Locked until correct date

Report · Nov 17, 2020

Is there a simple/easy way to lock links/pages until a spesific date? I'm making an advent/christmas calendar for my school, and am not able to do it manually this year.

Report · Nov 17, 2020

Can you use php on your website/server?

If you can you can access the 'current date' and check it against the date when you require the links/information to be shown.

Below is an example - 16th and 17th November will show the information but 18th and 19th will not as those dates have not been reached yet.

<?php
$currentDate = date('Y-m-d');
?>

<?php if($currentDate >= '2020-11-16') { ?>
<h3>16-11-2020 Show Information</h3>
<?php } ?>


<?php if($currentDate >= '2020-11-17') { ?>
<h3>17-11-2020 Show Information</h3>
<?php } ?>

<?php if($currentDate >= '2020-11-18') { ?>
<h3>18-11-2020 Show Information</h3>
<?php } ?>

<?php if($currentDate >= '2020-11-19') { ?>
<h3>19-11-2020 Show Information</h3>
<?php } ?>

If you want to show the links on the page but deny access to the associated pages until a specific date then you could do something like below: Create a default 'sorry.html' page which will be evoked IF the specific date has not yet been reached. Create a page for each date '16-11-2020.html', '17-11-2020.html' etc which will be evoked IF the date is equal or more than the current date:

<?php
$currentDate = date('Y-m-d');
?>


<ul>

<li><a href="<?php if($currentDate >= '2020-11-16') { echo '16_11_2020.html'; } else { echo 'sorry.html';} ?>">16-11-2020</a></li>

<li><a href="<?php if($currentDate >= '2020-11-17') { echo '17_11_2020.html'; } else { echo 'sorry.html';} ?>">17-11-2020</a></li>

<li><a href="<?php if($currentDate >= '2020-11-18') { echo '18_11_2020.html'; } else { echo 'sorry.html';} ?>">18-11-2020</a></li>

<li><a href="<?php if($currentDate >= '2020-11-19') { echo '19_11_2020.html'; } else { echo 'sorry.html';} ?>">19-11-2020</a></li>

</ul>

However if gets a bit more complex if you produce seperate pages because if someone typed in 18-11-2020.html directly before the date is reached the page would be accessible so you would have to nail that down: One way would be to check the date on each seperate page '16-11-2020.html', '17-11-2020.html' etc - show the information only IF the date is equal or more than the current date or show a message IF its not.

<?php
$currentDate = date('Y-m-d');
?>


<?php if($currentDate >= '2020-11-18') { ?>

<h3>Access Allowed</h3>

<?php } else { ?>

<h3>No Access Allowed</h3>

<?php } ?>

Its a matter of finding a solution which you understand - you could do all the processing in one page if you have the necessary knowledge.

Report · Nov 17, 2020

Thank you so very much. I will try out this in a few days, and see if i can make it work. Not that I'm not eager to try it right away, but they won't let me leave the hospital until Friday 🤣😂 Tibe