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Start Date, End Date, Metabox for Events Custom Post Types

Snippets by IsItWP

Do you want to add three metaboxes to your events custom post types? While there’s probably a plugin for this, we have created a quick code snippet that you can use to add start date, end date, and location metabox for events custom post types.

Instructions:

All you have to do is add this code to your theme’s functions.php file or in a site-specific plugin:

function ep_eventposts_metaboxes() {
    add_meta_box( 'ept_event_date_start', 'Start Date and Time', 'ept_event_date', 'event', 'side', 'default', array( 'id' => '_start') );
    add_meta_box( 'ept_event_date_end', 'End Date and Time', 'ept_event_date', 'event', 'side', 'default', array('id'=>'_end') );
    add_meta_box( 'ept_event_location', 'Event Location', 'ept_event_location', 'event', 'side', 'default', array('id'=>'_end') );
}
add_action( 'admin_init', 'ep_eventposts_metaboxes' );
 
// Metabox HTML
 
function ept_event_date($post, $args) {
    $metabox_id = $args['args']['id'];
    global $post, $wp_locale;
 
    // Use nonce for verification
    wp_nonce_field( plugin_basename( __FILE__ ), 'ep_eventposts_nonce' );
 
    $time_adj = current_time( 'timestamp' );
    $month = get_post_meta( $post->ID, $metabox_id . '_month', true );
 
    if ( empty( $month ) ) {
        $month = gmdate( 'm', $time_adj );
    }
 
    $day = get_post_meta( $post->ID, $metabox_id . '_day', true );
 
    if ( empty( $day ) ) {
        $day = gmdate( 'd', $time_adj );
    }
 
    $year = get_post_meta( $post->ID, $metabox_id . '_year', true );
 
    if ( empty( $year ) ) {
        $year = gmdate( 'Y', $time_adj );
    }
 
    $hour = get_post_meta($post->ID, $metabox_id . '_hour', true);
 
    if ( empty($hour) ) {
        $hour = gmdate( 'H', $time_adj );
    }
 
    $min = get_post_meta($post->ID, $metabox_id . '_minute', true);
 
    if ( empty($min) ) {
        $min = '00';
    }
 
    $month_s = '<select name="' . $metabox_id . '_month">';
    for ( $i = 1; $i < 13; $i = $i +1 ) {
        $month_s .= "\t\t\t" . '<option value="' . zeroise( $i, 2 ) . '"';
        if ( $i == $month )
            $month_s .= ' selected="selected"';
        $month_s .= '>' . $wp_locale->get_month_abbrev( $wp_locale->get_month( $i ) ) . "</option>\n";
    }
    $month_s .= '</select>';
 
    echo $month_s;
    echo '<input type="text" name="' . $metabox_id . '_day" value="' . $day  . '" size="2" maxlength="2" />';
    echo '<input type="text" name="' . $metabox_id . '_year" value="' . $year . '" size="4" maxlength="4" /> @ ';
    echo '<input type="text" name="' . $metabox_id . '_hour" value="' . $hour . '" size="2" maxlength="2"/>:';
    echo '<input type="text" name="' . $metabox_id . '_minute" value="' . $min . '" size="2" maxlength="2" />';
 
}
 
function ept_event_location() {
    global $post;
    // Use nonce for verification
    wp_nonce_field( plugin_basename( __FILE__ ), 'ep_eventposts_nonce' );
    // The metabox HTML
    $event_location = get_post_meta( $post->ID, '_event_location', true );
    echo '<label for="_event_location">Location:</label>';
    echo '<input type="text" name="_event_location" value="' . $event_location  . '" />';
}
 
// Save the Metabox Data
 
function ep_eventposts_save_meta( $post_id, $post ) {
 
    if ( defined( 'DOING_AUTOSAVE' ) && DOING_AUTOSAVE )
        return;
 
    if ( !isset( $_POST['ep_eventposts_nonce'] ) )
        return;
 
    if ( !wp_verify_nonce( $_POST['ep_eventposts_nonce'], plugin_basename( __FILE__ ) ) )
        return;
 
    // Is the user allowed to edit the post or page?
    if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_post', $post->ID ) )
        return;
 
    // OK, we're authenticated: we need to find and save the data
    // We'll put it into an array to make it easier to loop though
 
    $metabox_ids = array( '_start', '_end' );
 
    foreach ($metabox_ids as $key ) {
        $events_meta[$key . '_month'] = $_POST[$key . '_month'];
        $events_meta[$key . '_day'] = $_POST[$key . '_day'];
            if($_POST[$key . '_hour']<10){
                 $events_meta[$key . '_hour'] = '0'.$_POST[$key . '_hour'];
             } else {
                   $events_meta[$key . '_hour'] = $_POST[$key . '_hour'];
             }
        $events_meta[$key . '_year'] = $_POST[$key . '_year'];
        $events_meta[$key . '_hour'] = $_POST[$key . '_hour'];
        $events_meta[$key . '_minute'] = $_POST[$key . '_minute'];
        $events_meta[$key . '_eventtimestamp'] = $events_meta[$key . '_year'] . $events_meta[$key . '_month'] . $events_meta[$key . '_day'] . $events_meta[$key . '_hour'] . $events_meta[$key . '_minute'];
    }
 
    // Add values of $events_meta as custom fields
 
    foreach ( $events_meta as $key => $value ) { // Cycle through the $events_meta array!
        if ( $post->post_type == 'revision' ) return; // Don't store custom data twice
        $value = implode( ',', (array)$value ); // If $value is an array, make it a CSV (unlikely)
        if ( get_post_meta( $post->ID, $key, FALSE ) ) { // If the custom field already has a value
            update_post_meta( $post->ID, $key, $value );
        } else { // If the custom field doesn't have a value
            add_post_meta( $post->ID, $key, $value );
        }
        if ( !$value ) delete_post_meta( $post->ID, $key ); // Delete if blank
    }
 
}
 
add_action( 'save_post', 'ep_eventposts_save_meta', 1, 2 );
 
/**
 * Helpers to display the date on the front end
 */
 
// Get the Month Abbreviation
 
function eventposttype_get_the_month_abbr($month) {
    global $wp_locale;
    for ( $i = 1; $i < 13; $i = $i +1 ) {
                if ( $i == $month )
                    $monthabbr = $wp_locale->get_month_abbrev( $wp_locale->get_month( $i ) );
                }
    return $monthabbr;
}
 
// Display the date
 
function eventposttype_get_the_event_date() {
    global $post;
    $eventdate = '';
    $month = get_post_meta($post->ID, '_month', true);
    $eventdate = eventposttype_get_the_month_abbr($month);
    $eventdate .= ' ' . get_post_meta($post->ID, '_day', true) . ',';
    $eventdate .= ' ' . get_post_meta($post->ID, '_year', true);
    $eventdate .= ' at ' . get_post_meta($post->ID, '_hour', true);
    $eventdate .= ':' . get_post_meta($post->ID, '_minute', true);
    echo $eventdate;
}

Note: If this is your first time adding code snippets in WordPress, then please refer to our guide on how to properly copy / paste code snippets in WordPress, so you don’t accidentally break your site.

If you liked this code snippet, please consider checking out our other articles on the site like: 15 best content marketing tools and plugins and 50+ best responsive WordPress themes to create a mobile-ready website.

Comments   Leave a Reply

  1. Hello all,

    this code snippet is great! Thanks!!

    But i have a question…
    how can i display only the event DAY in the top row and one row below i want to display the MONTH.

    thx for your Support.
    Sven

  2. Kévin Lemonnier May 17, 2015 at 11:51 am

    I improved this post type to create only _start_timestamp and _end_timestamp in the database and not day, month, year, minute and hour.

  3. Hi,
    How to display upcoming events and past events ?

  4. The code does not seem to be saving the Location data. Checked the DB, it’s not there and it’s not getting populated in the form upon updating.

    1. solution:
      add the following line just before this comment: // Add values of $events_meta as custom fields

      $events_meta[‘_event_location’] = $_POST[‘_event_location’];

      I know it has been 2 years, but this makes it work and others might find it helpful 😉

  5. sample code on this one?

  6. From this code how do you display a list of these events in a single theme page?

    1. Well the events in this case would be a custom post type, or your default post. Displaying your events is the same as any other custom post type etc. This snippet just collects custom field information within the following values. _day, _year, _hour, _minute and you can display them using the eventposttype_get_the_event_date function at the bottom. On lines 02, 03, 04, you see that it is attached to a custom post type called ‘event’ you could change that to post or whatever post type you like. Then just display posts as normal.

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