php | wordpress | sort array of values

Question

I'm working in Wordpress with a custom post type of ''publications." Originally, each "publication" was assigned to a single "category," and getting them to display by category was simple...

$args = array( 'post_type' => 'publications', 'meta_key' => 'publications_category', 'orderby' => 'meta_value', 'order' => 'ASC');
$loop = new WP_Query( $args );

Then the client decided they wanted to assign the same "publication" to multiple "categories," and my meta_key became an array. And now I can't get the "publications" to sort alphabetically by "category."

Because my meta_key is now an array, I removed the 'meta_key', 'order_by' and 'order' from the query. Here's what I have been testing...

<?php
$args = array( 'post_type' => 'publications');
$loop = new WP_Query( $args );
while ( $loop->have_posts() ) : $loop->the_post();
$cp_category = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'publications_categories', true); // assign a var to the array
foreach ($cp_category as $category) { // iterate through the array
the_title();  // print the title
echo '<br><br>' . $category . '<br><br>'; //  print the category
}
endwhile;
?>

I have tried various sort() functions on the array with not luck.

There are six categories. The values are strings: 'cabg_vs_opcab', 'high_risk_patients', 'mortality_and_morbidity', 'stroke', 'clampless_beating_heart', and 'economics.'

Here is what the output looks like. I added a print_r() to diplay the array above each entry:

http://offpump.com/clinical-publications/

All I want to do is order the entries by their category so I'm hoping there is a way to do that.

Thanks for any help or suggestions!

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-13 12:37:28Z

2

You should not sort them alphabetically after retrieving them from the database.

To avoid any duplicate processing you should fetch them pre-sorted.

Quick search led me to the syntax for wordpress queries:

$args = array(
        'post_type' => 'post',
        'meta_key' => 'pb_issue_featured',
        'orderby'   => 'meta_value',
        'order' => 'DESC',
        'post_status' => 'publish',
        'posts_per_page' => $posts,
        'paged' => $paged,
        'meta_query' => array(
            array(
                'key' => 'headline',
                'value' => 1,
                'compare' => '!=' 
                )
            )
        );
$q = new WP_Query($args);

https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/109849/order-by-desc-asc-in-custom-wp-query

edited Apr 13, 2017 at 12:37

CommunityBot

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answered Mar 8, 2015 at 2:18

Vladimir Ramik

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2 Comments

Web Guy Over a year ago

Thanks for helping. Just to be clear, my meta_key (publications_categories) is an array (from a checkbox group) of one or more categories (cabg_vs_opcab, high_risk_patients, etc.). I added a meta_query as you suggested, but it only worked if I used the 'LIKE' comparison. Comparing with "=" or "IN" did not work. That has me stumped b/c I need to get ONLY the one category, and "LIKE" also fetches any other category in the array with the one I want. And finally, is there a way to get all the categories in one query? Not just one at a time?

Vladimir Ramik Over a year ago

That is the goal isn't it :) I'm not as familiar with wordpress so my suggestion is to explore a direct sql solution, use it or after finding the necessary syntax convert it into wp_query format.

Web Guy · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-12 00:18:06Z

0

So since the only 'compare' parameter that worked for me was "LIKE" I ended up using it. The page/template has a loop for each "LIKE" query -- six in all -- and it works fine b/c there are not that many posts.

I'm determined to find a better solution, however, and will come back and post it when I get there.

Thanks to all who helped.

answered Mar 12, 2015 at 0:18

Web Guy

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