedule

<?php
function my_cfs_datetime_timestamp( $date_field, $time_field, $post_id = null ) {
  $date = CFS()->get( $date_field, $post_id, array( 'format' => 'raw' ) );
  $time = CFS()->get( $time_field, $post_id, array( 'format' => 'raw' ) );

  if ( empty( $date ) || empty( $time ) ) {
    return null;
  }

  $datetime = DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat(
    'Y-m-d H:i',
    $date . ' ' . $time,
    wp_timezone()
  );

  return $datetime ? $datetime->getTimestamp() : null;
}

function my_cfs_datetime_label( $date_field, $time_field, $post_id = null ) {
  $timestamp = my_cfs_datetime_timestamp( $date_field, $time_field, $post_id );

  if ( ! $timestamp ) {
    return '';
  }

  return wp_date( 'F j, Y (D) g:i a', $timestamp, wp_timezone() );
}

function my_cfs_schedule_status( $post_id = null ) {
  $now   = ( new DateTimeImmutable( 'now', wp_timezone() ) )->getTimestamp();
  $start = my_cfs_datetime_timestamp( 'reception_start_date', 'reception_start_time', $post_id );
  $end   = my_cfs_datetime_timestamp( 'reception_end_date', 'reception_end_time', $post_id );

  if ( $start && $now < $start ) {
    return 'before';
  }

  if ( $end && $now >= $end ) {
    return 'ended';
  }

  return 'active';
}

Switch the template output

single-event.php

PHP / Template

<?php
$status = my_cfs_schedule_status( get_the_ID() );
$start_label = my_cfs_datetime_label(
  'reception_start_date',
  'reception_start_time',
  get_the_ID()
);
$end_label = my_cfs_datetime_label(
  'reception_end_date',
  'reception_end_time',
  get_the_ID()
);
?>

<section class="reception-box">
  <?php if ( 'before' === $status ) : ?>
    <p>
      Registration opens at
      <?php echo esc_html( $start_label ); ?>.
    </p>

  <?php elseif ( 'ended' === $status ) : ?>
    <p>
      Registration ended at
      <?php echo esc_html( $end_label ); ?>.
    </p>

  <?php else : ?>
    <p>
      Registration is open until
      <?php echo esc_html( $end_label ); ?>.
    </p>
    <?php echo do_shortcode( '[contact-form-7 id="123" title="Registration"]' ); ?>
  <?php endif; ?>
</section>

Check page caching

The display changes when WordPress renders the page. If a page cache or CDN serves old HTML, visitors may see the previous state after the scheduled time.

Use a short cache lifetime for scheduled pages.
Purge the page cache after start or end times.
For forms, also check the schedule on the server-side submission handler.