Sort by custom field is not working

Question

I have a custom query:

<?php
query_posts(array(
'post_type' => 'properties',
'meta_key' => 'pd_city',
'orderby' => 'meta_value',
'order' => 'ASC',
'posts_per_page' => 5,
'paged' => get_query_var('paged')
));
?>

But it doesn't seem to be working. The posts on this page should be listed alphabetically by city (Burnaby, New Westminster, Richmond, Surrey), but they are listed in a random order (I'm not sure how they are being ordered).

Not sure what I'm missing. I created the 'properties' post_type via the 'Post Meta' Wordpress plugin if that makes a difference.

http://www.professionalrentals.ca/new-properties-test-page/

---

Attempt using WP_Query - Also DOES NOT WORK

<?php
$paged = ( get_query_var('paged') ) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
$args = array(
    'post_type' => 'properties',
    'meta_key' => 'pd_city',
    'orderby' => 'meta_value',
    'order' => 'ASC',
    'posts_per_page' => 5,
    'paged' => $paged
);
$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
?>

<?php if ($the_query->have_posts()) : while ($the_query->have_posts()) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>

Answer 1

Piter is right, don't use query_posts.

You could do something like:

$paged = ( get_query_var('paged') ) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
$args = array(
    'post_type' => 'properties',
    'meta_key' => 'pd_city',
    'orderby' => 'meta_value',
    'order' => 'ASC',
    'posts_per_page' => 5,
    'paged' => $paged
);

$query = new WP_Query( $args );

Just make sure you have the values right for your post_type and meta_key params. I.e, I use an underscore for all my meta keys: _properties.

I have a nearly identical query running on a client's project here: http://centerpoint.com/properties/?pgd=1&v=list&filter=1&list_type=all&sortby=city

Answer 2

I took a quick look at the Post Meta plugin you are using, and it appears to save it's meta values as serialized arrays. Therefore your query is never going to work - WP doesn't know how to order a bunch of serialized arrays.

If you really want to use a plug-in (rather than build your own meta fields), I'd recommend you dump Post Meta and switch to Advanced Custom Fields. Note you'll need to deactivate Post Meta for ACF to work.

Answer 3

Okay I have a really ridiculous work around that ends up running the query multiple times (I'm sure I'll get torn apart in the comments for this), but it works for now so here goes.

This only works if you know exactly which fields you will be sorting between. AKA I have a list of cities I need ordered alphabetically. And I know there are only these cities. (I guess you could run a separate query to get this array from the DB but I didn't want MORE queries)

<?php
$listOfCities = array('burnaby', 'delta', 'ladner', 'new westminster', 'north vancouver', 'richmond', 'tsawwassen', 'vancouver', 'white rock');

foreach ($listOfCities as $cities) {

$args = array(
'post_type' => 'properties',
'meta_key' => 'pd_city',
'meta_query' => array(
        array(
            'key' => 'pd_city',
            'value' => $cities,
            'compare' => 'LIKE'
        )),
'order' => 'ASC'
);
$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );

if ($the_query->have_posts()) : while ($the_query->have_posts()) : $the_query->the_post();

    echo get_field(pd_city);

endwhile; endif; wp_reset_postdata();

}
?>

And after all that the client wanted it ordered a different way, but since it processes it based on what's first in the array to last, I just changed the array to:

$listOfCities = array('vancouver', 'richmond', 'burnaby', 'new westminster', 'north vancouver', 'white rock', 'delta', 'ladner', 'tsawwassen');