Set Expiration Date of a Post from the Frontend with wp_insert_post

Question

i try to build a form that users posts from frontend, everything works fine but i need to know if it's possible, if i play with the 'post_date' => date('Y-m-d H:i:s')?

if i add a hidden field that generates the expiration day (+30 days from the post day) and then add it to the post with add_post_meta($post_id, 'expiration', $expDate, true);

anyone have any ideas how i can build something like this?

thanks a lot,
Philip

Answer 1

The post by itself is only data, it cannot perform such action as expiring itself. So you need some form of external control to act on it.

You can use WP Cron (see wp_schedule_event() and related) to run periodic task that will query for posts by your custom field and perform wanted action on them (trashing, cancelling published status, etc).

Answer 2

Some plugins handle this as well such as my Post Expiration Date, which does not require WP Cron. WP Cron is fine if you have it, but not everyone does and not all hosts support it.