WP_Query based on ACF values (get values before loop)

• juxprose

• January 10, 2016 at 8:46 am

Hello

I have a custom post type of “events” where an event has a required field of “start date” and an optional field of “end date”.

I’m creating a query to display events only in the future, based on either the existence of a “start date” (if only has a start date) or an “end date” (if has start date and end date).

The problem is when I create a conditional to either use “start date” or “end date”, I cannot get these values, presumably because I’m outside the loop.

Is there any way to get an ACF field value and use this within the WP Query before the query actually runs?

The query:

$events_start_date = get_field('events_date_start');
$events_end_date = get_field('events_date_end');

if ($events_start_date && $events_end_date) {
  $key = 'events_date_end';
}
else {
  $key = 'events_date_start';
}

$date = current_time('Ymd');

$args = array(
'post_type' => 'events',
'post_status' => 'publish',
'posts_per_page' => '-1',
'meta_query' => array(
array(
'key' => $key,
'compare' => '>=',
'value' => $date,
)
),
'meta_key' => 'events_date_start',
'orderby' => 'meta_value',
'order' => 'ASC'
);

$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );

if( $the_query->have_posts() ): ?>

while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); 

// Content

endwhile;

else :

// Nothing

endif; wp_reset_postdata();

• James

• January 12, 2016 at 6:32 pm

Hi @juxprose

maybe you can use this query instead?

$args = array(
    'post_type' => 'events',
    'post_status' => 'publish',
    'posts_per_page' => '-1',
    'meta_query' => array(
        'relation' => 'OR', 
        array(
            'relation' => 'AND', // if no end date
            array(
                'key' => events_date_end,
                'compare' => '=',
                'value' => '',
            ),
            array(
                'key' => events_date_start,
                'compare' => '>=',
                'value' => $date,
            ),
        ),
        array(
            'relation' => 'AND', //if have end date
            array(
                'key' => events_date_end,
                'compare' => '!=',
                'value' => '',
            ),
            array(
                'key' => events_date_end,
                'compare' => '>=',
                'value' => $date,
            ),
        ),
    ),
    'meta_key' => 'events_date_start',
    'orderby' => 'meta_value',
    'order' => 'ASC'
);

Keep in mind that I haven’t tested it yet. Please fix it if you find some errors.

I hope this helps.