Count user posts and store the number for later use

Question

I want to count author posts and store this number for later use even if some of the posts have been deleted in the meantime.

$rows = $wpdb->get_results( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT post_status, COUNT(ID) as count FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE post_author = %d AND post_type = 'post_type' GROUP BY post_status", $current_user->ID ) );
$stats = array();
foreach ( $rows as $row )
    $stats[ $row->post_status ] = $row->count;

        $post_count_published = isset($stats['publish']) ? $stats['publish'] : 0;

Any idea how this can be achieved?

Answer 1

You can use update_user_meta() to add information to a user's meta fields, and count_user_posts() to get an initial count.

So, for instance:

<?php
    add_action( 'new_to_publish', 'wpse96358_author_count' );
    add_action( 'draft_to_publish', 'wps396358_author_count' );

    function wpse96358_author_count() {
        global $post;
        // get initial count
        $single = true;
        $author_count = get_user_meta( $post->post_author, 'author_count', $single );
        if ( strlen( $author_count ) > 0 ) {
            $author_count = intval( $author_count ); // make sure it's a number
            $author_count++; // increment by one
        } else {
            // the meta information isn't set, so we'll create it
            $author_count = count_user_posts( $post->post_author );
        }

        update_user_meta( $post->post_author, 'author_count', $author_count );
    }

?>

NB

You would be wise to consult the Action Reference and the Post Status Transitions reference to see which action would work best for you. I picked new_to_publish and draft_to_publish but it depends on when you want the updates to happen.