Gravity Wiz

Magically enhanced tutorials, snippets and plugins for Gravity Forms!

How to Populate and Modify Dates with Gravity Forms

Populate a Date field (or any text-based field) with a modified date based on the current date or a user-submitted date.

Last updated | Written by 160 Comments

  • February 11, 2015: Fixed issue where date format was mangled when using the source_field_id parameter and a non-US date format.

  • February 7, 2015: Added support for "min_date" parameter. Allows you to ensure a minimum calculated date when modifying a user-specified date.

View DemoShow CodeDownload Code
<?php
/**
* Gravity Wiz // Gravity Forms // Populate Date
*
* Provides the ability to populate a Date field with a modified date based on the current date or a user-submitted date. If the
* modified date is based on a user-submitted date, the modified date can only be populated once the form has been submitted.
*
* @version 1.3
* @author David Smith <david@gravitywiz.com>
* @license GPL-2.0+
* @link https://gravitywiz.com/populate-dates-gravity-form-fields/
*/
class GW_Populate_Date {
public function __construct( $args = array() ) {
// set our default arguments, parse against the provided arguments, and store for use throughout the class
$this->_args = wp_parse_args( $args, array(
'form_id' => false,
'target_field_id' => false,
'source_field_id' => false,
'format' => 'Y-m-d',
'modifier' => false,
'min_date' => false
) );
if( ! $this->_args['form_id'] || ! $this->_args['target_field_id'] ) {
return;
}
// time for hooks
add_action( 'init', array( $this, 'init' ) );
}
public function init() {
// make sure we're running the required minimum version of Gravity Forms
if( ! property_exists( 'GFCommon', 'version' ) || ! version_compare( GFCommon::$version, '1.8', '>=' ) ) {
return;
}
if( $this->_args['source_field_id'] ) {
add_action( 'gform_pre_submission', array( $this, 'populate_date_on_pre_submission' ) );
} else {
add_filter( 'gform_pre_render', array( $this, 'populate_date_on_pre_render' ) );
}
}
public function populate_date_on_pre_render( $form ) {
if( ! $this->is_applicable_form( $form ) ) {
return $form;
}
foreach( $form['fields'] as &$field ) {
if( $field['id'] == $this->_args['target_field_id'] ) {
$key = sprintf( 'gwpd_%d_%d', $form['id'], $field['id'] );
$value = $this->get_modified_date( $field );
$field['allowsPrepopulate'] = true;
$field['inputName'] = $key;
add_filter("gform_field_value_{$key}", create_function( '', 'return \'' . $value . '\';' ) );
}
}
return $form;
}
public function populate_date_on_pre_submission( $form ) {
if( ! $this->is_applicable_form( $form ) ) {
return;
}
foreach( $form['fields'] as &$field ) {
if( $field['id'] == $this->_args['target_field_id'] ) {
$timestamp = $this->get_source_timestamp( GFFormsModel::get_field( $form, $this->_args['source_field_id'] ) );
$value = $this->get_modified_date( $field, $timestamp );
$_POST[ "input_{$field['id']}" ] = $value;
}
}
}
public function get_source_timestamp( $field ) {
$raw = rgpost( 'input_' . $field['id'] );
if( is_array( $raw ) ) {
$raw = array_filter( $raw );
}
list( $format, $divider ) = $field['dateFormat'] ? array_pad( explode( '_', $field['dateFormat' ] ), 2, 'slash' ) : array( 'mdy', 'slash' );
$dividers = array( 'slash' => '/', 'dot' => '.', 'dash' => '-' );
if( empty( $raw ) ) {
$raw = date( implode( $dividers[ $divider ], str_split( $format ) ) );
}
$date = ! is_array( $raw ) ? explode( $dividers[ $divider ], $raw ) : $raw;
$month = $date[ strpos( $format, 'm' ) ];
$day = $date[ strpos( $format, 'd' ) ];
$year = $date[ strpos( $format, 'y' ) ];
$timestamp = mktime( 0, 0, 0, $month, $day, $year );
return $timestamp;
}
public function get_modified_date( $field, $timestamp = false ) {
if( ! $timestamp ) {
$timestamp = current_time( 'timestamp' );
}
if( GFFormsModel::get_input_type( $field ) == 'date' ) {
list( $format, $divider ) = $field['dateFormat'] ? array_pad( explode( '_', $field['dateFormat' ] ), 2, 'slash' ) : array( 'mdy', 'slash' );
$dividers = array( 'slash' => '/', 'dot' => '.', 'dash' => '-' );
$format = str_replace( 'y', 'Y', $format );
$divider = $dividers[$divider];
$format = implode( $divider, str_split( $format ) );
} else {
$format = $this->_args['format'];
}
if( $this->_args['modifier'] ) {
$timestamp = strtotime( $this->_args['modifier'], $timestamp );
}
if( $this->_args['min_date'] ) {
$min_timestamp = strtotime( $this->_args['min_date'] ) ? strtotime( $this->_args['min_date'] ) : $this->_args['min_date'];
if( $min_timestamp > $timestamp ) {
$timestamp = $min_timestamp;
}
}
$date = date( $format, $timestamp );
return $date;
}
function is_applicable_form( $form ) {
$form_id = isset( $form['id'] ) ? $form['id'] : $form;
return $form_id == $this->_args['form_id'];
}
}
# Configuration
new GW_Populate_Date( array(
'form_id' => 598,
'target_field_id' => 2,
'source_field_id' => 1,
'modifier' => '+1 day'
) );
view raw gw-gravity-forms-populate-date.php hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Way back when (in 2012), we wrote an article on how to populate a date, one year from the current date. We’ve rewritten this snippet to be more flexible, easier to configure, and added support for populating a date based on a user-specified date.

What does that mean? It means you can let the user select a date via a Date field and then you can add a year to that date and populate it into another field.

How is that useful? Maybe you’re selling a year-long membership where the user can define when they would like their membership to begin. They select the date they would like their membership to begin (via a Gravity Forms Date field) and this snippet would allow you to populate the date their membership would expire (a year later).

Why would you need the expiration date? Well, first of all… you ask a lot of questions. But seriously, it’d be nice if you could let the user know when their membership expires in the confirmation message or a notification email. If you’re super pro, you could even automatically cancel the membership after the expiration date (you’d need some extra code to do this).

This is just one example of how this snippet might be used. I’m sure there are a million more and I want to hear about them. Make sure you share your usage ideas in the comments.

Getting Started

  1. Check requirements

  2. Install the snippet

    • Copy and paste the entire snippet into your theme’s functions.php file.

  3. Configure the snippet

    • At a minimum, you will want to set the form_id parameter to the ID of your form and the target_field_id to the ID of the field in which the date should be populated. If you’d like to modify the date to be populated, set the modifier parameter with a value like +1 year or +7 days.
    • There are many, many more configuration options available for this snippet. Continue reading if you’re specific need has not already been covered.

Usage Examples

Populate Current Date (Today)

new GW_Populate_Date( array(
'form_id' => 39,
'target_field_id' => 4,
) );

Populate a Date field (or any other text-based field type) with the current date by replacing the form_id parameter with your Gravity Forms form ID and the target_field_id with the ID of the field you want to be populated.

If you’d like to make this date visible to the users but not editable, you can set any field to “Read Only” using the GP Read Only plugin. Just check the “Read Only” option in the field settings and users will be able to see the field value but not modify it.

Populate Date One Day from Today

new GW_Populate_Date( array(
'form_id' => 39,
'target_field_id' => 6,
'modifier' => '+1 day'
) );

Set the modifier parameter to modify the current date. You can add or subtract time and in some really neat ways. Additional usage instructions below.

Populate Date One Year from Today with a Custom Date Format

new GW_Populate_Date( array(
'form_id' => 39,
'target_field_id' => 7,
'modifier' => '+1 year',
'format' => 'F j, Y' // i.e. March 10, 2015
) );

Set the format parameter if you’d like to populate the date in a specific format. In this example, the date would be output like so: “September 20, 2014”. The default format is Y-m-d which would look like this: “2014-09-20”. Additional usage instructions below

Populate Date One Year from User-specified Date

new GW_Populate_Date( array(
'form_id' => 39,
'target_field_id' => 3,
'source_field_id' => 1,
'modifier' => '+1 year'
) );

Set the source_field_id parameter to the ID of the field from which the submitted value should be modified and used to populate the target field. The source field will generally be a Date field where the user can select a date.

Please note: When using this approach the date is modified and populated into the target field on form submission. The source field will not be populated immediately after the date has been selected. If you’d like to commission this enhancement, get in touch.

Since the target field will not be populated until after the form is submitted, you may not want it to be visible on the form. To resolve this you can either use a Hidden field type as the target field – or – you can use any other text-based field type and add the gf_hidden class to the “CSS Class Name” setting. This special class will hide the field from view while still allowing the populated value to be captured.

Parameters

Here is a full list of the available parameters and additional information on how each can be configured.

  • form_id (integer) (required)

    The ID of the form.

  • target_field_id (integer) (required)

    The ID of the field that you want to populate with the current date.

  • format (string) (optional)

    The format in which the date should be populated into the target field. Default value: Y-m-d (i.e. “2014-09-20”). Refer to the PHP date() function for a full list of available date formatting options.

    If your target field is a Date field, the populated date will be formatted using whatever date format is selected in the field settings.

  • source_field_id (integer) (optional)

    The ID of the field whose submitted value will be modified and populated into the target field.

  • modifier (string) (optional)

    A time specific string that will be used to modify the date of the target field.

    Refer to the PHP strtotime() function for a full list of available date modification commands. Some examples include: +1 day, +2 weeks, +1 week 2 days, next Thursday, and last Monday.

  • min_date (integer|string) (optional)

    A timestamp or date string (i.e. ’01/01/2016′) that will enforce a minimum calculated date when modifying a user-specified date.

    This is particularly useful when calculating a renewal date when the user is renewing in advance of their subscription end date.

How’d we do?

If you use it and like it, let us know. We’d love to hear the different ways you found this code useful!

Did this resource help you do something awesome with Gravity Forms? Then you'll absolutely love Gravity Perks; a suite of 29+ essential add-ons for Gravity Forms with support you can count on.

Comments

    • As in could I let the user select a time of day like 3pm and add and hour to another field to make 4pm please? This would be most useful.

    • This does not currently support Time fields. You could certainly do this if you were populating the time into a Single Line Text field though.

  2. Hi there, thanks for this… is it possible to add a modified date into an html block using a shortcode?

    Thanks,

    Ben.

    Reply

  3. Hey there :)

    Was using this snippet successfully for a couple years, and now suddenly the date is being rejected by the form because it requires (mm/dd/yyyy) and what is being populated is (Month dd,yyyy) All the snippet parts in the functions file refer to m-d-y and even if i change it to MdY or any variation, the result remains the same. How the heck do I force the form field to populate the digits rather than formal name, and without the comma?

    Hugely appreciate any help!

    Reply

  5. Can this be used with some logic? I want to take a date and add a month, 3 months or a year based on the value of another field.

    Reply

    • We have an advanced version of this snippet that supports field-based modifiers. In this way, you could create a field that had a numeric value for the number of months that should be added (1, 3, 12) and the date would be modified based on the user’s selection. The advanced version is available to Gravity Perks customers via support.

  6. Can this be used to populate a field with the user’s age? I have a GF with an input for the user’s DOB and another field for their age. I’d like for the age field to be dynamically populated once the user enter’s their DOB.

    Is that possible?

    Reply

    • Hi Chris, we have an early-access perk that is a better fit for this. It’s called Date Time Calculator and it would allow you to calculate/populate the user’s age with a merge tag like {Date:1:age}. If you’re a Gravity Perks customer, we’ll be happy to send you a copy of this plugin via support.

  7. Curious if this can be applied to labels – specifically those in lists. Say I wanted to get the state a person lived in over the last three years. I wouldnt want to change my form from 2017, 2016 and 2015 to be 2018, 2017 and 2016 when the new year rolls around. It would make more sense to have the list field column headers update based on the current year?

    Reply

  8. The advanced version of this snippet seems not working in newest version Gravity Forms 2.4.2, F12 showing error like this:

    “gravityforms.min.js?ver=2.4.2:1 Uncaught RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded at GFCalc.replaceFieldTags (gravityforms.min.js?ver=2.4.2:1) at GFCalc.runCalc (gravityforms.min.js?ver=2.4.2:1) at GFCalc.runCalcs (gravityforms.min.js?ver=2.4.2:1) at HTMLDocument. (gravityforms.min.js?ver=2.4.2:1) at HTMLDocument.dispatch (jquery.js?ver=1.12.4:3) at HTMLDocument.r.handle (jquery.js?ver=1.12.4:3) at Object.trigger (jquery.js?ver=1.12.4:3) at Object.a.event.trigger (jquery-migrate.min.js?ver=1.4.1:2) at HTMLDocument. (jquery.js?ver=1.12.4:3) at Function.each (jquery.js?ver=1.12.4:2)”

    Reply

    • I have a similar error message.

      My setup: Gravity Forms Version 2.4.5 Theme: GeneratePress Version: 2.2.1 WordPress 5.0.3

  9. Hi – Seems like a really nice snippet. Need your help to better figure out the following aspects:

    1. The earlier version of this snippet, “Populate date, one year from current date” supposedly works for all forms by default without specifying a form Id. Is there a way to make this new snippet work for all forms by default, if all of them are supposed to use the current date + 1 Year time for expiry date (user specified start/end date is not required in my case). Or, should I go with the previous version of this snippet, if it is not doable with this new version.

    2. Quote: “Why would you need the expiration date? It’d be nice if you could let the user know when their membership expires in the confirmation message or a notification email.”

      Does the above statement imply that this notification email regarding the expiration date can only be sent at the time of filling the form? Or is there a way to send these notification emails to the user closer to the expiry date as well, for example, for a 1-year subscription, sending these notification emails as reminders 30 days, 15 days, 1 day before expiry date, and one after the expiry date during the grace period (to make payment for renewal of subscription)?

    One way, I can think of is creating separate administrative visibility fields with current date + 335 days for reminder 1, current date + 350 days for reminder 2, current date + 364 days for reminder 3, and current date + 380 days for the final grace period reminder. And then, setting up separate notification email reminders for each of these fields to be automatically sent to user, when current date matches these respective reminder dates (by enabling conditional logic in form notification settings) with the snippet: “send manual notifications with Gravity Forms”. However, I can’t find the date field in the conditional logic fields in Form Settings –> Notifications. Is this doable and does this make sense? Or is there another way to accomplish this objective of sending expiry reminder emails to users?

    1. Quote: “min_date (integer|string) (optional): A timestamp or date string (i.e. ’01/01/2016′) that will enforce a minimum calculated date when modifying a user-specified date. This is particularly useful when calculating a renewal date when the user is renewing in advance of their subscription end date.”

    Need a bit more clarity here. For instance, if the user chooses to renew his annual subscription 10 days before the expiry date, in that case, his new subscription expiry date should be set accordingly (+ 1 year and 10 days from the date of renewal payment) as his previous subscription has not yet expired. How to accomplish this using this min_date parameter or otherwise?

    Request you to kindly help me out here with your invaluable guidance. Many thanks in advance,

    Best, Ambuj

    Reply

    • Hi David – Any update on the above queries. Kindly let me know if this is doable with the available free snippets, and if not, which Gravity perk(s) do I need to purchase to accomplish the above objectives fully. Thanks a lot for your help.

      Best, Ambuj

  10. Hi Dave, I have added this Snippet “How to Populate and Modify Dates” to my themes functions.php file and it’s working perfectly!!! It looks like I need to take this one step further. I am going to need to set the number of days added to each of my date fields based on one of the drop down values in the form. Can you or someone on your team provide me with some sample code how this would be done? Would that code be placed at the end of the php file or does it need to go to another place in the program. I’m not a PHP programmer so sorry if I have to ask some very basic questions.

    Thanks again!! Jon

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.