WP Query tax_query not returning posts

Question

I have a WP query that searches for any custom posts under type 'tribe_events' tagged as 'featured' under the taxonomy 'tribe_events_cat'.

So, just to be clear:
post_type = 'tribe_events'
taxonomy = 'tribe_events_cat'
terms = 'featured', 'streamteam'

However, it returns nothing when outside of page ID 199. I can comment-out the tax_query and it works but returns all posts, not just ones tagged as 'featured'.

  if(is_page(199)) {
    $tribe_events_cat = array( 'featured','streamteam' );
  } else {
    $tribe_events_cat = 'featured';
  }

  // The Query
  $event_args = array (
    'post_type' => 'tribe_events',
    'posts_per_page' => 1,
    'tax_query' => array (
      array (
        'taxonomy' => 'tribe_events_cat',
        'field' => 'slug',
        'terms'     => $tribe_events_cat,
      ),
    ),
    'meta_query' => array(
      array(
        'key' => '_EventStartDate',
        'value' => date("Y-m-d"),
        'compare' => '>=',
        'type' => 'DATE',
      ),
    ),
    'meta_key'          => '_EventStartDate',
    'order'             => 'ASC'
  );
  $event_query = new WP_Query( $event_args );

  // The Loop
  if ( $event_query->have_posts() ) {
    while ( $event_query->have_posts() ) {
    $event_query->the_post();
    ?>
    POST CONTENT HERE
    <?php
    }
  }

What's wrong with my tax_query?!

EDIT:

This answer solved my initial problem of no posts being returned from my query
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30213495/wp-query-returns-no-results
Apparently there was a filter conflicting with my query.

However, I'm still having an issue.. I only want to return posts with both 'featured' AND 'streamteam' terms when on page ID 199. Right now it's returning posts that only belong to the 'featured' term.

Answer 1

Ok, I've just tested this in my installation (with a taxonomy that exists here). Usually, I just quickly throw stuff into the functions.php and look at the SQL that's generated (print $event_query->request;). That didn't work and the tax_query always generated 0 = 1 thus making sure that there were no results.

Finally, heureka, the taxonomy wasn't registered at that stage. Running it later and it works as expected.

Might something similar happen for you? Is your taxonomy-registration-code maybe working differently based on what page is currently requested?

In any case, please also add the SQL that is generated to the question. That might shine some light. How is your taxonomy added, CPTUI or similar, or your own code?

Maybe throw in

foreach ( get_post_types() as $post_type ) {
   echo '<p>' . $post_type . ": " . var_export(get_object_taxonomies($post_type), true) . '</p>';
}

Just to be sure.

Answer 2

You used this 'meta_key' => '_EventStartDate', for which purpose? Everything looks fine, did you try commenting the meta_query

Answer 3

Thank you for all your help! Here's what I ended up going with:

if(is_page(199)) {
  // The Query
  $event_args = array (
    'post_type' => 'tribe_events',
    'posts_per_page' => 1,
    'suppress_filters' => true,
    'tax_query' => array (
      'relation' => 'AND',
      array (
        'taxonomy' => 'tribe_events_cat',
        'field' => 'slug',
        'terms' => 'streamteam',
      ),
      array (
        'taxonomy' => 'tribe_events_cat',
        'field' => 'slug',
        'terms' => 'featured',
      ),
    ),
    'meta_query' => array(
      array(
        'key' => '_EventStartDate',
        'value' => date("Y-m-d"),
        'compare' => '>=',
        'type' => 'DATE',
      ),
    ),
    'meta_key' => '_EventStartDate',
    'order' => 'ASC'
  );
  } else {
    // The Query
    $event_args = array (
      'post_type' => 'tribe_events',
      'posts_per_page' => 1,
      'suppress_filters' => true,
      'tax_query' => array (
        array (
          'taxonomy' => 'tribe_events_cat',
          'field' => 'slug',
          'terms' => 'featured',
        ),
      ),
      'meta_query' => array(
        array(
          'key' => '_EventStartDate',
          'value' => date("Y-m-d"),
          'compare' => '>=',
          'type' => 'DATE',
        ),
      ),
      'meta_key' => '_EventStartDate',
      'order' => 'ASC'
    );
  }
$event_query = new WP_Query( $event_args );

// The Loop
if ( $event_query->have_posts() ) {
  while ( $event_query->have_posts() ) {
  $event_query->the_post();
  ?>
  POST CONTENT HERE
  <?php
  }
}

Instead of using an array ($tribe_events_cat) for my terms subquery, I had to use two single-term terms subqueries, turning my tax_query into an AND request for posts in featured AND streamteam.

Also, I had to add 'suppress_filters' => true, to each args array to fix some weird filtering issues happening outside of my query that were affecting my results.