Title: Conditional Meta Data or Custom Fields
Last modified: August 21, 2016

---

# Conditional Meta Data or Custom Fields

 *  Resolved [Hudson Phillips](https://wordpress.org/support/users/harbormark/)
 * (@harbormark)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/conditional-meta-data-or-custom-fields/)
 * I’m working on displaying the title from a custom post type (Stores) in a list
   of Stores. Within the custom post type, I have a custom field which places some
   of stores in a different premium category.
 * As such, if the store is considered to be premium, I would like to display the
   premium Stores first, then the other stores after (so I can style them differently(
   [example](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4898592/conditional.png))
 * So far, my code looks like:
 *     ```
       <?php
       	$args = array(
       		'posts_per_page' => -1,
       		'order' => 'ASC',
       		'orderby' => 'title',
       		'post_type' => 'store'
       		);
       		query_posts($args); if (have_posts()) : ?>
       	<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
       		 <p class="directory">
       		  <a href="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></p>
          <?php endwhile; ?>
         <?php else : ?>
       		<h3 class="post-title">No Stores Found</h3>
       		<p>We're sorry, but there are no stores currently available for display. Please return soon.</p>
       		<p>
       		  <a href="<?php echo get_option('home'); ?>">Return to the homepage</a>
       		</p>
   
       <?php endif; wp_reset_query(); ?>
       ```
   
 * How can I check to see if the meta field has data, and if it has data, display
   them first?

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [vtxyzzy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vtxyzzy/)
 * (@vtxyzzy)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/conditional-meta-data-or-custom-fields/#post-3715767)
 * This can be done using filters on the query. Here is an article with some sample
   code that might help:
    [http://wordpress.mcdspot.com/2013/01/25/sort-on-presence-of-custom-field-field-value-then-date/](http://wordpress.mcdspot.com/2013/01/25/sort-on-presence-of-custom-field-field-value-then-date/)
 *  Thread Starter [Hudson Phillips](https://wordpress.org/support/users/harbormark/)
 * (@harbormark)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/conditional-meta-data-or-custom-fields/#post-3715823)
 * Wow, this is way above my head. Let me try to make it simpler,
 * How can I query for all posts in a post type where a field is not null? I’m using
   this at the moement:
 *     ```
       <?php
       	$args = array(
       		'posts_per_page' => -1,
       		'order' => 'ASC',
       		'orderby' => 'title',
       		'post_type' => 'store'
       		);
       		query_posts($args); if (have_posts()) : ?>
       	<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
       		 <p class="directory">
       		  <a href="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></p>
          <?php endwhile; ?>
         <?php else : ?>
       		<h3 class="post-title">No Stores Found</h3>
       		<p>We're sorry, but there are no stores currently available for display. Please return soon.</p>
       		<p>
       		  <a href="<?php echo get_option('home'); ?>">Return to the homepage</a></p>
       <?php endif; wp_reset_query(); ?>
       ```
   
 * I think if I can see how to return posts where the field is null (and when it
   is not null as well), I should be fine.
 * Thanks
 *  [vtxyzzy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vtxyzzy/)
 * (@vtxyzzy)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/conditional-meta-data-or-custom-fields/#post-3715824)
 * OK, I’ll try to make it simpler. Just change this:
 *     ```
       <?php
       	$args = array(
       		'posts_per_page' => -1,
       		'order' => 'ASC',
       		'orderby' => 'title',
       		'post_type' => 'store'
       		);
       ```
   
 * to this:
 *     ```
       <?php
          // Sort posts in order on presence of a custom field,
          // value of custom field, then date
          $meta_key = 'auteur';  // The meta_key
   
          // NOTE: The functions and add_filter() calls should really go in functions.php,
          //       but they will work here and are included here for convenience.
          function mam_posts_fields ($fields) {
              global $mam_global_fields;
              // Make sure there is a leading comma
              if ($mam_global_fields) $fields .= (preg_match('/^(\s+)?,/',$mam_global_fields)) ? $mam_global_fields : ", $mam_global_fields";
              return $fields;
           }
           function mam_posts_join ($join) {
              global $mam_global_join;
              if ($mam_global_join) $join .= " $mam_global_join";
              return $join;
           }
           function mam_posts_where ($where) {
              global $mam_global_where;
              if ($mam_global_where) $where .= " $mam_global_where";
              return $where;
           }
           function mam_posts_orderby ($orderby) {
              global $mam_global_orderby;
              if ($mam_global_orderby) $orderby = $mam_global_orderby;
              return $orderby;
           }
           add_filter('posts_fields','mam_posts_fields');
           add_filter('posts_join','mam_posts_join');
           add_filter('posts_where','mam_posts_where');
           add_filter('posts_orderby','mam_posts_orderby');
   
           global $wpdb,$wp_query;
           $mam_global_fields = ', IF(ISNULL(pm.meta_id),9,1) as sort_key, pm.meta_value';
           $mam_global_join = " LEFT JOIN $wpdb->postmeta pm ON ($wpdb->posts.ID = pm.post_id AND pm.meta_key = '$meta_key')";
           $mam_global_orderby = "sort_key, pm.meta_value, $wpdb->posts.post_date DESC";
   
       $args = array(
          'posts_per_page' => -1,
          'post_type' => 'store'
       );
       ```
   
 * And put in your own key for $meta_key.
 *  Thread Starter [Hudson Phillips](https://wordpress.org/support/users/harbormark/)
 * (@harbormark)
 * [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/conditional-meta-data-or-custom-fields/#post-3715825)
 * I really need to get better with PHP. Thanks for all your help so far. I tried
   the code above, modified the meta_key value, but the results weren’t sorted.
 * I was able to get it to work through a bit of a hack though, [here’s how it looks](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4898592/directory.png),
   and here’s what I did:
 *     ```
       <?php
       	$args = array(
       		'posts_per_page' => -1,
       		'order' => 'ASC',
       		'orderby' => 'title',
       		'post_type' => 'store'
       		);
       		query_posts($args); if (have_posts()) : ?>
       	<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
           <?php $value = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'store_meta_phone', true); ?>
       		 <?php if($value != '') : ?>
                <p class="directory premium">
       		  <a href="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></p>
                <?php endif; ?>
          <?php endwhile; ?>
       <?php endif; wp_reset_query(); ?>
   
       <?php
       	$args2 = array(
       		'posts_per_page' => -1,
       		'order' => 'ASC',
       		'orderby' => 'title',
       		'post_type' => 'store'
       		);
       		query_posts($args2); if (have_posts()) : ?>
       	<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
           <?php $value2 = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'store_meta_phone', true); ?>
           	<?php if(empty($value2)) : ?>
       		 <p class="directory">
       		  <a href="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></p>
                 <?php endif; ?>
          <?php endwhile; ?>
         <?php else : ?>
       		<h3 class="post-title">No Stores Found</h3>
       		<p>We're sorry, but there are no stores currently available for display. Please return soon.</p>
       		<p>
       		  <a href="<?php echo get_option('home'); ?>">Return to the homepage</a>
       		</p>
       		<p>&nbsp;</p>
       		<p>&nbsp;</p>
       		<p>&nbsp;</p>
       <?php endif; wp_reset_query(); ?>
       ```
   
 * Basically I’m displaying some stores as preferred if there is a phone number 
   stored, and the rest after if no phone number is present by running two queries.
   Is this a bad practice?

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Conditional Meta Data or Custom Fields’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Hudson Phillips](https://wordpress.org/support/users/harbormark/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/conditional-meta-data-or-custom-fields/#post-3715825)
 * Status: resolved

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