feat: Use publishedAt for blog sort order and display date

Sort and display blogs by their actual publication date instead of
COALESCE(post_created_date, createdAt). This ensures scheduled posts
appear in chronological publish order and show correct dates in listings,
RSS feeds, and Schema.org metadata.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: bpamiri

app/controllers/web/BlogController.cfc

@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ component extends="app.Controllers.Controller" {
 
         } catch (any fallbackError) {
             // If even fallback fails, create empty result
-            blogs = queryNew("id,title,slug,createdby,postDate,fullName,username,profilePicture", "integer,varchar,varchar,integer,date,varchar,varchar,varchar");
+            blogs = queryNew("id,title,slug,createdby,publishedAt,fullName,username,profilePicture", "integer,varchar,varchar,integer,date,varchar,varchar,varchar");
             hasMore = false;
             totalCount = 0;
             hasError = true;
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ component extends="app.Controllers.Controller" {
             query = model("Blog").findAll(
                 where="blog_posts.statusId <> 1 AND blog_posts.status = 'Approved' AND blog_posts.publishedAt IS NOT NULL AND blog_posts.publishedAt <= '#now()#' AND blog_posts.createdBy = #arguments.authorId#",
                 include="User",
-                order="COALESCE(post_created_date, blog_posts.createdat) DESC",
+                order="publishedAt DESC",
                 page = arguments.page,
                 perPage = arguments.perPage
             ),
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ component extends="app.Controllers.Controller" {
             var query = model("blog").findAll(
                 where="blog_posts.status ='Approved' AND blog_posts.publishedAt IS NOT NULL AND blog_posts.publishedAt <= '#now()#' AND (blog_posts.slug LIKE '#searchPattern#' OR blog_posts.title LIKE '#searchPattern#' OR blog_posts.content LIKE '#searchPattern#' OR fullname LIKE '#searchPattern#' OR email LIKE '#searchPattern#')",
                 include="User, PostStatus, PostType",
-                order = "COALESCE(post_created_date, blog_posts.createdat) DESC",
+                order = "publishedAt DESC",
                 page = page,
                 perPage = perPage
             );
@@ -773,7 +773,7 @@ component extends="app.Controllers.Controller" {
         blogPosts = model("Blog").findAll(
             where="blog_posts.status = 'Approved' AND blog_posts.publishedAt IS NOT NULL AND blog_posts.publishedAt <= '#now()#'",
             include="User",
-            order="postDate DESC",
+            order="publishedAt DESC",
             cache=10
         );
 
@@ -827,7 +827,7 @@ component extends="app.Controllers.Controller" {
             query = model("Blog").findAll(
                 where="blog_posts.statusId <> 1 AND blog_posts.status = 'Approved' AND blog_posts.publishedAt IS NOT NULL AND blog_posts.publishedAt <= '#now()#'",
                 include="User",
-                order="COALESCE(post_created_date, blog_posts.createdat) DESC",
+                order="publishedAt DESC",
                 page = arguments.page,
                 perPage = arguments.perPage,
                 cache = 5
@@ -852,8 +852,8 @@ component extends="app.Controllers.Controller" {
 
         var result = {
             query = model("Blog").findAll(
-                where="blog_posts.post_created_date BETWEEN '#startdate#' AND '#enddate#' AND blog_posts.status='Approved' AND blog_posts.publishedAt IS NOT NULL AND blog_posts.publishedAt <= '#now()#'",
-                order="postCreatedDate DESC",
+                where="blog_posts.published_at BETWEEN '#startdate#' AND '#enddate#' AND blog_posts.status='Approved' AND blog_posts.publishedAt IS NOT NULL AND blog_posts.publishedAt <= '#now()#'",
+                order="publishedAt DESC",
                 include="User",
                 returnAs="query",
                 page = arguments.page,
@@ -864,7 +864,7 @@ component extends="app.Controllers.Controller" {
         };
 
         result.totalCount = model("Blog").count(
-            where="blog_posts.post_created_date BETWEEN '#startdate#' AND '#enddate#' AND blog_posts.status='Approved' AND blog_posts.publishedAt IS NOT NULL AND blog_posts.publishedAt <= '#now()#'"
+            where="blog_posts.published_at BETWEEN '#startdate#' AND '#enddate#' AND blog_posts.status='Approved' AND blog_posts.publishedAt IS NOT NULL AND blog_posts.publishedAt <= '#now()#'"
         );
         result.hasMore = (page * perPage) < result.totalCount;
 
@@ -887,7 +887,7 @@ component extends="app.Controllers.Controller" {
         var result = {
             query = model("Blog").findAll(
                 where="blog_posts.id IN (#blogIdList#) AND categoryId = #category.id# AND blog_posts.status ='Approved' AND blog_posts.publishedAt IS NOT NULL AND blog_posts.publishedAt <= '#now()#'",
-                order="createdAt DESC",
+                order="publishedAt DESC",
                 include="User,BlogCategory",
                 returnAs="query",
                 page = arguments.page,
@@ -927,7 +927,7 @@ component extends="app.Controllers.Controller" {
         var result = {
             query = model("Blog").findAll(
                 where="blog_posts.id IN (#blogIds#) AND blog_posts.status ='Approved' AND blog_posts.publishedAt IS NOT NULL AND blog_posts.publishedAt <= '#now()#'",
-                order="createdAt DESC",
+                order="publishedAt DESC",
                 include="User",
                 returnAs="query",
                 page = arguments.page,

app/controllers/web/NewsController.cfc

@@ -42,17 +42,17 @@ component extends="app.Controllers.Controller" {
     private array function getBlogs() {
         try {
             var blogQuery = model("Blog").findAll(
-                select = "title, slug, content, postDate",
+                select = "title, slug, content, publishedAt",
                 where  = "blog_posts.statusId <> 1 AND blog_posts.status = 'Approved' AND blog_posts.publishedAt IS NOT NULL AND blog_posts.publishedAt <= '#now()#' ",
-                order  = "createdAt DESC",
+                order  = "publishedAt DESC",
                 cache  = 10
             );
 
             var blogsArray = [];
 
             for (var i = 1; i <= blogQuery.recordCount; i++) {
                 // Convert to UTC
-                var localDate = blogQuery.postDate[i];
+                var localDate = blogQuery.publishedAt[i];
                 var utcDate = dateConvert("local2utc", localDate);
 
                 // Format to ISO 8601: yyyy-mm-ddTHH:MM:SSZ

app/models/Blog.cfc

@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ component extends="app.Models.Model" {
         property(name="publishedAt", column="published_at", dataType="datetime");
 
         property(
-            name="postDate", 
-            sql="COALESCE(post_created_date, blog_posts.createdat)", 
-            label="Created At"
+            name="postDate",
+            sql="blog_posts.published_at",
+            label="Published At"
         );
 
         // Defining the foreign key
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ component extends="app.Models.Model" {
             where='statusid <> 1',
             include="User",
             maxRows=10,
-            order="createdAt DESC",
+            order="publishedAt DESC",
             cache=10
         );
         return blogs;
@@ -67,10 +67,6 @@ component extends="app.Models.Model" {
      * Computed property to get the correct post date.
      */
     public function getDisplayDate() {
-        if (NOT isEmpty(this.postCreatedDate)) {
-            return this.postCreatedDate;
-        } else {
-            return this.createdAt;
-        }
+        return this.publishedAt;
     }
 }

app/views/layout.cfm

@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@
 				"headline": "#encodeForJavaScript(post.title)#",
 				"description": "#encodeForJavaScript(metaDescription)#",
 				"image": "<cfif isDefined("ogImage")>#ogImage#<cfelse>#getBaseUrl()#/img/wheels-logo.png</cfif>",
-				"datePublished": "#dateFormat(post.postDate, "yyyy-mm-dd")#",
+				"datePublished": "#dateFormat(post.publishedAt, "yyyy-mm-dd")#",
 				"dateModified": "#dateFormat(post.updatedAt, "yyyy-mm-dd")#",
 				"author": {
 					"@type": "Person",

app/views/web/BlogController/partials/_blogList.cfm

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
             <cfset authorUrl = "/blog/author/#blogs.username#">
             <cfset blogUrl = "/blog/#blogs.slug#">
             <cfset authorHxGet = "/blog/list/author/#blogs.createdby#?page=1&perPage=6&infiniteScroll=true">
-            <cfset formattedDate = dateformat(blogs.postDate, 'MMMM DD, YYYY')>
+            <cfset formattedDate = dateformat(blogs.publishedAt, 'MMMM DD, YYYY')>
             <cfset profileImageTag = '<img src="#gravatarUrl(blogs.email, 80)#&d=404"
                     class="rounded-circle"
                     style="width:2.5rem; height:2.5rem;"
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@
                                     <p class="text--secondary fw-bold fs-14 m-0 author-name">
                                         #htmlEditFormat(blogs.fullName)#
                                     </p>
-                                    <time class="text--lightGray fs-12 fw-medium" datetime="#dateformat(blogs.postDate, 'yyyy-mm-dd')#">
+                                    <time class="text--lightGray fs-12 fw-medium" datetime="#dateformat(blogs.publishedAt, 'yyyy-mm-dd')#">
                                         #formattedDate#
                                     </time>
                                 </button>

app/views/web/BlogController/partials/_feed.cfm

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 			<title><![CDATA[#blogPosts.title#]]></title>
 			<link>#application.env.application_host#/blog/#blogPosts.slug#</link>
 			<dc:creator><![CDATA[#blogPosts.fullname#]]></dc:creator>
-			<pubDate>#dateFormat(blogPosts.updatedAt, "ddd, dd mmm yyyy")# #timeFormat(blogPosts.updatedAt, "HH:mm:ss")# +0000</pubDate>
+			<pubDate>#dateFormat(blogPosts.publishedAt, "ddd, dd mmm yyyy")# #timeFormat(blogPosts.publishedAt, "HH:mm:ss")# +0000</pubDate>
             <cfloop query="category">
                         <category><![CDATA[#category.name#]]></category>
             </cfloop>

app/views/web/BlogController/show.cfm

@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
                                 <div class="d-flex flex-wrap justify-content-center flex-grow-1 align-items-end gap-lg-5 gap-2 mt-3">
                                     <!-- Blog date -->
                                     <p class="fw-medium fs-12 text--lightGray mb-0">
-                                        #dateformat(blog.getDisplayDate(), 'MMMM DD, YYYY')#
+                                        #dateformat(blog.publishedAt, 'MMMM DD, YYYY')#
                                     </p>
 
                                     <!-- Post status + Categories -->

app/views/web/HomeController/index.cfm

@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@
                             </div>
 
                             <div class="d-flex gap-2 justify-content-between align-items-center">
-                                <p class="fs-16 truncate fw-medium text--lightGray">#dateformat(blogs.postDate, 'MMMM DD, YYYY')# by #blogs.fullName#</p>
+                                <p class="fs-16 truncate fw-medium text--lightGray">#dateformat(blogs.publishedAt, 'MMMM DD, YYYY')# by #blogs.fullName#</p>
                                 <a href="/blog/#slug#"><button class="bg--primary text-nowrap fs-16 text-white rounded-2 px-3 py-1">Learn more</button></a>
                             </div>
                     </div>

app/views/web/HomeController/partials/_blogs.cfm

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
         </div>
 
         <div class="d-flex gap-2 justify-content-between align-items-center">
-            <p class="fs-16 truncate fw-medium text--lightGray">#dateformat(blogs.postDate, 'MMMM DD, YYYY')# by #encodeForHTML(blogs.fullName)#</p>
+            <p class="fs-16 truncate fw-medium text--lightGray">#dateformat(blogs.publishedAt, 'MMMM DD, YYYY')# by #encodeForHTML(blogs.fullName)#</p>
             <a href="/blog/#slug#"><button class="bg--primary text-nowrap fs-16 text-white rounded-2 px-3 py-1">Learn more</button></a>
         </div>
     </div>