Template Scheduling

[bonbec]

... Shopowners
- What would you like to see in this page?
- What things would help you to choose/select a template.

Imagine I have several templates with identical features but different designs, each corresponding to a specific time of year, for example:
- Easter
- Christmas
- Summer Sales
- Winter Sales
- Black Friday
Ideally, I could set a start and end date for each template. The change would happen automatically.
Outside of these periods, it would use the usual template.
I think this is an idea that could significantly enhance the system.

[burt]

Ideally, I could set a start and end date for each template. The change would happen automatically.
Outside of these periods, it would use the usual template.
I think this is an idea that could significantly enhance the system.

This is a good idea but should, I think, be done standalone.

1. Shopowner gets/creates relevant templates and uploads them
2. New Admin Page that shows a list:
- select template
- select start date
- select end date.
Save.
3. Hook in shop side to look what the date is and set template appropriately.

The admin page, would be a list.

Template Name | Start Date | End Date | Action
Xmas | 2026-12-05 | 2026-12-25 | ⓘ
Valentine | 2027-02-01 | 2027-02-14 | ⓘ
Easter | 2027 -04-18 | 2027-04-25 | ⓘ
... etc etc
Xmas | 2027-12-05 | 2027-12-25 | ⓘ

Edit panel on the side, "delete", "edit" and so on
Button at the top "Schedule Template"

ALL of that is doable right now, and with zero core code changes.
Assuming, of course, you have some templates ready to use.

[burt]

Something like this;

sched.png

Where shopowner can schedule templates to turn on and off.
It's fairly simple but this is probably good enough.

TPL, start/end and status are self explanatory. "Priority" which allows shopowner to show a different template even when a scheduled template is showing...EG, image above:

Xmas TPL scheduled from 1st Dec to 6th Jan.
Boxing Day scheduled on 26th Dec -> more important priority = will show on that day.

--

Otherwise it gets a bit messy with loads of Templates:

Xmas 01/12 -> 25/12
Boxing Day 26/12
Xmas 27/12 ->30/12
NY 31/12 -> 01/01
Xmas 02/01 -> 06/01

With priorities, it is slightly easier;

Xmas 01/12 -> 06/01 (20)
Boxing Day 26/12 (10)
NY 31/12 -. 01/01 (10)

Boxing Day (10) overrides Xmas (20) on 26/12
NY (10) overrides Xmas (20) on 31/12 & 01/01

@bonbec any thoughts on this appreciated.

OPEN INVITE to anyone else who sees something in this, any thoughts appreciated.

[bonbec]

Something like this: yes.

But I think we can do it more simply without having to manage priorities like with the xmas screenshot.

It will be simpler for the user but perhaps more complicated for the coder...: ignore the year.
Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day are always on the same dates.
For the winter and summer sales in France, the dates are published in advance; we'll just need to change the day and month as soon as the dates are known. Perhaps it's the same in other countries?

This is just a thought. It would be great if other Phoenix users could contribute to this discussion.

[burt]

Easter

Is different every year...at least it is in UK ?

It would be great if other Phoenix users could contribute to this discussion.

[bonbec]

... Is different every year...at least it is in UK ?

You're right, that's my silly mistake of the day !

[burt]

... Is different every year...at least it is in UK ?

You're right, that's my silly mistake of the day !

Most will be on a regular schedule though, you are correct. Xmas, NY, Independence Day and the like.

There are some that are movable feasts; Easter. Thanksgiving ? Black Friday?

I wonder if those "movable" ones changes your opinion on the idea of dates `with years`?

[bonbec]

In my mind, I envisioned something like this:
- a flag to indicate fixed (F = fixed dates) or movable (M = variable dates)
- if F, the status is always ON (unless manually deactivated)
- if M, the status changes to OFF on the end date. When the date of event M is known, the date is modified, and the status is manually changed to ON.
Is this perhaps a bad idea?

[burt]

It's not a bad idea, it's just a lot more complicated I think.

In mine;
date to date. once it's done, it's done. <-- set and forget for the next 5 years

In yours;
date to date. Look at F/M status, deactivate or not <-- shopowner has to remember a lot more, come back in the future and turn some off, turn some on etc

Let's see what others have to say, the more voices the better

[bonbec]

Upon rereading my message this morning, I saw that I expressed the M poorly. To make it clearer, I have put in bold the word that corresponds to my initial thought :

if M, the status changes automatically to OFF on the end date.

The advantage I see in my idea is a shorter list of programmed templates.
I'm curious to know what others think of our two different approaches and which solution they prefer.