[5.x]: Backend - meta fields postDate and expiryDate not visible for entries without section.

[Megafry]

What happened?

Description

Multiple customers have asked us why the post and expiry dates cannot be set for entries inside matrix fields.
After looking at the code I found that this has been disabled.
Is there a reason why this is the case? Can this be changed?

Steps to reproduce

1. Open an entry in a new tab from a matrix field via the menu option Open in a new tab or go to admin/edit/45
2. In the sidebar, the post and expiry date fields are not visible.

Expected behavior

The fields should be visible.
In Craft CMS, all entries have a status, a start date, and an end date, therefore, the editor should have the option to set them.

Move this block of code out of the condition:
Code

If enabled, everything works as expected, my entry gets hidden in the frontend after expiration.

Actual behavior

The fields are not visible because of this condition:
code
if ($section && $section->type !== Section::TYPE_SINGLE) {}

Craft CMS version

5.7.4

PHP version

8.2

Operating system and version

No response

Database type and version

No response

Image driver and version

No response

Installed plugins and versions

[brandonkelly]

This is currently working as expected so I converted your issue to a discussion.

I agree it could make sense to give nested entries the option to have Post/Expiry Date fields, especially since Matrix fields have an Entry URI Format setting – so nested entries could have their own URLs.

[mmikkel]

I'd vote to add new "Show the Post Date Field" and "Show the Expiry Date Field" toggles to the entry type settings. Meaning full freedom on the dev's part if it makes sense to show those meta fields, for any particular entry type, regardless of whether entries using that type are nested or not.

[brandonkelly]

Thoughts on Singles? Should they start showing Post/Expiry Date fields if their entry type’s settings have them enabled?

[mmikkel]

Thoughts on Singles? Should they start showing Post/Expiry Date fields if their entry type’s settings have them enabled?

Good question. I'm going to – somewhat reluctantly – say "yes" 🙂

Assuming the toggles will default to enabled, it's going to be a minor nuisance to toggle them off for entry types created specifically for singles (which, in most cases, shouldn't display these fields). And in the case where an entry type is re-used across singles and other sections, we lose the current ability to have those fields display or not, for different usages (I've already ran into this with the "Show the Slug Field" setting...).

On the other hand, having entry type settings that doesn't do anything for a particular usage (for no apparent reason to the developer) would feel a bit clunky. And I can think of use cases for singles that can be set to a pending state, or become expired (maybe something related to an ad campaign, for example).

I guess the third option is to add the "Show the Post Date Field" and "Show the Expiry Date Field" settings to the section/Matrix/CKEditor settings, instead of the entry type settings (and, either hide them for Single sections, or default them to false?). I don't know if that's feasible, and it would perhaps feel a bit inconsistent, since the "Show the Title Field" and "Show the Slug Field" settings are on the entry type. But maybe that's where these potential settings truly belong?

[Megafry]

Thanks for the discussion! I agree that having Post/Expiry Date fields for nested entries inside Matrix fields would make sense, especially since they can have their own URLs via the Entry URI Format.

From a practical standpoint, the current restriction feels limiting for editors who want to control visibility or schedule content at the nested-entry level. Adding toggles like “Show Post Date Field” and “Show Expiry Date Field” on the entry type or possibly on the Matrix/section settings would give developers full control without breaking current behavior.

Regarding Singles, I also see the trade-offs. Defaults could be disabled for Singles, but having the option available would still be useful in edge cases, like temporary or campaign-driven content.

Overall, it seems reasonable to allow Post/Expiry Date fields for all entry types but keep the display configurable via toggles, respecting the current flexibility in Craft.

[Megafry]

In the meantime, I proposed an event so devs can decide how they want to handle it for each entry.
#17996