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Quantum Competitions Docs

Schedule, Extensions & Relisting

Accurate time management is handled through start and closing dates combined with automated cron events.

Setting Dates

Section titled “Setting Dates”
  • Competition from date: When users can start buying tickets. Before this time, the product displays a “Future Competition” badge with an opening countdown.
  • Competition to date: The closing deadline. Once reached, tickets can no longer be added to the cart, and orders pending payment cannot claim tickets past the cutoff.

Post-Closing Action Buttons

Section titled “Post-Closing Action Buttons”

Once a competition reaches its scheduled end date or finishes, the dates panel in WP Admin dynamically displays two action buttons directly below Competition to date:

Finished Competition Action Buttons

  • Extend competition: Reveals an input field to prolong the existing competition deadline.
  • Relist: Expands fields to schedule a fresh round and choose participant log retention.

Extending a Competition

Section titled “Extending a Competition”

If minimum ticket sales have not been met or you wish to prolong ticket sales without resetting participant entries:

  1. Open the finished competition in WordPress Admin.
  2. Click the Extend competition button.
  3. The Extend Date picker dynamically expands beneath the button:

Extend Competition Date Field

  1. Pick the new extended closing date and time (dd / mm / yyyy , -- : --).
  2. Click Update to save the product.
  3. The countdown timer on the frontend instantly reflects the updated deadline, and ticket purchases resume seamlessly.

Manual Relisting

Section titled “Manual Relisting”

To reset and launch a brand new cycle of a finished competition manually:

  1. Open the finished competition in WordPress Admin.
  2. Click the Relist button.
  3. The relisting controls dynamically expand:

Relist Date Fields and Delete Logs Checkbox

  1. Define the new Relist Dates:
    • First field: New competition start timestamp (From).
    • Second field: New competition closing timestamp (To).
  2. Choose log retention in Delete logs on relist?:
    • Checked: Clears previous entries, ticket allocation logs, and past winners, resetting ticket numbers cleanly for the new participants.
    • Unchecked: Retains previous participant records in the database while resetting active ticket counters.
  3. Click Update to relaunch the competition.

Automatic Relist

Section titled “Automatic Relist”

For evergreen, daily, or recurring prize draws, Quantum Competitions includes an automated relisting engine that re-launches the competition as soon as it finishes.

Automatic Relist Metabox

Configuration Options

Section titled “Configuration Options”

In the competition edit screen, locate the Automatic Relist metabox:

Option Meta Key Description
Enable automatic relist? _lottery_automatic_relist Activates the automated relisting cycle upon competition completion.
Relist only if failed? _lottery_automatic_relist_fail When checked, the competition will only relist if it failed to reach the minimum ticket sales quota (_min_tickets). If a winner was drawn, it remains closed.
Export participants to CSV? _lottery_automatic_relist_save Automatically generates and saves an export of participant entry data and ticket numbers before resetting the competition for the new round.
Relist delay (hours) _lottery_relist_time Cooldown period between the end of the previous competition and the start of the relisted draw (e.g., 0 for instant restart, 12 or 24 for next-day launches).
Relist duration (hours) _lottery_relist_duration The duration (in hours) of the newly generated competition cycle (e.g., 24 for daily competitions, 168 for weekly draws).

What Happens During Automatic Relisting

Section titled “What Happens During Automatic Relisting”

When the background cron triggers an automatic relist:

  1. Participant Backup: If enabled, exports previous round participants to CSV.
  2. New Schedule: Sets the new start date (_lottery_dates_from) to the current timestamp (or after the configured delay) and the end date (_lottery_dates_to) according to the defined duration in hours.
  3. Stock & Ticket Reset: Restores ticket inventory back to _max_tickets with instock status.
  4. Draw Cleansing: Resets previous winner assignments, instant win claims, and live stream temporary cache data.
  5. Audit History: Records the action in _lottery_relisted_history post meta for record-keeping.