Selector not working?

[ndolph]

This is my code...

function events_carousel() {
	$events = wire()->pages->get("/events/")->children('start=0, event_date>=' . date("Ymd") . ', limit=5, sort=-created');
	foreach ($events as $event) {
		echo "<li><strong>" . $event->title."</strong> - ".$event->event_date . "</li>";
	}
}

And this is the output..

• Back to the future! - 20141217
• MORE MULTI EVENT DAYS - 20150121
• Testing multi day events - 20150121
• Whisper does things - 20150126
• Crazy dog stuff - 20150121

But, it shouldn't display "Back to the future!", but it doesn't seem to care about the event_date.

Where am I going wrong?

[LostKobrakai]

I would suggest you to use a standartized dateformat, just to be sure the date is parsed correctly.

date_start>=today

date_start>=1365436783
date_start>=2013-04-08
date_start>=4/8/2013
date_start>=8.4.2013
date_start>="April 8, 2013"

From the comments here: http://processwire.com/api/selectors/#examples

[ndolph]

I would suggest you to use a standartized dateformat, just to be sure the date is parsed correctly.

From the comments here: http://processwire.com/api/selectors/#examples

I was using a standardized date format before and it didn't work for some reason.

Changed the field to use  l, F j, Y g:i a and changed the code to the following..

$events = wire()->pages->get("/events/")->children('start=0, event_date>=' . date("l F j Y g:i a") . ', limit=5, sort=-created');

It now works. *thumbs up*

[LostKobrakai]

You don't need to change the settings of your field. The date is stored as timestamp anyway. Only the date in the selector must be "readable" for php, so it can be compared to it.

[ndolph]

I've reset the settings of the field and have settled with this, I like displaying the date in a different format for certain places that this is embedded...

function events_list($location) {

	$dateFormatOut = 'D M j Y';
	$dateSelectorFormat = 'l F j Y g:i a';
	$dateQueryComparison = '';
	$outString = '<li><strong>%s</strong> - %s</li>'; // If you need to change this for a specific case, do so in the switch below. %s is printf() string representation

	// Switch to alter options depending on location
	switch($location) {
		case 'carousel':
			$dateFormatOut = 'l F j Y g:i a';
			$dateQueryComparison = '>=';
			break;
		case 'past':
			$dateQueryComparison = '<=';
			break;
		case 'upcoming':
			$dateQueryComparison = '>=';
			break;
	}

	$events = wire()->pages->get('/events/')->children(sprintf('start=0, event_date%s%s, limit=5, sort=-created', $dateQueryComparison, date($dateSelectorFormat)));
	foreach ($events as $event) {
		printf($outString, $event->title, date($dateFormatOut, $event->event_date));
	}
}

[LostKobrakai]

As you're not using specific dates for your selector, you could also use "today" or "time()" to compare to your datefield. No need to use a string date format, if you use it only in the selector. And you save all the lines about the $selectorFormat. Also I would suggest to change the line in the foreach to this: 

printf($outString, $event->title, date($dateFormatOut, $event->getUnformatted("event_date")));

This way you'll always get the timestamp of the field, no matter how it's displayed in the backend by the settings.