Timeloop plugin for Craft CMS 3.x

This plugin creates repeating dates without complex inputs

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Have you ever wanted to create recurring events without having the bloat of a full scale events calendar or the need to duplicate entries over and over?

Timeloop allows you to do just that. Simply set a start date (and time if you wish), configure the repetition frequency (every last Sunday of the month maybe?) and set any reminder you might like (2 days before sounds great) and Timeloop will provide you with an array of dates to work with.

Some examples

You have a dance class that is held every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30pm
An employee portal wants to set a reminder for staff to update their contact details once a year.
A church wants to display a list of all the dates for upcoming monthly worships on the last Sunday of the month.
A training company holds the same event every 1st Wednesday of the month and doesn't want to duplicate the content for each event.

If you have any repeating dates in your entries, Timeloop is for you.

Requirements

This plugin requires Craft CMS 3.3.0 or later.

Using Timeloop

The Timeloop Model

Fetching dates (returned as DateTime objects)

Get the start date from the loop (this includes the time set in loopStartTime):

    {{ entry.timeloop.loopStartDate | date('Y-m-d\\TH:i:sP') }}

Get the end date from the loop (this includes the time set in loopEndTime):

    {{ entry.timeloop.loopEndDate | date('Y-m-d\\TH:i:sP') }}

Get the start time from the loop:

    {{ entry.timeloop.loopStartTime | date('H:i:s') }}

Get the end time from the loop:

    {{ entry.timeloop.loopEndTime | date('H:i:s') }}

Get an 'array' of dates between the chosen start and end date as (DateTime objects):

    {% for date in entry.timeloop.dates %}
        {{ date | date('Y-m-d\\TH:i:sP') }}
    {% endfor %}

This generated set of dates takes all the field values into consideration (frequency, cycle and custom settings)

Upcoming Dates (returned as DateTime Objects)

Get the first upcoming date. If there is no upcoming date the returned value will be false:

    {{ entry.timeloop.upcoming ? entry.timeloop.upcoming | date('Y-m-d\\TH:i:sP') : 'no upcoming date' }}

Get the date that is following the first upcoming date. If there is no nextUpcoming date the returned value will be false:

    {{ entry.timeloop.nextUpcoming ? entry.timeloop.nextUpcoming | date('Y-m-d\\TH:i:sP') : 'no next upcoming date' }}

Period Model

Get the frequency of the period (e.g. P2D, P1W, P4M, ...) as (DateTimePeriod String):

    {{ entry.timeloop.period.frequency }}

Get the set cycle for the frequency (e.g. 1, 4, 8) as (Integer):

    {{ entry.timeloop.period.cycle }}

Display the selected days if the frequency is set to weekly as (Array):

    {% for day in entry.timeloop.period.days %}
        {{ day }}
    {% endfor %}

The above will parse the names of the selected days when weekly has been chosen as frequency.

Timestring Model

Get the ordinal of a monthly set loop (e.g. first, second, ..., last)

warning: If the chosen frequency is not monthly, the returned value will be null. warning: If the frequency is set to monthly and no timestring selection has been made, the returned value will be none as (String).

    {{ entry.timeloop.timestring.ordinal ?? 'not set' }}

Reminder Model

Get a reminder before the recurring date occurs (DateTime)

    {{ entry.timeloop.reminder | date('Y-m-d\\TH:i:sP') }}

GraphQL

If you want to use the plugin through GraphQL, we've added a custom GraphQL Type to provide the field data.

You can get the DateTime Types from the data directly for:

loopStartDate will return the start date.
loopStartTime will return the start time, defaults to 00:00:00 when no start time has been entered or showTimes is set to false.
loopEndDate will return the end date.
loopEndTime will return the end time, defaults to 23:59:59 when no end time has been entered or showTimes is set to false.
loopReminder will return the reminder for the first upcoming date, if any.

Loop Period

You can get the loopPeriod object in the query as follows:

    loopPeriod {
        frequency
        cycle
        days
        timestring {
          ordinal
          day
        }
    }

frequency will return the chosen frequency (P1D / P1W / P1M / P1Y).
cycle will return the entered cycle value.
days will return an array that contains the selected days of the week as string.
timestring will return an object that contains the ordinal (e.g. last) and day (e.g. Saturday) values.

The Dates

To get an array of formatted dates, use dates.

Dates arguments:

limit (Integer): add a limit of dates you want to return, defaults to 100.
futureDates (Boolean): if you want to show future dates only, defaults to true.

Dates directives:

formatDateTime(timezone: "Europe/London" format: "d/m/Y")

query{
  entries(section: "section"){
    id,
    ...on section_section_Entry {
      dateCreated,
      title,
      timeloop {
        loopReminder
        loopStartDate
        loopStartTime
        loopEndDate
        loopEndTime
        loopPeriod {
          frequency
          cycle
          days
        }
        getDates(limit: 10, futureDates: false)
        getReminder
        getUpcoming
        getNextUpcoming
      }
    }
  }
}

Timeloop Roadmap

Features for the future:

Add controllers to be used for a cronjob or other automated tasks.
Make the field translatable.
Provide language translations.
Add the possibility to blacklist dates (e.g. do not repeat the dates during July/August).
Add holiday settings (Bank holidays to take into consideration when displaying upcoming dates).
Localise holidays based on the Craft CMS timezone settings.

And many more!

Brought to you by Percipio.London

Timeloop