Is it possible to query a category with specified posts?

Question

I have a page I'm setting up with various sections to display posts. I want the majority of the page to be user-editable, so I'm filling the sections using a shortcode I wrote. Example:

This:

[diversecity section="sounds-flavors" ids=""]

becomes this:

$qs = new WP_Query(
    array(
        'posts_per_page' => 3,
        'category_name' => 'sounds-flavors'
    )
);

and returns 3 posts from the "Sounds & Flavors" category.

However, the users want to be able to highlight certain articles in each section, so I added the ids variable in the shortcode. The idea is that users can put in a comma-separated list of IDs, and that those posts will be prepended to the category list.

This:

[diversecity section="sounds-flavors" ids="12345,12678"]

becomes this:

$qs = new WP_Query(
    array(
        'posts_per_page' => 3,
        'category_name' => 'sounds-flavors',
        'post__in' => array(12345,12678)
    )
);

but only returns the two posts specified. The desired output is this:

<article id="12345">{First ID Specified}</article>
<article id="12678">{Second ID Specified}</article>
<article id="12980">{Most Recent Post from the Sounds & Flavors category}</article>

I know I can do two queries (one for the specified posts, and for any category posts to fill the remainder, but is it possible to do it in one using WP_Query?

I'm essentially trying to mimic the behavior of sticky posts, so it should technically be possible. Any ideas?

Answer 1

You should use a custom select query:

$querystr = "
SELECT * FROM $wpdb->posts
LEFT JOIN $wpdb->term_relationships ON($wpdb->posts.ID = $wpdb->term_relationships.object_id)
LEFT JOIN $wpdb->term_taxonomy ON($wpdb->term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id = $wpdb->term_taxonomy.term_taxonomy_id)
LEFT JOIN $wpdb->terms ON($wpdb->term_taxonomy.term_id = $wpdb->terms.term_id)
WHERE ($wpdb->terms.name = 'sounds-flavors' OR $wpdb->posts.ID IN(12345,12678))
AND $wpdb->term_taxonomy.taxonomy = 'category'
AND $wpdb->posts.post_status = 'publish'
AND $wpdb->posts.post_type = 'post'
LIMIT 3
";

Take a look here: https://codex.wordpress.org/Displaying_Posts_Using_a_Custom_Select_Query Regards