Conditional Queries within a Wordpress Loop

Question

I'm going to have a WP_Query run with arguments based on user input. The user can select multiple categories/terms and the query will filter based on the AND boolean.

// main arguments
$args = array(
    'tax_query' => array(
        'relation' => 'AND',
        array(
            'taxonomy' => 'industry',
            'terms'    => $user_input,
        ),
        array(
            'taxonomy' => 'format',
            'terms'    => $user_input2,
        ),
    ),
);

// less specific arguments
$lessargs = array(
    'tax_query' => array(
        array(
            'taxonomy' => 'industry',
            'terms'    => $user_input,
        ),
    ),
);

If no results are returned in the first query, I want to run the second query with less specificity ($lessargs). I know I need to use if/else statements but I don't know the correct way to do this within the loop. Example:

<?php $the_query = new WP_Query( $args ); ?>

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

     <?php while ($the_query->have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
        // Return Query Results
     <?php endwhile; ?>

  <?php else : ?>

    <?php $the_second_query = new WP_Query( $less_args ); ?>

    <?php while ($the_second_query->have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
        // Return Second Query Results
    <?php endwhile; ?>

<?php endif; ?>

Is this the proper way to conditionally call queries if the previous query returns empty?

That should function, and yes - that if else should do what you want, and it's a reasonable way to do it. — random_user_name
– random_user_name, Commented Mar 29, 2016 at 21:48

Kosher · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-29 22:46:01Z

I always build my own loop whenever I needed a custom query.

You can probably do it like this,

# First Argument
$args = array(
    'tax_query' => array(
        'relation' => 'AND',
        array(
            'taxonomy' => 'industry',
            'terms'    => $user_input,
        ),
        array(
            'taxonomy' => 'format',
            'terms'    => $user_input2,
        ),
    ),
);
# Second Argument
$lessargs = array(
    'tax_query' => array(
        array(
            'taxonomy' => 'industry',
            'terms'    => $user_input,
        ),
    ),
);

$query = new WP_QUery( $args ); //Run First Query

$posts = $query->get_posts(); //Get Post of first Query

if ( !$posts ) { //If no post on First query Run Second Query
    $query = new WP_QUery( $lessargs );
    $posts = $query->get_posts(); //Get Post of second query
}
if ( !$posts ) return 'No Result Found'; //stop execution if no results
foreach( $posts as $post ) { //Loop through each result
        _e( $post->post_title ); // Echo the title
    }
}

Lutrov · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-29 22:37:45Z

1

I would do it slightly differently, just to cater for the fact that neither query will return any rows:

$the_query = new wp_query($args);
if ($the_query->have_posts()) {
    while ($the_query->have_posts()) {
        the_post();
        // Return Query Results
    }
} else {
    $the_query = new wp_query($lessargs);
    if ($the_query->have_posts()) {
        while ($the_query->have_posts()) {
            the_post();
            // Return Second Query Results
        }
    } else {
        echo '<p>No posts found.</p>';
    }
}

Note you have a typo with your $lessargs variable.

answered Mar 29, 2016 at 22:37

Lutrov

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