Site Online Schedule

Question

Joomla 3.9.13

I'm currently working on a website which is currently offline. I need make make it available and online at a certain date / time. I may not be available to do this manually.

Is it possible to schedule this action somehow?

Also, it would be nice if I could easily re-use this action.

I'd prefer not to override any core files or code.

Answer 1

You could create a cron job that runs daily and executes a PHP file. You should be able to set this up in your hosting control panel.

Command: php /home/xxx/public_html/cli/sitelive.php

---

Then go to: https://www.unixtimestamp.com/index.php, add the date you wish to go live and convert it to a UNIX timestamp.

sitelive.php:

const _JEXEC = 1;

error_reporting(E_ALL | E_NOTICE);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);

if (file_exists(dirname(__DIR__) . '/defines.php'))
{
    require_once dirname(__DIR__) . '/defines.php';
}

if (!defined('_JDEFINES'))
{
    define('JPATH_BASE', dirname(__DIR__));
    require_once JPATH_BASE . '/includes/defines.php';
}

require_once JPATH_LIBRARIES . '/import.legacy.php';
require_once JPATH_LIBRARIES . '/cms.php';

// Load the configuration
require_once JPATH_CONFIGURATION . '/configuration.php';

class SiteLivecron extends JApplicationCli
{
    public function doExecute()
    {
        // Get date object
        $date = JFactory::getDate();
        $current = $date->toUnix();
        $goLiveDate = YOUR_GENERATED_UNIX_TIMESTAMP; // Edit this line

        if ($current > $goLiveDate)
        {
            $configFile = JPATH_BASE . '/configuration.php';
            $contents = file_get_contents($configFile);

            // Replace the $offline variable
            $replace = str_replace("$offline = '1'", "$offline = '0'", $contents);

            // Save the file
            file_put_contents($configFile, $replace);
        }
    }
}

JApplicationCli::getInstance('SiteLivecron')->execute();

Note: I'd suggest giving this a test before

Hope it helps

Answer 2

I am assuming you are referring to the $offline field in configuration.php is set to something other than 0 to make your website offline. If your are disabling at a server or .htaccess level then this answer won't be much help.

A fairly simple plugin that stores the date/time you want the site to go online. The plugin will check each time someone visits the site and the first person to visit past the desired date/time will update $offline to '0' and your site is now online.

For a bit more coolness you could have the plugin disable itself once it has been triggered to avoid having it trigger on every page of visitors.

Answer 3

You can do that from the template side. Add this code below in the top of the file ../templates/your_default_template_name/offline.php, after the defined('_JEXEC') or die; part

$currentTime = new JDate();
$siteLive = new JDate('2019-11-21 11:21:36'); // Change to your site live
if($currentTime >= $siteLive ) {
   $str = file_get_contents('configuration.php');
   $str = str_replace("offline = '1';", "offline = '0';",$str);
   file_put_contents('configuration.php', $str);
   echo "<script> location.href='index.php'; </script>";
}

Note : You probably will need to change the permission of configuration.php into writeable which is may open up a potential security hole. I'd suggest you to change back the permission into unwritable as soon as you can.