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How to sort Posts by META key (custom field) in WordPress?

A client had a page (http://aleh.org/aleh-staff/) which displayed certain posts sorted by a custom field. this page suddenly stopped working and the posts were being displayed in a different order.
To create the desired order, the programmer used PHP code in a custom template.

I modified the template to display the sort field (you can see that on the live page), so you can see how the order is incorrect.

<br>Sort: <?php echo get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), 'members_order_number', true) ?>

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The code to create the query when I found it was:

      $args = array (
          'cat'                    => $catid,
          'posts_per_page'         => -1,
          'order'                  => 'DSCE',
          'orderby'                => 'date',
		  'meta_key'		=> 'members_order_number',
		  'orderby'		=> 'meta_value_num',
		  'order'			=> 'DESC'
  
      );
      // The Query
      $query = new WP_Query( $args );

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I made a few changes and it still does not work:

      $args = array (
      	'cat'				=> $catid,
		'posts_per_page'	=> -1,
	    'orderby' 			=> 'meta_value_num', 
		'meta_key'			=> 'members_order_number',
		'order'				=> 'DESC'  
      );
      // The Query
      $query = new WP_Query( $args );

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What am I missing to get this to sort properly?

eemit

// Try this:

$args = array (
	//'post_type' => 'post',
	//'post_status' => 'publish',
	'cat' => $catid,
	'posts_per_page' => -1,
	'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
	'order' => 'DESC',//or ASC
	'meta_query' => array(
		array(
			'key' => 'members_order_number',
			'type' => 'NUMERIC'
		),
	),
);
// The Query
$query = new WP_Query( $args );

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Lev Seltzer

ASKER

it does not work, as you can see from the page http://aleh.org/aleh-staff/
I added some code to show me the query string $args

foreach($args as $arg){
    echo $arg;echo '<br>';
}

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Full code is below. Any more suggestions? Thank you.

   // WP_Query arguments
  $args = array (
	'cat' => $catid,
	'posts_per_page' => -1,
	'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
	'order' => 'DESC',//or ASC
	'meta_query' => array(
		array(
			'key' => 'members_order_number',
			'type' => 'NUMERIC'
		),
	),
);
foreach($args as $arg){
    echo $arg;echo '<br>';
}
// The Query
$query = new WP_Query( $args );
      // The Loop
      if ( $query->have_posts() ) {

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eemit

I have tested that with default post type 'post'.
First run the query, then try:
var_dump($query);

eemit

Try this:

			$meta_value = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'members_order_number', true );
			echo "<p>members_order_number: $meta_value</p>";

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after the line:

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

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Lev Seltzer

ASKER

I have added the code you suggested. It is very busy, and a bit too confusing to me. Do you understand what you see at http://aleh.org/aleh-staff/ to know what is not sorting properly.
For reference, below is the current code.

   // WP_Query arguments
  $args = array (
	'cat' => $catid,
	'posts_per_page' => -1,
	'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
	'order' => 'DESC',//or ASC
	'meta_query' => array(
		array(
			'key' => 'members_order_number',
			'type' => 'NUMERIC'
		),
	),
);
// The Query
$query = new WP_Query( $args );
var_dump($query); 
      // The Loop
      if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
          while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
              $query->the_post();
$meta_value = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'members_order_number', true );
			echo "<p>members_order_number: $meta_value</p>";			  $_permalink = get_the_permalink();

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eemit

- You can comment out test lines:
var_dump($query);
$meta_value = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'members_order_number', true );
echo "<p>members_order_number: $meta_value</p>";

- As I have already said, this is tested and it works well here.
- It seams that your posts support “menu_order” field for posts.
- It seams that your posts are sorted by “menu_order”
Your sort order is maybe changed using:
add_action('pre_get_posts', ...
in your theme's functions.php file.

- If your posts support “menu_order” field for posts
(you should see 'page-attributes' metabox on posts edit screen),
then you can use menu_order for sorting and you don't need custom field, and 'meta_query', e.g.:

// WP_Query arguments
$args = array (
	'post_type' => 'post', 
	'post_status' => 'publish', 
	'cat' => $catid,
	'posts_per_page' => -1,
	'orderby' => 'menu_order',
	'order' => 'DESC',//or ASC
);

// The Query
$query = new WP_Query( $args );
      // The Loop
      if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
          while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
              $query->the_post();

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- Can you post here your page template in which you have placed this code?

eemit

To test if your posts are sorted by menu_order:
add this line:

global $post;

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below the line:

$query = new WP_Query( $args );

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and add this line:

echo "<p>menu_order: $post->menu_order</p>";

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below the line:

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

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Lev Seltzer

ASKER

The posts are sorted by menu order, as shown by your debug code. Now what?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

eemit

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Lev Seltzer

ASKER

I found a plugin called "Post Types Order" and deactivated it. The posts now sort in perfect order. I don't know why the client needed that plugin, so perhaps we can leave it disabled. Otherwise, I will have to discuss various solutions with the client (and may click on your "hire me" button if I need further help.

Thank you.