Creating a conditional function based on timeframe - php

Question

As the title suggests, I need to create a conditional function in PHP based on time frame. I am very basic when it comes to knowledge of PHP but can understand concepts.
I have some 3rd party code but I need it to function only between a certain time range and to be essentially disabled when out of range.
I am trying to achieve something as follows:
IF time >=0800<=1700 (
DO NOTHING
) ELSE (
RUN CODE
)
The backstory for the question is I have some 3rd party code to integrate googles dialogflow into a website but it currently runs 24/7, I have a livechat system running from 0800 until 1700 and want googles diaglogflow (chatbot) to run when the livechat isn't running.
I'm not really looking for a straight up answer, but more of the concept behind how I can achieve this so I can better learn for the future.
Thanks,
Martyn

Answer 1

IF time >=0800<=1700 (
DO NOTHING
) ELSE (
RUN CODE
)
First things first, you don't need if else, else alone is fine, in pseudocode:
IF time < 0800 OR TIME > 1700
RUN CODE
Next thing to know will be how to check current time, there's plenty of way to do it so lets think which way will be the best.
We only care about hours and minutes, so lets take them.
$hourNow = date('H'); // $hour now is a string but we'd rather have it as an integer for better comparison.
$hourNow = (int) $hourNow; // this will cast, for example "15" to 15
$minuteNow = (int) date('i'); // as you can see you can do casting and getting a minute value at once
Now when we have all the info we need, it should be easy to write:
if ($hourNow < 8 || ($hourNow === 17 && $minuteNow > 0) || $hourNow > 17) {
// Do whatever you need in this case.
}
The conditional is pretty simple: if hour is less than 8 - we know it's prior to 8 o'clock.
If it's > 17 it's obviously later.
And if it's 17, it's kind of an edge case, as it could be 17:00 - so we need to specify that the minute is greater than 0.
I hope that helps, feel free to ask if something's not clear.