Set Alias for meta_query arguments in get_posts()

Question

Is there a way to set an alias on the meta_query arguments when running a get_posts()? One of my queries is performing poorly. To optimize I just need to be able to reuse the same joined table instead of joining in 3 tables when only one is needed.

My current example...

$args = array(
    'meta_query' => array(
        'relation' => 'AND',
        array(
            'key' => 'abc_type',
            'value' => array('puppy', 'kitten'),
            'compare' => 'IN',
        ),
        array(
            'relation' => 'OR',
            array(
                'relation' => 'AND',
                array(
                    'key' => 'abc_type',
                    'value' => 'puppy',
                    'compare' => '=',
                ),
                array(
                    'key' => 'abc_color',
                    'value' => 'pink',
                    'compare' => '=',
                ),
            ),
            array(
                'relation' => 'AND',
                array(
                    'key' => 'abc_type',
                    'value' => 'kitten',
                    'compare' => '=',
                ),
                array(
                    'key' => 'abc_size',
                    'value' => 'large',
                    'compare' => '=',
                ),
            ),
        ),
    )
);
get_posts($args);

which basically translates to this in straight SQL...

SELECT posts.* FROM posts
INNER JOIN postmeta ON ( posts.ID = postmeta.post_id )
INNER JOIN postmeta AS mt1 ON ( posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
INNER JOIN postmeta AS mt2 ON ( posts.ID = mt2.post_id )
INNER JOIN postmeta AS mt3 ON ( posts.ID = mt3.post_id )
WHERE 1=1
AND
( 
  ( postmeta.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND postmeta.meta_value IN ('puppy','kitten') ) 
  AND 
  ( 
    ( 
      ( mt1.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND mt1.meta_value = 'puppy' ) 
      AND 
      ( mt2.meta_key = 'abc_color' AND mt2.meta_value > 'pink' )
    ) 
    OR 
    ( 
      ( mt3.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND mt3.meta_value = 'kitten' )
      AND
      ( mt4.meta_key = 'abc_size' AND mt4.meta_value = 'large' )
    )
  )
) AND posts.post_type = 'abc_mypost' AND ((posts.post_status = 'publish'))
GROUP BY posts.ID ORDER BY posts.post_title ASC;

However, this is adding 2 extra joins for the custom meta field abc_type and as such performance has taken a big hit. Is there a way to be able to reference the same alias for multiple meta_query arguments? Basically, mt1 and mt3 are totally unnecessary, I should just be able to reference the first postmeta table that is used with the first ( postmeta.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND postmeta.meta_value IN ('puppy','kitten') ). Or at least if I can set a custom alias on each of these I could reference that.

A more optimal query would be...

SELECT posts.* FROM posts
INNER JOIN postmeta ON ( posts.ID = postmeta.post_id )
INNER JOIN postmeta AS mt1 ON ( posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
INNER JOIN postmeta AS mt2 ON ( posts.ID = mt2.post_id )
WHERE 1=1
AND
( 
  ( postmeta.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND postmeta.meta_value IN ('puppy','kitten') ) 
  AND 
  ( 
    ( 
      ( postmeta.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND postmeta.meta_value = 'puppy' ) 
      AND 
      ( mt1.meta_key = 'abc_color' AND mt1.meta_value > 'pink' )
    ) 
    OR 
    ( 
      ( postmeta.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND postmeta.meta_value = 'kitten' )
      AND
      ( mt2.meta_key = 'abc_color' AND mt2.meta_value = 'green' )
    )
  )
) AND posts.post_type = 'abc_mypost' AND ((posts.post_status = 'publish'))
GROUP BY posts.ID ORDER BY posts.post_title ASC;

Thoughts?

Answer 1

Have a look at the meta_query_find_compatible_table_alias filter defined in wp-includes/class-wp-meta-query.php. This filter's documentation:

/**
 * Filters the table alias identified as compatible with the current clause.
 *
 * @since 4.1.0
 *
 * @param string|bool $alias        Table alias, or false if none was found.
 * @param array       $clause       First-order query clause.
 * @param array       $parent_query Parent of $clause.
 * @param object      $this         WP_Meta_Query object.
 */
return apply_filters( 'meta_query_find_compatible_table_alias', $alias, $clause, $parent_query, $this );

It's likely that the calling function, find_compatible_table_alias, is returning false and thus the query creates the mt* aliases. Here is some sample code using this filter, although I would personally advocate for something that's a little easier to understand. Modifying queries like this can lead to tons of headaches down the road and it may not be apparent at all where the query is getting messed up, especially if you bring in other developers in the future. That said...

// Reuse the same alias for the abc_type meta key.
function pets_modify_meta_query( $alias, $meta_query ) {
    if ( 'abc_type' === $meta_query['key'] ) {
        return 'mt1';
    }

    return $alias;
}

// Filter the query.
add_filter( 'meta_query_find_compatible_table_alias', 'pets_modify_meta_query', 10, 2 );

$args = array(
    'meta_query' => array(
        'relation' => 'AND',
        array(
            'key' => 'abc_type',
            'value' => array('puppy', 'kitten'),
            'compare' => 'IN',
        ),
        array(
            'relation' => 'OR',
            array(
                'relation' => 'AND',
                array(
                    'key' => 'abc_type',
                    'value' => 'puppy',
                    'compare' => '=',
                ),
                array(
                    'key' => 'abc_color',
                    'value' => 'pink',
                    'compare' => '=',
                ),
            ),
            array(
                'relation' => 'AND',
                array(
                    'key' => 'abc_type',
                    'value' => 'kitten',
                    'compare' => '=',
                ),
                array(
                    'key' => 'abc_size',
                    'value' => 'large',
                    'compare' => '=',
                ),
            ),
        ),
    )
);

$q = new WP_Query($args);
echo '<pre>', print_r($q->request, true); die;

This results in a query like

SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS
    wp_posts.ID
FROM wp_posts
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta ON ( wp_posts.ID = wp_postmeta.post_id )
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta AS mt1 ON ( wp_posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
WHERE
    1=1
AND
(
    ( mt1.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND mt1.meta_value IN ('puppy','kitten') )
    AND
    (
        (
            ( mt1.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND mt1.meta_value = 'puppy' )
            AND
            ( wp_postmeta.meta_key = 'abc_color' AND wp_postmeta.meta_value = 'pink' )
        )
        OR
        (
            ( mt1.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND mt1.meta_value = 'kitten' )
            AND
            ( mt1.meta_key = 'abc_size' AND mt1.meta_value = 'large' )
        )
    )
)
AND
    wp_posts.post_type = 'post'
AND (
    wp_posts.post_status = 'publish'
    OR
    wp_posts.post_status = 'future'
    OR
    wp_posts.post_status = 'draft'
    OR wp_posts.post_status = 'pending'
)
GROUP BY wp_posts.ID ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC LIMIT 0, 10

Answer 2

You can use the posts_where and posts_join filters to modify the query. It's not very elegant, but you should be able to mess with these two filters so that your sql is more optimized. It's kind of brute-forcey, but I can't see a better way in the WP_Query class. That's not saying there isn't though.

//* Make sure to not suppress filters
$args = array(
  'suppress_filters' => false,
  //* rest of args unchanged
);

add_filter( 'posts_where', function( $sql ) {
  $sql = str_replace(
    "( mt1.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND mt1.meta_value = 'puppy' )",
    "( postmeta.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND postmeta.meta_value = 'puppy' )",
    $sql
  );

  $sql = str_replace(
    "( mt3.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND mt3.meta_value = 'kitten' )",
    "( postmeta.meta_key = 'abc_type' AND postmeta.meta_value = 'kitten' )",
    $sql
  );

  $sql = str_replace( [ 'mt2', 'mt4' ], [ 'mt1', 'mt2' ], $sql );
  return $sql;
});

add_filter( 'posts_join', function( $sql ) {
  $sql = str_replace(
    " INNER JOIN wp_postmeta AS mt4 ON ( wp_posts.ID = mt4.post_id )",
    "",
    $sql
  );
  $sql = str_replace(
    " INNER JOIN wp_postmeta AS mt3 ON ( wp_posts.ID = mt3.post_id )",
    "",
    $sql
  );
  return $sql;
});

There should probably be some checks in there so that you're not accidentally modifying other queries. That's left as an exercise for the reader.

Answer 3

You could optimize your query by removing the first meta query as it is redundant, like so:

$args = array(
    'meta_query' => array(
        'relation' => 'OR',
        array(
            'relation' => 'AND',
            array(
                'key' => 'abc_type',
                'value' => 'puppy',
                'compare' => '=',
            ),
            array(
                'key' => 'abc_color',
                'value' => 'pink',
                'compare' => '=',
            ),
        ),
        array(
            'relation' => 'AND',
            array(
                'key' => 'abc_type',
                'value' => 'kitten',
                'compare' => '=',
            ),
            array(
                'key' => 'abc_size',
                'value' => 'large',
                'compare' => '=',
            ),
        ),
    ),
);
get_posts($args);

This way you will only get either pink puppy or large kitten, as you intend, I believe.

As for optimizing WordPress's internal MySQL queries, I believe you should stay clear of that since you would expose yourself to possible side effects. You would be better off relying on the fact that queries are cached and do some more PHP processing on the (larger) data set. I believe this will lead to better performance overall as the bottleneck is not the amount of data you are extracting from the database, but the difficulty with which is it gathered (how many queries). PHP is quite fast as coming through arrays.

So I believe a situation like this is faster, considering that the post meta gets cached:

$args = array(
    'meta_query' => array( 
        array(
            'key' => 'abc_type',
            'value' => array('puppy', 'kitten'),
            'compare' => 'IN',
        ),
    ),
);

$final_posts = array();
foreach( $get_posts($args) as $post ) {
    if ( 'puppy' === get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'abc_type', true ) ) {
        if ( 'pink' === get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'abc_color', true ) ) {
            $final_posts[] = $post;
        }
    } else {
        // This is definitely a kitten
        if ( 'large' === get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'abc_size', true ) ) {
            $final_posts[] = $post;
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

I'm not really a database guy, but I played one on TV once...

Wouldn't this part

SELECT posts.* FROM posts
INNER JOIN postmeta ON ( posts.ID = postmeta.post_id )
INNER JOIN postmeta AS mt1 ON ( posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
INNER JOIN postmeta AS mt2 ON ( posts.ID = mt2.post_id )

be better replaced with

SELECT posts.* FROM posts
INNER JOIN postmeta ON (( posts.ID = postmeta.post_id ) and 
( posts.ID = mt1.post_id ) and
( posts.ID = mt2.post_id ))

That could probably be simplified even more..with some alias stuck in there in the proper place so you could use the rest of your query.

Just a thought...