Query based on custom fields start and end date

Question

I have a custom post type called Events, with 2 custom fields, start date and end date. These fields are stored using a timestamp in the database. I want to create a custom query based on these 2 values, so i can list events that are inside the specified date/time range. This is how my code looks like:

$start_date = strtotime($_POST['start_date']);
$end_date = strtotime($_POST['end_date']);
$args = array(
    'post_type' => 'event',
    'posts_per_page' => -1,
    'orderby' => 'title',
    'order' => 'ASC',
    'meta_query'=>array(
        'relation'=>'AND',
         array(
            'key' => 'event_start_date',
            'value' => $start_date,
            'compare' => '<=',
            'type' => 'NUMERIC'
         ),
         array(
            'key' => 'event_end_date',
            'value' => $end_date,
            'compare' => '>=',
            'type' => 'NUMERIC'
         )
     )
);
$events = new WP_Query($args);      

So i'm using a simple NUMERIC meta_query, since all of my values and keys stored in a timestamp. The code looks fine for me, but somehow theres no results in this query. Here is an example:

$star_date = 1343779200 $end_date = 1412121600

And one of my event post has these values as a custom field: event_start_date = 1375315200 event_end_date = 1377734400

So it should give me at least one result, because the start_date is smaller and the end_date is higher compared to the event_start_date and event_end_date.

Any idea whats wrong?

Answer 1

I think you have used wrong comparison operators in meta query .It should be >= for 'event_start_date' and <= for 'event_end_date' .

Answer 2

$today2 = date('Ymd');  
    $current_month = date('m');
    $current_year = date('Y');
    $today1 = $_GET['event_date'];
    //echo $xx = substr($today1,0,4);

    $current_month = substr($today1,-4,2);
    $current_year = substr($today1,0,4);

    //echo 'get-->'.$today1; 
    //$today = ($today1 == '' || NULL )? $today2 : $today1; 

    $args = array(

        'post_type' => 'aw_events',
        'posts_per_page'  => $posts_per_page,
        'paged' => $paged,
        'meta_query'   => array( 
            //'relation' => 'AND',              
            array(
                'key'   => 'event_start_date',
                'compare'   => '<=',
                'value'   => $current_year.''.$current_month.'30',

            ),
            array(
                'key'   => 'event_end_date',
                'compare'   => '>=',
                'value'   => $current_year.''.$current_month.'01',

            ),
        ),      

    );