There are three situations when you need to make scheduled changes to a page or event, and each can be handled using a different method.


COMMON SITUATIONS


Warning: Scheduling content relies on an underlying scheduling system in WordPress called WP Cron, which is triggered by both user traffic and a server clock that runs every 15 minutes (typically 1:01, 1:16, 1:31, 1:46)  

We recommend scheduling updates to be published in regular 15 minute increments (e.g. 1:00, 1:15, 1:30, 1:45), and allow for a 1 - 15 minute delay before you see your changes go live.  Also make sure that you are logged in when you check, so that you're not seeing an old cached version of the page.

WP Cron can fail to run on occasion, so for mission critical changes like timed onsales it's important for you to observe the updates to make sure they take place, and build in some buffer time so that you can make any changes needed before the public starts to arrive on the site.  To help prevent this, we include a plugin called WP Missed Schedule posts, which also runs every 1

If WP Cron has not yet run at the intended time, you will see a "Missed Schedule" error when editing the page or event until WP Cron runs again within 15 minutes.



New Content


Use this process when you have a new Page or Event that hasn't been published before, which needs to be published and go live at a certain time        


WordPress' built-in scheduling tool works well for new content that is still in draft form.  

  1. Make sure the "WP Missed Schedule Posts" plugin is active in Plugins >> Installed Plugins.  This is on by default to aid in WP Cron scheduling.
  2. Save your draft
  3. In the "Publish" box, find the "Publish On" setting and set it to a future date and time (note times are set in 24-hour military time in this setting)
  4. The "Publish" button becomes the "Schedule" button.  Click this and the page will go live at the designated time.



Ticket Onsale

Use this process when your events or classes are already published, and the only change to your content is you have tickets that go on sale at a certain time.  This works for both presale and onsale situations.

This method doesn't use WP Cron, so it may be more precise with onsale timing.

Remember if you have a major onsale with >100 concurrent patrons on the site purchasing tickets, you may want to give Gameflow a heads up to make sure your site is ready with enough server resources for the onsale!


For this situation, you should first make sure that your ticketing system has a set onsale date and time.  Groundplan Sites can hide ticketing links, but if the tickets are onsale through your ticketing system, enterprising users and bots will be able to purchase tickets before the onsale time.


To improve the customer experience, we also want to prevent users from navigating to ticketing if tickets aren't on sale yet. We can use the included Groundplan Pro - Presale add-on plugin to aid with this.   

  1. Make sure the Groundplan Pro - Presale plugin is enabled under Plugins.  This is not enabled by default.
  2. Follow the instructions in this article to set up your presale conditions:  Class and Event Limited-Access Presale Settings



Revising Published Pages and Events

Use this process when a published page or event needs content changes other than ticket links applied at a certain time.  

This process is often helpful in combination with publishing of new events, e.g. if your homepage needs to be updated to a new version at the same time as your season is published.


  1. For this process, you'll need to check Plugins >> Installed Plugins and make sure "Yoast Duplicate Post" is enabled.  This is enabled by default.
  2. Find the published event or page you want to modify in either Events >> Events or Pages >> Pages.  
  3. Press the "Rewrite and Republish" button under the event.   This creates a duplicate draft of the page with a special "Republish" button.  
  4. When this version of the page is "Republished", it will replace the original version of the page or event, using the same URL.
  5. In the "Publish" box, find the "Republish On" setting and set it to a future date and time (note times are set in 24-hour military time in this setting)
  6. The "Republish" button becomes the "Schedule Republish" button.  Click this and the page will go live at the designated time. replacing the original version of the page. 
  7. Your original copy of the page or event is automatically removed, leaving only the new version.