Add Publish Date button to Post Settings #23333

kean · 2024-06-07T20:57:39Z

I tried to re-implement it on top of the new infrastructure and avoid the old issues. 99% of users will just go "Post Settings" → Set "Publish Date" → "Schedule" → "Schedule". Other scenarios – and it opens the door for dozens of these – are largely irrelevant.

For reference, here are the related previous issues (some might by misclassified): #12121, #13724, #14251, #18517, #17086, #15767, #16514, #13654.

Note

This fix targets 25.1.

To test:

Scenario 1

Scheduling a draft post using Post Settings.

Create a new draft
Open "Post Settings"
✅ Verify that "Publish Date" has placeholder "Immediately"
Set "Publish Date" to the date in the future
Close "Post Settings"
✅ Verify that the "Publish" button changes to "Schedule"
Tap "Schedule"
✅ Verify that the "Publish Date" field displays the selected publish date and the primary button also says "Schedule"
Tap "Schedule"
✅ Verify that the post got scheduled

Scenario 2

Create a new draft
Save the draft
Open the same draft on wp.com
Set "Publish Date" to the date in the future and save it
Return to the app and refresh the Post List
Open the same draft again
✅ Verify that the "Publish" button changes to "Schedule"

Scenario 3

Create a new draft
Open "Post Settings"
Set "Publish Date" to the date in the future
Save draft
Open it again
✅ Verify that the "Publish" button say "Schedule"
Tap "Schedule"
Open "Publish Date" and remove it
✅ Verify that the value changes to "Immediately"
Tap "Shedule" to confirm publishing
✅ Verify that the post actually got scheduled

Regression Notes

Potential unintended areas of impact
What I did to test those areas of impact (or what existing automated tests I relied on)
What automated tests I added (or what prevented me from doing so)

PR submission checklist:

I have completed the Regression Notes.
I have considered adding unit tests for my changes.
I have considered adding accessibility improvements for my changes.
I have considered if this change warrants user-facing release notes and have added them to RELEASE-NOTES.txt if necessary.

Testing checklist:

kean · 2024-06-07T21:00:48Z

WordPress/Classes/Services/PostCoordinator.swift

-            // the app has to send a new value to override it.
-            parameters.date = post.shouldPublishImmediately() ? nil : Date()
-        }
+        parameters.date = options.publishDate ?? .now


The safest option is to just to set to .now every time unless it's explicitly provided.

wpmobilebot · 2024-06-07T21:06:32Z

📲 You can test the changes from this Pull Request in WordPress Alpha by scanning the QR code below to install the corresponding build.

	App Name	WordPress Alpha
	Configuration	Release-Alpha
	Build Number	pr23333-14e67ee
	Version	25.0
	Bundle ID	org.wordpress.alpha
	Commit	`14e67ee`
	App Center Build	WPiOS - One-Offs #10131

Automatticians: You can use our internal self-serve MC tool to give yourself access to App Center if needed.

wpmobilebot · 2024-06-07T21:06:48Z

📲 You can test the changes from this Pull Request in Jetpack Alpha by scanning the QR code below to install the corresponding build.

	App Name	Jetpack Alpha
	Configuration	Release-Alpha
	Build Number	pr23333-14e67ee
	Version	25.0
	Bundle ID	com.jetpack.alpha
	Commit	`14e67ee`
	App Center Build	jetpack-installable-builds #9179

Automatticians: You can use our internal self-serve MC tool to give yourself access to App Center if needed.

staskus

Scenario 3 doesn't work properly. Although after setting a post draft date it correctly turns into a "Schedule" state, the publish date is shown "Immediately". It only happens after initially saving the draft. The date is correctly shown after setting it in post settings after initially saving the draft.

Scenario.3.broken.mp4

kean · 2024-06-10T11:53:39Z

Scenario 3 doesn't work properly.

I'm not sure it's feasible to make it work correctly in all scenarios considering how the API works.

The root cause is that if you pass date in the initial request to create a draft, the server thinks it's a "Created" date and not a "Publish" date and sets both date and modified to this value (if you want to know why, read the comment to shouldPublishImmediately) :

  "date": "2024-06-18T20:19:00+09:00",
  "modified": "2024-06-18T20:19:00+09:00",

There is another related issue: the "edited" date in the Post List is incorrect for these posts.

I added a workaround where the first time you save a draft, it doesn't send date to the server, but it should be addressed with a new API. The .org REST API doesn't have some of these problems, so maybe we could fix it in the future. Alternatively, I could add a more elaborate workaround where the app would skip sending date when creating the original draft and instead create a separate revision/diff to send it in a follow-up update, but that just sounds too flaky and complicated.

This is one of the many reasons we removed this field...

staskus · 2024-06-10T12:28:55Z

Thanks for providing context, @kean. 🤔

The root cause is that if you pass date in the initial request to create a draft, the server thinks it's a "Created" date and not a "Publish" date and sets both date and modified to this value

Okay... It explains the weird behavior I was seeing. The date picker shows "Immediately" but once I opened it, the date was set to the future date I set before saving the draft.

I added a workaround where the first time you save a draft, it doesn't send date to the server, but it should be addressed with a new API. The .org REST API doesn't have some of these problems, so maybe we could fix it in the future.

As I understand, this workaround is not expected to work with WP.com API for now? And how does WP.com solve this problem? I cannot reproduce the same issue. Setting the publish date and saving the draft works well.

This is one of the many reasons we removed this field...

Yes, I understand now why it was removed. It should be fixed from the backend side.

kean · 2024-06-10T12:34:56Z

And how does WP.com solve this problem?

wp.com creates a post on the server the moment you open a new draft (and this is when it sets the initial date aka "Created" data) and they also keep auto-saving drafts automatically as you edit.

staskus · 2024-06-10T12:53:14Z

Okay, @kean.

So it does sound a bit like another workaround you proposed:

Alternatively, I could add a more elaborate workaround where the app would skip sending date when creating the original draft and instead create a separate revision/diff to send it in a follow-up update, but that just sounds too flaky and complicated.

What I dislike about the current state is that it leaves many contradictions. For example, for a draft that had a publish date set to the next day, we:

Show Schedule button
After tapping schedule, we show "Immediately"
In post settings, we show "Immediately" but after tapping we show tomorrow's date in the date picker

Simulator.Screen.Recording.-.iPhone.15.-.2024-06-10.at.15.47.59.mp4

If we don't support publish dates for initial drafts but want to show the publish date in post settings for immediate scheduling, could we remove the created date when the initial draft is saved? At least then the UI will be consistent and display "Publish" instead of "Schedule". 🤔 I realize that none of these options is ideal.

dvdchr · 2024-06-10T13:02:27Z

Hey folks 👋 , I'm going to run code freeze now. Once it's ready, feel free to update the base branch to release/25.1. For task-keeping purposes, I'll set the milestone to Pending for now.

kean · 2024-06-10T13:16:26Z

the publish date in post settings for immediate scheduling, could we remove the created date when the initial draft is saved?

I think that's what I ended up doing If I understood your suggestion correctly.

Once it's ready, feel free to update the base branch to release/25.1

Sure!

staskus · 2024-06-10T13:28:46Z

I think that's what I ended up doing If I understood your suggestion correctly.

Yes, you did. I didn't realize that there is a different flow triggered when selecting "Save Draft" from the top bar menu. I was testing it and this workaround wasn't working. Let's apply the same workaround here as well, if possible, and move on with this PR.

dvdchr · 2024-06-10T15:17:09Z

👋 Code freeze for 25.1 has been completed. You can now target the release/25.1 branch. 🙂

dangermattic · 2024-06-10T16:31:45Z

	1 Warning
⚠️	This PR is assigned to the milestone 25.1 ❄️. The due date for this milestone has already passed. Please assign it to a milestone with a later deadline or check whether the release for this milestone has already been finished.

Generated by 🚫 Danger

kean · 2024-06-11T12:09:39Z

Tracks show that the "prepublishing flow" works just fine. I'm going to close it for now.

kean added 2 commits June 7, 2024 15:59

Add PostEditorAction.schedule

e9be10b

Implement scheduling for posts via Post Settings

4321af0

kean added the [Type] Task label Jun 7, 2024

kean added this to the 25.1 milestone Jun 7, 2024

kean requested a review from staskus June 7, 2024 20:57

kean commented Jun 7, 2024

View reviewed changes

kean added 2 commits June 7, 2024 17:37

Update release notes

fd953a4

Update unit tests

a994eca

staskus requested changes Jun 10, 2024

View reviewed changes

kean requested a review from staskus June 10, 2024 11:55

Add a workaround for an issue with savings scheduled date for a draft

14e67ee

kean force-pushed the task/add-publish-date-back-to-settings branch from 709b449 to 14e67ee Compare June 10, 2024 11:57

dvdchr modified the milestones: 25.1, Pending Jun 10, 2024

dvdchr modified the milestones: Pending, 25.1 ❄️ Jun 10, 2024

kean closed this Jun 11, 2024

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Add Publish Date button to Post Settings #23333

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Add Publish Date button to Post Settings #23333

Add Publish Date button to Post Settings #23333

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To test:

Regression Notes

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