Order By table field comment_status in WordPress > 4.0

Question

can anyone help me to sort Posts list in WP-admin by wp_posts table field like comment_status.

I know, that we can easy sort by meta field key, but cannot find any way how to sort by wp_posts table actual field.

If we dig in to source code of WP Query, we can find that there are allowed only these types of keys -

    $allowed_keys = array( 'name', 'author', 'date', 'title', 'modified', 'menu_order', 'parent', 'ID', 'rand', 'comment_count', 'type' );

https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress/blob/9d123aa326a908ff8ed6170e0fea5d85a4b1619f/wp-includes/query.php#L2719

Is there any way how to override them?

This is how I can sort by meta_key, but I need to sort by actual table field.

add_filter('manage_edit-post_sortable_columns', 'jepc_add_comments_column_table_sorting');
add_filter('request', 'jepc_column_sort');

function jepc_add_comments_column_table_sorting($columns) {
  $columns['comment_status'] = 'comment_status';
  return $columns;
}

function jepc_column_sort($vars) {
  if (isset( $vars['orderby']) && 'comment_status' == $vars['orderby']) {
    $vars = array_merge( $vars, array(
        'meta_key' => 'comment_status',
        'orderby' => 'meta_value'
    ));
}

return $vars;
}

Thanks.

Answer 1

Here's a way to add an extra Comment Status field to the posts list table:

add_filter('manage_post_posts_columns', function ( $columns ) 
{
    $_columns = [];

    foreach( (array) $columns as $key => $label )
    {
        $_columns[$key] = $label; 
        if( 'title' === $key )
            $_columns['wpse_comment_status'] = esc_html__( 'Comment Status', 'mydomain' );
    }
    return $_columns;
} );

add_action( 'manage_post_posts_custom_column', function ( $column_name, $post_id ) 
{
    if ( $column_name == 'wpse_comment_status')
       echo get_post_field( 'comment_status', $post_id );    

}, 10, 2 );

Here's how we can add a support for comment status ordering through the posts_orderby filter:

add_filter( 'manage_edit-post_sortable_columns', function ( $columns ) 
{
  $columns['wpse_comment_status'] = 'comment_status';
  return $columns;
} );

add_filter( 'posts_orderby', function( $orderby, \WP_Query $q ) use ( &$wpdb )
{   
    $_orderby = $q->get( 'orderby' );
    $_order   = $q->get( 'order' );

    if( 
           is_admin() 
        && $q->is_main_query() 
        && did_action( 'load-edit.php' )
        && 'comment_status' === $_orderby 
    )
        $orderby = " {$wpdb->posts}.comment_status " 
            . ( 'ASC' === strtoupper( $_order ) ? 'ASC' : 'DESC' )
            . ", {$wpdb->posts}.ID DESC ";

    return $orderby;
}, 10, 2 );

where we sub-order by the post ID.

Here's an example output:

PS: Since WordPress 4.5 (#35601) it's possible to filter WP_Query by comment_status and ping_status, so you should be able to implement such filtering for your the posts list table, as well

Answer 2

Awesome! I have modified code to meet my requirements.

// Sort columns by WP_posts table fields - comment_status and ping_status
add_filter( 'posts_orderby', function( $orderby, \WP_Query $q ) use ( &$wpdb ) {

    $_orderby = $q->get( 'orderby' );
    $_order   = $q->get( 'order' );

    if ($_orderby != 'comment_status' && $_orderby != 'ping_status') {
        return $orderby;
    }

    if( $q->is_main_query() && did_action('load-edit.php')) {
        $orderby = " {$wpdb->posts}.{$_orderby} "
            . ( 'ASC' === strtoupper( $_order ) ? 'ASC' : 'DESC' )
            . ", {$wpdb->posts}.ID DESC ";
    }

    return $orderby;

}, 10, 2);

For those who want to use the code in older versions of PHP.

add_filter( 'posts_orderby', 'jepc_comment_status_column_sort', 10, 2);

function jepc_comment_status_column_sort($orderby, \WP_Query $q) {

    global $wpdb;

    $_orderby = $q->get( 'orderby' );
    $_order   = $q->get( 'order' );

    if ($_orderby != 'comment_status' && $_orderby != 'ping_status') {
        return $orderby;
    }

    if( $q->is_main_query() && did_action('load-edit.php')) {
        $orderby = " {$wpdb->posts}.{$_orderby} "
            . ( 'ASC' === strtoupper( $_order ) ? 'ASC' : 'DESC' )
            . ", {$wpdb->posts}.ID DESC ";
    }

    return $orderby;

}

Thanks, you are awesome!