Paginate pages with dynamic query

Question

I have a wordpress page that has a series of listings and a searchbox at the top. The search allows the user to filter posts by creating a custom WP_Query object based on what they selected. I am wondering if there is a way I can have this be paginated so that there aren't hundreds of results displaying on the page.

Basically I have an if statement to check if the form is submitted which then populates the selected fields into an array and passes it to the meta_query

$paged = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
    if(isset($_POST['submit'])){
    $the_query = new WP_Query(array(
          'post_type' => 'business',
          'post_status' => 'publish', 
          'taxonomy' => 'business-type',
          'business-type' => 'attraction',
          'posts_per_page' => 15,
          'orderby' => 'title',
          'order' => 'ASC',
          'meta_query' => $arrays,
          'paged' => $paged
        ));
    }else{
    $the_query = new WP_Query(array(
        'post_type' => 'business',
        'post_status' => 'publish', 
        'taxonomy' => 'business-type',
        'business-type' => 'attraction',
        'posts_per_page' => 15,
        'orderby' => 'title',
        'order' => 'ASC',
        'paged' => $paged
       ));

The I loop through the query using while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post();

and after endwhile; I have my pagination

if($the_query->max_num_pages>1){?>
    <div class="pagination">
    <?php
      if ($paged > 1) { ?>
        <a href="<?php echo '?paged=' . ($paged -1); //prev link ?>"><</a>
      <?php }
      for($i=1;$i<=$the_query->max_num_pages;$i++){
        if($paged==$i){?>
          <span class="current"><?php echo $i; ?></span>
        <?php }else{?>
          <a href="<?php echo '?paged=' . $i; ?>" class="inactive"><?php echo $i;?></a>
        <?php
      }
    }
    if($paged < $the_query->max_num_pages){?>
        <a href="<?php echo '?paged=' . ($paged + 1); //next link ?>">></a>
    <?php } ?>
    </div>

Answer 1

I was going to create my own question and answer it, but this looks as good a place as any. The way I solved this, is by using $_SESSION. Keep in mind I am using infinite-scroll, so I can tell when the page is being fetched via ajax as opposed to being actually navigated to in the browser.

So here's the steps/pseudo-code:

1. Clear Session Variables
2. Run "Default" loop and get html
3. User filters results -> get results from new loop
4. Set Session Variables so page knows which loops to run
5. User scrolls down -> get results from current page, but for next page
6. This page displays a loop conditionally based on the session variables
7. ??????
8. Profit

I would just post my code, but it is pretty large so I'd rather not. If you can't figure it out, let me know though and I will post the skeleton of the code.

Answer 2

Based on the code you posted, you are not passing any meta parameters through to the pagination function. You will need to create links like :

<a href="<?php get_permalink(). '?paged=' . ($paged + 1) . '&meta_key='.$something.'&meta_value='.$somethingelse; //next link ?>">Link Text</a>

I assume your are processing that meta information for your initial query somewhere in order to populate $arrays but unless you pass that information along to the subsequent queries you will end up with the default search on pages 2 and on and not a paginated list restricted to the selected item.

Note that I added get_permalink to your link. You were using a relative URL and those will cause a lot of heartache in WordPress.

You might also look into paginate_links instead of rolling your own pagination. It is handy.... not necessary, but handy.