Date Time Picker Field in WordPress

A date time picker field stores a date and a time together — an open house, a webinar start, a deadline — so the moment is unambiguous.

What It Does

This is the field to use when a date alone is not enough. Storing both parts in one value keeps them in step, which two separate fields do not guarantee.

Before You Start

• Nexter Extension is installed and active.
• Content Fields is enabled under Nexter → Content Fields.
• You have a field group, or are about to create one.

Add a Date Time Picker Field

1. Go to Nexter → Content Fields and open the Group Fields tab.

2. Open a field group, or create a new one.

3. Click Add Field.

4. Set Field Label to Open house. The Field Name fills in automatically and is what you use in code.

5. Set Field Type to Date Time Picker.

6. Set Display Format for the picker.

7. Set Return Format — Y-m-d H:i:s is the safe choice for sorting and comparison.

8. Click Update.

Field Settings

Every field is configured across four tabs. These are the settings this field type offers, read from the field group builder in Nexter Extension 4.9.0.

General

Setting	Options	What it does
Display Format		No help text in the UI.
Return Format		No help text in the UI.
Week Starts On	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday	No help text in the UI.
Start on the current date		Start new items on the current date.

Validation

Setting	Options	What it does
Required		No help text in the UI.

Presentation

Setting	Options	What it does
Instructions		No help text in the UI.
Wrapper Attributes		No help text in the UI.

Conditional Logic

Setting	Options	What it does
Conditional Logic		No help text in the UI.

When to Use It

• An open house or viewing appointment.
• A webinar or session start.
• A submission deadline.

Display the Value

With Y-m-d H:i:s returned, the value goes straight into date functions:

<?php
$when = nxt_field_value( 'openhouse' );
if ( $when ) {
    $ts = strtotime( $when );
    echo esc_html( date_i18n(
        get_option( 'date_format' ) . ' ' . get_option( 'time_format' ),
        $ts
    ) );
}

Limitations

• The value carries no time zone. It is interpreted in the site time zone set under Settings → General, which matters if your audience is in another one.
• Comparing against “now” in a query means comparing strings, so Return Format must be a sortable format.

Troubleshooting

Upcoming events are in the wrong order

Return Format is a display format. Only Y-m-d H:i:s sorts correctly as text.

Times are off by an hour twice a year

That is daylight saving. The stored value has no time zone, so converting it through a timestamp shifts with the site time zone.

Related Docs

• Create your first field group
• Display a field value on the front end