show certain part of a php file once currentDate >= $publishDate

Question

Lets say I have a file foo_version1.php and its live and published. I need to add new content to it at some specific date and time in the future. Is there a way to make the new content show once the publish date is equal to today's date?

Here's what I've done so far...

<?php
    //set the time zone to LA
     date_default_timezone_set('America/Los_Angeles');

    class Timelock{
      var $fileName;
      var $contentName;
      var $publishDate;

      function __construct($fileName, $contentName, $publishDate){
        $this->contentName = $contentName;
        $this->publishDate = $publishDate;
        $this->fileName = $fileName;
      }
      function contentName(){
        return $this->contentName;
      }
      function publishDate(){
        return $this->publishDate;
      }
      function fileName(){
        return $this->fileName;
      }

    }

   //create objects that has certain publish date
   $chargers = new Timelock("content1.php" ,"San Diego Chargers", "2013-10-18 16:41:00");
   $colts = new Timelock("content2.php" ,"Indianapolis Colts", "2013-10-18 16:41:03");
   $vikings = new Timelock("content3.php" ,"Minnesota Vikings", "2013-10-18 16:41:06");
   $eagles = new Timelock("content4.php" ,"Philadelphia Eagles", "2013-10-18 16:41:09");
   $cowboys = new Timelock("content5.php" ,"Dallas Cowboyws", "2013-10-18 16:41:12");


   //add the contents with timelocks into the array
   $contentArray = array();
   $contentArray[] = $chargers;
   $contentArray[] = $colts;
   $contentArray[] = $vikings;
   $contentArray[] = $eagles;
   $contentArray[] = $cowboys;


    //include the file if the publish date is today
    foreach($contentArray as $obj){
        if( strtotime($currentDate) >= strtotime($obj->publishDate())){
            include ($obj->fileName());
        }
    } 
?> 

The problem with this is that I'm going to need to create new php files every time i need to add new content which is not ideal. So back to the question is there another to do this elegantly?

Answer 1

You can put all your content files into a single "content.php" file. Next I would not pass the file into the object as we can now assume that the all content is in the content.php.

Now what I would do is pass the name or date to the content.php file with a parameter in the URL during the include.

In your content.php, I would use a switch statement with the passed parameter and echo out the correct content.

The code would be as follows:

index.php:

<?php
//set the time zone to LA
 date_default_timezone_set('America/Los_Angeles');

class Timelock{
  private $contentName;
  private $publishDate;

  public function __construct($contentName, $publishDate){
    $this->contentName = $contentName;
    $this->publishDate = $publishDate;
  }
  public function contentName(){
    return $this->contentName;
  }
  public function publishDate(){
    return $this->publishDate;
  }
  public function fileName(){
    return "content.php" . "?name=" . $this->contentName;
  }

}

//create objects that has certain publish date
$chargers = new Timelock("San Diego Chargers", "2013-10-18 16:41:00");
$colts = new Timelock("Indianapolis Colts", "2013-10-18 16:41:03");
$vikings = new Timelock("Minnesota Vikings", "2013-10-18 16:41:06");
$eagles = new Timelock("Philadelphia Eagles", "2013-10-18 16:41:09");
$cowboys = new Timelock("Dallas Cowboyws", "2013-10-18 16:41:12");


//add the contents with timelocks into the array
$contentArray = array();
$contentArray[] = $chargers;
$contentArray[] = $colts;
$contentArray[] = $vikings;
$contentArray[] = $eagles;
$contentArray[] = $cowboys;


//include the file if the publish date is today
foreach($contentArray as $obj){
    if( strtotime($currentDate) >= strtotime($obj->publishDate())){
        include ($obj->fileName());
    }
} 
?> 

content.php:

 <?php
switch($_GET["name"]) {
   case "San Diego Chargers":
       echo "We are in San Diego Chargers content.";
       break;
   default:
       echo "No content found for " . $_GET["name"] . ".";
}
?>

To be even more efficient: Depending on exactly what each "contentX.php" contains you can create a MySQL database which will store team name, date, and content. Then your page can check the date, and grab the contents from the database to publish to the page.

Hope I could help, Luke