PHP Make form field read-only conditionally based on date & time - php

Question

I'm trying to have 2 fields in my form become read only after a certain time & date.
I've cobbled together some code from a few places in an attempt to make this work but I'm a total novice so I can't identify where it's going wrong or why.
The fields I want conditionally read-only are 1 & 13 in the example below. I'm not even sure what the numbers 9 & 2 are for. Like I said, absolute beginner.
Adding Angel's time & date definitions from his answer, here's what I have so far...
$W1F1Start = "2020-10-16 12:42:00";
$now = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
if(strtotime($now) > strtotime($W1F1Start)){
add_filter('frm_setup_new_fields_vars', 'frm_set_read_only_on_create', 9, 2);
add_filter('frm_setup_edit_fields_vars', 'frm_set_read_only_on_create', 9, 2);
function frm_set_read_only_on_create( $values, $field ){
if ( in_array( $field->id, array( 1,13 ) ) ) {
$values['read_only'] = 1;
}
return $values;
}
return $values;
}
If I get this to work, I eventually need to make up to 20 fields read-only at different times and dates in the same form.
My form is a Formidable form on wordpress if it makes a difference.
In their knowledge bank they have 2 bits of code that I assume I can put together somehow to do what I want, but I can't figure out how...
This one 'makes fields read only' based on a thing
add_filter('frm_setup_new_fields_vars', 'frm_set_read_only_on_create', 9, 2);
add_filter('frm_setup_edit_fields_vars', 'frm_set_read_only_on_create', 9, 2);
function frm_set_read_only_on_create( $values, $field ){
// If on the back-end, keep fields editable
if ( FrmAppHelper::is_admin() || current_user_can( 'administrator' ) ) {
return $values;
}
// If on front-end, make specific fields read-only
if ( in_array( $field->id, array( 554,555,556 ) ) ) {
$values['read_only'] = 1;
}
return $values;
}
And this one does something 'based on current date'
add_filter('frm_setup_new_fields_vars', 'remove_field_option_by_date', 30, 2);
add_filter('frm_setup_edit_fields_vars', 'remove_field_option_by_date', 30, 2);
function remove_field_option_by_date( $values, $field ) {
$today = time();
$close_date = strtotime ( "2020-06-20" ); // change 2020-06-20 to the date after which the option should be removed
if ($today id == 13677 ) { // change 13677 to your field id
$options_to_remove = array( 'Option 1' ); // change Option 1 to the value to remove
foreach ( $options_to_remove as $remove ) {
$option_key = array_search( $remove, $values['options'] );
if ( $option_key !== false ) {
unset( $values['options'][ $option_key ] );
}
}
}
return $values;
}
I need to 'make fields read only'-'based on a date'. But I'm at a loss as to how to put those two things together.
Hope this is all the information needed. Is this possible?

Answer 1

1st - in Wordpress "code snippets" go in functions.php, located inside the theme you're using, so can do this without a plugin. Now to compare 2 dates you can have something like this:
// Static W1F1 start date
$W1F1Start = new DateTime();
$W1F1Start->setTimestamp(1602840600);
$now = new DateTime();
if($now > $W1F1Start){
// do whatever
}
Or lets assume your variable $W1F1Start is a string "2020-10-16 09:30:00" (this is the value of formatted $W1F1Start->format('Y-m-d H:i:s')) and you want to compare that to what current time, then you can use strtotime(), which will convert your strings to timestamps:
$W1F1Start = "2020-10-16 09:30:00";
$now = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
if(strtotime($now) > strtotime($W1F1Start)){
// do whatever
}
So this is your code final look:
add_filter('frm_setup_new_fields_vars', 'frm_set_read_only_on_create', 9, 2);
add_filter('frm_setup_edit_fields_vars', 'frm_set_read_only_on_create', 9, 2);
function frm_set_read_only_on_create( $values, $field ){
// Static W1F1 start date
$W1F1Start = new DateTime();
$W1F1Start->setTimestamp(1602840600);
// current time
$now = new DateTime();
$now->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('UTC'));
// if cuurent time > W1F1Start
if ($now > $W1F1Start) {
if ( in_array($field->id, array(1,13))) {
$values['read_only'] = 1;
}
return $values;
}
return $values;
}