Grouping entries by a custom date conditional

Question

I'm looking to group entries based on a condition between two custom date fields and the current date. I'm not even sure this is possible, but this is how it would appear visually:

Happening Now

Entry 1

Entry 2

Happening in the future

Entry 3

Entry 4

Happened in the past

Entry 5

Entry 6

These entries all have two custom date fields, biddingStartDate and biddingEndDate. If the current date is between biddingStartDate and biddingEndDate, it should go under "Happening Now"; if the current date is before biddingStartDate, it should go under "Happening in the future"; and if the current date is after biddingEndDate, it should go under "Happened in the past".

The other large question here would be: how would the headings even be created since they're dynamic and not stored in the database?

Answer 1

You could fetch your entries then split them in three arrays which would give you the ability to then add headings manually and display as you need to.

{# Define today and three arrays to hold your grouped entries #}
{% set today = now|atom %}
{% set futureBids = [] %}
{% set currentBids = [] %}
{% set pastBids = [] %}

{# Fetch your entries #}
{% set entries = craft.entries().section('bids').all() %}

{# Populate your groups #}
{% for entry in entries %}
    {% set starts = entry.biddingStartDate | atom %}
    {% set ends = entry.biddingEndDate | atom %}

    {# future #}
    {% if starts > today %}
        {% set futureBids = futureBids | merge([entry]) %}

    {# current #}
    {% elseif starts <= today and ends > today %}
        {% set currentBids = currentBids | merge([entry]) %}

    {# past #}
    {% elseif ends < today %}
        {% set pastBids = pastBids | merge([entry]) %}
    {% endif %}
{% endfor %}

{# Display as you need... #}

<h2>Current Bids</h2>
<hr>
{% for entry in currentBids %}
    {{ entry.title }}<br>
{% endfor %}

<h2>Future Bids</h2>
<hr>
{% for entry in futureBids %}
    {{ entry.title }}<br>
{% endfor %}


<h2>Past Bids</h2>
<hr>
{% for entry in pastBids %}
    {{ entry.title }}<br>
{% endfor %}