wp_list_pages - Using a Walker to customize output order

Question

I'm using wp_list_pages to create a navigation menu. I've run into a challenge with the menu order, though, and I am trying to figure out a way to take more control over the order of the menu.

Is it possible to customize the order of the wp_list_pages output using a Walker?

For example, I'd like to check if a given page in wp_list_pages results has a post_meta value of page_x and output that first, then do the same for another page, then, if none of the rules match, continue as normal.

Answer 1

wp_list_pages( $args ) calls get_pages( $args ). You can filter the get_pages() output with a filter on get_pages.

Let’s say you call wp_list_pages() like this:

wp_list_pages(
    array(
        'please_filter_me' => TRUE
    )
);

You can sort the pages now with code like this (not tested):

add_filter( 'get_pages', function( $pages, $args ) {
    // not our query
    if ( empty ( $args['please_filter_me'] ) )
        return $pages;

    $out = $top = array();

    foreach ( $pages as $page )
    {
        if ( get_post_meta( $page->ID, 'my_key', TRUE ) )
            $top[] = $page;
        else
            $out[] = $page;
    }

    return $top + $out;
}, 10, 2 );