Using WP_Query how can I show events (a custom post type) that are in the future?

Question

I am using a plugin called events manager. There is a custom post type called events, & each event has a date in a custom field. There is also a custom taxonomy called event categories.

On my site, all the events that have been assigned to a term in the event categories taxonomy, have an archive page. My code below shows these events on the archive pages. However, it also shows the events that have already passed, I only want it to show future events. How can I change my code to make this bit work, please?:

<?php
$term = get_term_by( 'slug', get_query_var( 'term' ), get_query_var( 'taxonomy' ) ); $termst = $term->slug; 
$today = getdate (); 
$args = array(
  'post_type' => 'event',
  'tax_query' => array(
    array(
      'taxonomy' => 'event-categories',
      'field'    => 'slug',
      'terms'    => $termst,
            'posts_per_page' => -1,
      'meta_key' => '_event_start_date', 
      'meta_query' => array( array( 'meta_key' => '_event_start_date' , 'meta_value' => $today, 'compare' => '>=' , 'type' => 'date')),
      'orderby' => 'meta_value'
          ),
  ),
);
$query = new WP_Query( $args );
   if($query ->have_posts()) : 
      while($query ->have_posts()) : 
         $query ->the_post();
 ?>
         <h1><?php the_title() ?></h1>
      <?php   echo ' - '. get_post_meta($id, '_event_start_date', true)    ?>
      <?php
      endwhile;
   else: 
?>
      Oops, there are no posts.

<?php
   endif;
?>

Answer 1

If you store the event start date in _event_start_date, then you can check the value of this field against current date:

if (strtotime(get_post_meta($id, '_event_start_date', true)) > time()){
    // future event
} else {
    // past event
}

Answer 2

If you want to show only the events with a start date in the future, ordered by closest date to current date, then this should be useful for you:

          $current_date = date('Y-m-d'); //Get the current date in the same format as date fields normally store in db
          $args = array(  
                  'post_type' => 'event',
                  'posts_per_page' => 4, // Number of event posts you want to query                                
                  'meta_key' => '_event_start_date',
                  'orderby' => '_event_start_date',
                  'order'  => 'ASC', // Order posts starting with the closest date to current date

                  'meta_query' => array(
                      array(
                          'key' => '_event_start_date',
                          'value' => $current_date,
                          'compare' => '>=', //Compare $current_date with _event_start_date and show only the post with a date after or equal $current_date
                                    'type' => 'DATE',
                                ),

                            )
                        ); 
                    $query_eventos = new WP_query($args);

I'm using this query to show some info of the event posts in the homepage of a WordPress site I'm creating for a client, so, this should work.

I'm not using a plugin, insted I created a custom post type for events, so, check the "meta_key", "post_type", "order_by" and "key" values.

Answer 3

You can use date_query within your meta-query, like this:

'date_query' => array(
    array(
        'column' => 'event_start_date',
        'after'  => 'now'  
    )
)

https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Query#Date_Parameters

Answer 4

For anyone who also arrived here in search of a way to query future events with wp_query, the below code works.

$arguments = array('post_type' => 'event', 'meta_query' => array(array('key' => '_start_ts', 'value' => time(), 'compare' => '>=')));
$query = new WP_Query($arguments);