pkBlog now has publication dates and full status information
PubKitBlog snippet has been updated to allow the optional setting of date ranges when items should be displayed, and the management screen has been spruced up with colour-coded flags for item status.
The input form now has two date fields alongside the standard date field, where you specify when the item should start appearing (the pub_date field, in fact) and the last date it should appear. The unpub_date will be set to one day later than this, so if you have an announcement that will be out of date soon after the relevant day, you can depublish it automatically the day after the event, for instance. From here to making an events list is but a couple of steps. Publication dates are compared with the current date when you activate the Publish button and the "published" field is set accordingly.
The Manage Posts screen displays all of the dates you set on the items, and colour codes them to indicate what's live, what's an unpublished draft, what's past its expiration date and what is still awaiting its publication day. This is achieved with the aid of a Ditto extender that examines the relevant fields and compares the dates with the current date. A custom PHx modifier colour-codes the status flag and date fields to give an instant overview of the state of your publications.
A small but significant addition is the Add Item button at the top of the Manage Posts screen. Full details of the current version of pkBlog, with listings and download, in the pkBlog section.