wp query with multiple relation keys

• devnet22

• October 25, 2018 at 9:11 pm

In the wordpress website I am building I have a custom post (cp_course) which has these subfields: course_code, course_duration, period_a_start, period_a_end, period_b_start, period_b_end, period_c_start, period_c_end, period_d_start and period_d_end.

The search form has these fields: code, duration, datefrom, dateto. User can search by using any of these. I have only implemented the case that the user uses all search fields:

if(!empty($code) && !empty($duration) && !empty($datefrom) && !empty($dateto))
{

$args = array(
‘post_type’ => ‘cp_course’, ‘numberposts’ =>-1,’orderby’ => ‘ID’, ‘order’ => ‘ASC’, ‘s’ => $searchterm,
‘meta_query’ =>
array(
‘relation’ => ‘AND’,
array(
‘key’ => ‘course_code’,
‘value’ => $code,
),
array(
‘key’ => ‘course_duration’,
‘value’ => $duration,
),
array(
‘relation’ => ‘OR’,
array(
‘relation’ => ‘AND’,
array(
‘key’ => ‘period_a_start’,
‘compare’ => ‘>=’,
‘type’ => ‘numeric’,
‘value’ => date(“Ymd”, strtotime($datefrom)),

),
array(
‘key’ => ‘period_a_end’,
‘compare’ => ‘<=’,
‘type’ => ‘numeric’,
‘value’ => date(“Ymd”, strtotime($dateto)),

),
),
array(
‘relation’ => ‘AND’,
array(
‘key’ => ‘period_b_start’,
‘compare’ => ‘>=’,
‘type’ => ‘numeric’,
‘value’ => date(“Ymd”, strtotime($datefrom)),

),
array(
‘key’ => ‘period_b_end’,
‘compare’ => ‘<=’,
‘type’ => ‘numeric’,
‘value’ => date(“Ymd”, strtotime($dateto)),

),
),//IF I REMOVE the follow lines (period_c_* and period_d_*) then it works
array(
‘relation’ => ‘AND’,
array(
‘key’ => ‘period_c_start’,
‘compare’ => ‘>=’,
‘type’ => ‘numeric’,
‘value’ => date(“Ymd”, strtotime($datefrom)),

),
array(
‘key’ => ‘period_c_end’,
‘compare’ => ‘<=’,
‘type’ => ‘numeric’,
‘value’ => date(“Ymd”, strtotime($dateto)),

),
),
array(
‘relation’ => ‘AND’,
array(
‘key’ => ‘period_d_start’,
‘compare’ => ‘>=’,
‘type’ => ‘numeric’,
‘value’ => date(“Ymd”, strtotime($datefrom)),

),
array(
‘key’ => ‘period_d_end’,
‘compare’ => ‘<=’,
‘type’ => ‘numeric’,
‘value’ => date(“Ymd”, strtotime($dateto)),

),
),
),
)

);

$course = get_posts($args);

}

<div class=”page_title”>
<h3>Courses</h3>
</div>

<?php foreach ($course as $post):setup_postdata($post);?>
<?php the_title();?>

<?php endforeach;wp_reset_postdata();?>

But it doesn’t seem working. It’s stuck in a loop, already 10 minutes and still searching. What is going wrong?

• John Huebner

• October 25, 2018 at 11:03 pm

Sorry, but your argument array is nearly impossible to follow. Please re-post and use code tags.

• devnet22

• October 25, 2018 at 11:06 pm

if(!empty($code) && !empty($duration) && !empty($datefrom) && !empty($dateto))
{

    $args = array(
        'post_type'  => 'cp_course', 'numberposts' =>-1,'orderby' => 'ID', 'order' => 'ASC', 's' => $searchterm,
        'meta_query' => 
            array(
                'relation' => 'AND',
                array(
                    'key'   => 'course_code',
                    'value' => $code,
                ),
                array(
                    'key' => 'course_duration',
                    'value' => $duration,
                ), 
                array(
                    'relation' => 'OR',
                    array(
                        'relation' => 'AND',
                        array(
                            'key'   => 'period_a_start',
                            'compare' => '>=',
                            'type' => 'numeric',
                            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($datefrom)),

                        ),
                        array(
                            'key'   => 'period_a_end',
                            'compare' => '<=',
                            'type' => 'numeric',
                            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($dateto)),

                        ),
                    ),
                    array(
                        'relation' => 'AND',
                        array(
                            'key'   => 'period_b_start',
                            'compare' => '>=',
                            'type' => 'numeric',
                            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($datefrom)),

                        ),
                        array(
                            'key'   => 'period_b_end',
                            'compare' => '<=',
                            'type' => 'numeric',
                            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($dateto)),

                        ),
                    ),//IF I REMOVE the follow lines (period_c_* and period_d_*) then it works
                    array(
                        'relation' => 'AND',
                        array(
                            'key'   => 'period_c_start',
                            'compare' => '>=',
                            'type' => 'numeric',
                            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($datefrom)),

                        ),
                        array(
                            'key'   => 'period_c_end',
                            'compare' => '<=',
                            'type' => 'numeric',
                            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($dateto)),

                        ),
                    ),
                    array(
                        'relation' => 'AND',
                        array(
                            'key'   => 'period_d_start',
                            'compare' => '>=',
                            'type' => 'numeric',
                            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($datefrom)),

                        ),
                        array(
                            'key'   => 'period_d_end',
                            'compare' => '<=',
                            'type' => 'numeric',
                            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($dateto)),

                        ),
                    ),
                ),
            )

    );

    $course = get_posts($args);

}

<div class="page_title">
                    <h3>Courses</h3>
                </div>

                <?php foreach ($course as $post):setup_postdata($post);?>
                <a href="#"><?php the_title();?></a>

                <?php endforeach;wp_reset_postdata();?>

• John Huebner

• October 26, 2018 at 10:54 pm

The first thing that I notice is your start/end date fields

                        array(
                            'key'   => 'period_a_start',
                            'compare' => '>=',
                            'type' => 'numeric',
                            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($datefrom)),

                        ),
                        array(
                            'key'   => 'period_a_end',
                            'compare' => '<=',
                            'type' => 'numeric',
                            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($dateto)),

                        ),

I think you have >= and <= reversed here. For start date the you want to see if start date (value in db) <= value (input date)

• gareth_mt

• October 30, 2018 at 6:02 am

This is completely untested and just written in text editor on my lunch break but this is how I would start handling this.

$args = array(
    'post_type'  => 'cp_course',
    'numberposts' =>-1,
    'orderby' => 'ID',
    'order' => 'ASC',
    'meta_query' =>
        array(
            'relation' => 'AND',
        )

);

if($searchterm) {
    $args['s'] = $searchterm;
}

if($code) {
    $code_args = array(
        'key'   => 'course_code',
        'value' => $code,
    );
    $args = array_push($code_args ,$args['meta_query'] );
}

if($duration) {
    $dur_args = array(
        'key' => 'course_duration',
        'value' => $duration,
    );
    $args = array_push($dur_args ,$args['meta_query'] );
}

if($datefrom) {
    $from_args = array(
        'relation' => 'OR',
        array(
            'key'   => 'period_a_start',
            'compare' => '>=',
            'type' => 'numeric',
            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($datefrom)),
        ),
        array(
            'key'   => 'period_b_start',
            'compare' => '>=',
            'type' => 'numeric',
            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($datefrom)),
        ),
        array(
            'key'   => 'period_c_start',
            'compare' => '>=',
            'type' => 'numeric',
            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($datefrom)),
        ),
        array(
            'key'   => 'period_d_start',
            'compare' => '>=',
            'type' => 'numeric',
            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($datefrom)),
        ),
    );
    $args = array_push($from_args ,$args['meta_query'] );
}

if($dateto) {
    $to_args = array(
        'relation' => 'OR',
        array(
            'key'   => 'period_1_end',
            'compare' => '<=',
            'type' => 'numeric',
            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($dateto)),
        ),
        array(
            'key'   => 'period_b_end',
            'compare' => '<=',
            'type' => 'numeric',
            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($dateto)),
        ),
        array(
            'key'   => 'period_c_end',
            'compare' => '<=',
            'type' => 'numeric',
            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($dateto)),
        ),
        array(
            'key'   => 'period_d_end',
            'compare' => '<=',
            'type' => 'numeric',
            'value' => date("Ymd", strtotime($dateto)),
        ),

    );
    $args = array_push($to_args ,$args['meta_query'] );
}