Creating array to compare custom field values

Question

I think I need some guidance here. I have a list of custom posts on a an archive template page that displays information from each of the custom posts. They are looped through using WPQuery:

<?php $restypes = new WP_Query( array( 'post_type' => 'reservation_type', 'posts_per_page' => -1 ) );?>

Each post has a several custom fields: $price, an optional $promo_price and a variable $per which determines if the price is per-person or per-room based on a custom taxonomy. The best price is then determined like so:

  if(in_array( 'dorm', $per )){
      $person_room ='per-person';
  } else {
      $person_room ='per-room';
  }  

  $post_id= $post->ID;
  $promo_price = get_field('promo_price');
  $norm_price = get_field('price');
  $p_per_room = get_field('people_per_room');

  if ($promo_price && !empty($promo_price)){

        if($person_room == 'per-room'){
            $addprice= $promo_price /$p_per_room;
        } else {
            $addprice= $promo_price;
        }

        $prices[$post_id]= $addprice;

  } elseif ($norm_price && !empty($norm_price)){

        if($person_room == 'per-room'){
            $addprice= $norm_price /$p_per_room;
        } else {
            $addprice= $norm_price;
        }

        $prices[$post_id]= $addprice;
  }

  $best = array_keys($prices, min($prices));

My problem is that the array $best is not complete until all the posts have been looped through. The point of all this is to be able to add:

<?php
if(in_array($post->ID, $best)){?> 
<div class="best-price"> 
<div class="ribbon-wrapper"><div class="ribbon">Best Price</div></div>
<?php  } else { ?>
    <div>
<?php } ?>

thus giving a different style to the item with the best price per-person.

My question is would I need to create a separate loop to populate the $best array in order to do this? Or is there a better way?

I was thinking initially of using the orderby => 'meta_value_num' having calculated the best price as a function and adding a meta value.

PS The get_field() function comes from Advanced custom fields.

Answer 1

Well i see only two ways either you have to have seprate loop to get best value or you can add ribbon wrapper by using css and absolute positioning of div setting top and left. Though it would be best if you can calculate best value using meta_value_num.