Dates decrementing unexpectedly.

It’s sometimes necessary to set your server (php) timezone to be the same as your WP timezone.

I’m still new to this. How would I set the server timezone?

How you set the PHP timezone depends on your hosting setup. In some cases, it will be in the hosting control panel under some kind of PHP configuration setting. In other cases, it will be a php.ini file in your web root. I’d suggest checking with your web host support with the exact method to use in your case.

Hee, this sounds like the issue I’m having. Well, when everything seems to be in the same timezone, it still gets wrong. Only if I create a php.ini with date.timezone = “xxx/xxx” something preceded by a double quote:
“date.timezone = “xxx/xxx” it seems to be working, but then error_log gets loaded with lots of errors (well that’s basically what error_log is used for ?? ).

This is most likely because your local timezone settings are not propagating to child directories, and so the plugin ends up using the server default instead of your setting.

I have this issue too, but I don’t think it can be a server / timezone issue since it doesn’t affect all date fields.

I’m having to resort to using ‘text-line’ fields instead, which is a shame.

I’m running WordPress 4.4.1 – let me know if you’d like any other details about the setup.

Debugging this kind of thing is pretty involved because you need to make sure that the correct timezone setting is active in the context where the date is set. The problem is due to the timezone setting reverting to the server timezone in certain contexts. Most of the time this is due to local PHP settings not propagating into all contexts, which happens frequently in hosting setups where the primary PHP configuration is not accessible to the site owner.

Ask your web host about how to configure your PHP so that your timezone settings will be active in all directories of your site.

They said they can help configure a custom php.ini file instead of using the servers settings.

Can you let me know what needs to be in it please?

you need to add a setting like this:

date.timezone = "US/Central"

but for your own region, of course…take a look at this list…it has to be one of those. Make sure it is the same timezone set in your WP settings.

https://php.net/manual/en/timezones.php

Hi

I’ve got the new php.ini settings in place with the timezone set to: date.timezone = “Europe/London”
and wordpress set to Timezone – London

But the dates are still decrementing as before. Any other ideas?

Thank you

Further information, my hosting company has also assured me that the php.ini file is recursive into all the folders, so I don’t think that can be the issue.

This has fixed it for others, but your situation must be different somehow. Hard to debug this one, I’ve never seen it happen, it would require isolating the specific circumstances that lead to the problem.

It is certainly due to timezone shift, it’s just a question of why it’s happening in your case. One thing that can cause PHP to revert to the server timezone is if the timezone is set with an invalid string. The tricky part is, that can happen in any number of places. The base setting may be correct, but somewhere in your site code the timezone could be getting set using an invalid string. That could be a php file in another plugin or the theme, an .htaccess file or another php.ini somewhere in your site.

I’m having the same issue here. Date fields don’t keep there value. When entering 11/09/2015 it displays after saving the screen as 11/09/2015. But when the screen is closed and reopened it shows as 10/09/2015.

I’ve been looking for the php.ini file on my server but was unable to find it. Can you give me a hint where I can find that file?

You need to ask you web host about this. Tell them what you need to do, you need to make sure the timezone setting is propagating into all directories. It’s different depending on the server, so it’s best to get help directly from your host.

OK, I found the bug. It seems this problem only shows up in the admin “list participants” screen. The fix is this….

In the plugin file /classes/PDb_List_Admin.class.php on line 827, you’ll find:

$time = Participants_Db::is_valid_timestamp($value[$column->name]) ? (int) $value[$column->name] : Participants_Db::parse_date($value[$column->name], $column->name, $column->form_element == 'date');

change this to:

$time = Participants_Db::is_valid_timestamp($value[$column->name]) ? (int) $value[$column->name] : Participants_Db::parse_date($value[$column->name], $column->name, false);

and the dates will be consistent.