Display During Conditional Shortcode

We wrote this plugin to enable showing or hiding content on a WordPress site based on the date.

Description

Display content conditionally based on a schedule. Choose from three scheduling modes:

  1. Date Range – Show content between specific start and end dates
  2. Recurring – Show content on specific days of the week during a time window
  3. Custom – Use PHP strtotime expressions for flexible scheduling

Gutenberg Block

The Display During block provides a visual editor with:

  • Sidebar controls for all three scheduling modes
  • Date/time pickers for start and end dates
  • Day-of-week checkboxes for recurring schedules
  • Live status indicator (active/inactive)
  • Optional fallback message when content is hidden
  • Copy as Shortcode toolbar button

Shortcodes

The [display_during] shortcode works in the Classic Editor and anywhere shortcodes are supported.

Date range:
[display_during start_day_time=”June 1, 2026 8:00 am” end_day_time=”December 31, 2026 11:59 pm”]Content here[/display_during]

Recurring schedule (new in 2.0):
[display_during days=”mon,wed,fri” start_time=”09:00″ end_time=”17:00″]Office hours content[/display_during]

Custom strtotime:
[display_during start_day_time=”Sun 8:00 am” end_day_time=”Mon 8:00 pm”]Weekend content[/display_during]

With fallback message:
[display_during end_day_time=”June 1, 2026″]Register now![display_during_message]Registration has closed.[/display_during_message][/display_during]

Shortcode Parameters

  • start_day_time – When to start showing content (strtotime string or date)
  • end_day_time – When to stop showing content
  • days – Comma-separated days for recurring mode (mon,tue,wed,thu,fri,sat,sun)
  • start_time – Start time for recurring mode (HH:MM format)
  • end_time – End time for recurring mode (HH:MM format)
  • timezone_location – PHP timezone identifier (defaults to site timezone)
  • message – Plain text fallback message (legacy; use nested shortcode for rich content)

Screenshots

  1. Block Editor - Display During block with schedule sidebar

    Block Editor - Display During block with schedule sidebar

  2. Block Editor - Recurring schedule with day checkboxes

    Block Editor - Recurring schedule with day checkboxes

  3. Content shown during valid dates

    Content shown during valid dates

Changelog

2.0

  • New: Gutenberg block with visual schedule controls (Dates, Recurring, Custom modes)
  • New: Recurring schedule mode – show content on specific days of the week during a time window
  • New: Nested [display_during_message] shortcode for rich fallback content (HTML, shortcodes, media)
  • New: Shortcode-to-block transform for converting existing shortcodes
  • New: Copy as Shortcode toolbar button in block editor
  • New: Live schedule status indicator in editor (active/inactive/unknown)
  • New: Shared schedule evaluation engine used by both block and shortcode
  • New: Full i18n support with .pot file for translations
  • Improvement: Refactored shortcode handler to use shared evaluator
  • Improvement: All date comparisons use integer timestamps (fixes microsecond comparison bug)
  • Requires WordPress 6.1+ (for block editor support)

1.4

  • Feature: Support start_day_time without end_day_time to show content permanently after a date
  • end_day_time is no longer required when start_day_time is provided

1.3

  • Security: Sanitize all shortcode attributes with sanitize_text_field() and wp_kses_post()
  • Security: Validate timezone against timezone_identifiers_list() before use
  • Improvement: Rewrite date handling using DateTime/DateTimeZone objects instead of date_default_timezone_set()
  • Improvement: Add try/catch for invalid date/time strings in shortcode attributes
  • Coding standards: Full PHPCS WordPress-Extra compliance

1.2

  • Bug fix to reset timezone back to whatever it was before the shortcode runs

1.1

  • Public release of plugin to WordPress repository

1.0

  • Initial version of plugin, internal release only
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