WP_Query orderby date field does not work

• Nox

• December 10, 2018 at 11:44 am

Hi,

I’m really sorry if this thread has been doubled. I got an error by submitting the first one, and my message was totally cleared.

I tried to order my custom post-type (called “vehicle”) by a custom date field I created, called “date_sell”. I tried different ways (with “meta_value” and “meta_value_num” as “orderby” value), but none of them has worked. Here’s the simpliest code I tried to find the problem.

Simple function :

function eai_get_sold_vehicles(){

    $args = array(
        'posts_per_page' => -1,
        'post_type' => 'vehicle',
        'order' => 'DESC',
        'meta_key' => 'date_sell',
        'orderby' => 'meta_value_num' // also tried with 'meta_value'
    );

    $query = new WP_Query($args);

    if($query->have_posts()) : while ($query->have_posts() ) : $query->the_post();
        echo '<br />' . get_field("date_sell");
    endwhile;
    endif;

}

Return :

23/12/2018
24/10/2018
07/10/2018
09/12/2018
12/11/2018

Here the vehicles are listed as they come in the post-type list, so with the default behaviour, ordered by date of publication.

I’ve searched on other threads, but I still can’t find what I did wrong here.
Can someone please help me on this ?

Thank you in advance,

N.

• Nox

• December 11, 2018 at 10:06 am

I forgot to reply my own post. I find the issue and the resolution. I post it if anyone ever has the same problem.

Actually, I was using a re-order plugin on the post-type I tried to query, called Post-Types-Order.
This plugin seems to automaticaly apply a filter for all queries that are pointed the re-ordered post-type. Even in your own code.

There’s a way to prevent that in the API, by adding a parameter in the query args :

ignore_custom_sort' => true

You can find an example here : https://www.nsp-code.com/advanced-post-types-order-api/sample-usage/ (Don’t need to get advanced version to use it).

• Nox

• December 11, 2018 at 10:12 am

I found the problem and resolved it.

I was using a plugin which re-order the post-type I tried to call.
This plugin is called Reorder-Post-Type.
It seems to apply a filter on all queries that concerns a post-type affected by the plugin, even in your own code.

If you want to prevent that, there’s a parameter that you can add in your query args, called ignore_custom_sort => true, like this :

    $args = array(
        'posts_per_page' => -1,
        'post_type' => 'post',
        'order' => 'DESC',
        'ignore_custom_sort' => true,
        'meta_key' => 'your_custom_field',
        'orderby' => 'meta_value'
    );