Sort Order By Meta Key not working

Hi @maumex

Try to create a custom numerical field, apply it to your post type, open a post, and use a needed number in this field like 1, or 2, or 3 … depends on how you want them to be sorted. Then create a sorting option by meta key numeric, and use your meta key so it will sort it in the right order.

Best Regards – Victor

Hi,

that’s exactly what I did but with A, B, C instead of 1, 2, 3 and used the meta key not numeric one. But I get a blank page… is that available on the free version? What am I doing wrong?

I have the custom taxonomy “ordenanzas” and inside ordenanzas I have the categories “AAA, BBB, CCC” and then I applied them to the posts, finally I want to sort but get blank: https://wordpress-259574-5283223.cloudwaysapps.com/aircraft/?ordr=mordenanza (notice the m for the not numeric metakey)

Ay ideas?

Also you didn’t reply on the other sorting question I had to see if it’s possible on the paid version: I wanted to know if it’s possible to have a custom default sort order based on 3 combinations being “aircraft type, cabin size, year”. So that the default items come arranged first the Jets, and those jets first the heavy, then medium then small; after that the turboprops, heavy, medium, etc… is that possible with filter everything or should I have a custom code snippet for that?

Thanks!

Hi @maumex

1) There is no option in the sorting where you can choose taxonomy to order by it. If you created taxonomy by custom field and used its meta key it will not work. If you place the name of the taxonomy as a custom field name it will not work.

2) Please make 1)… 2)… markup for different questions so it will be less confusing, and make them short and consistent.

Using names like “size of the boat” and the second option “type of the engine” with the third option” fuel capacity tank” mix it with… It is making us confused about what is the final goal. Use abstraction, as an example, “I have 3 custom fields can I combine them in one sorting option?”

The custom order is only possible by using a custom numerical field and applying from 1 to N number on each post how you like them to appear. Or use some type of custom solution modifying the query, by all those parameters.

You can use letters like aaa/b/bb, but we are not sure how they will be filtered based on PHP string comparison. It will require some additional naming parameters. And you can not make a triple sorting.

Best Regards – Victor

Hi,

Apologies for the untidy messages, I’ll take not of what you told me.

So, based on your responses I think I will buy it but also will hire a developer so he can make those tweaks for the SORT field, maybe with some code snippets on top of your pluging.

For the demo purposes with the free version I still don’t understand how to make the CUSTOM SORT work. What is the correct way to add those 1, 2, 3 numbers to my posts if not the way I did it? The way I did it was:

1) Create custom taxonomy with ACF named “ordenanza”
2) Add the categories 1, 2, 3 to ordenanza
3) Edit some posts and add 1 or 2 or 3 category depending on the post from the “ordenanzas” taxonomy window on the right of the post
4) Edit the widget to add the “ordenanza” metakey numeric for the sorting to work

You can see in https://wordpress-259574-5283223.cloudwaysapps.com/aircraft that if you select the CUSTOM ORDER on the SORT dropdown, you get the blank page.

Where have I failed?

Thanks

AA

Hi @maumex

Where have I failed?

When you create a taxonomy with ACF, it becomes a physical taxonomy, and you use that taxonomy from now on, you don’t use a meta key for that taxonomy to apply the values you need to it. And it does not behave as a custom field.

So if you are using the meta key of this taxonomy, it will not return correct data as this is a relation field, this is why everything is empty. As it is not returning the data from this taxonomy, more likely it is to return some IDs or anything close to it, while data in your database is saved as taxonomy, and it is pulling it from there.

Best Regards – Victor

Gotcha, so, how would be the correct step by step to be able to add CUSTOM SORT options? I also tried adding from the post category and same thing. I can’t find any documentation or videos showing how I can add something to the posts to be able to sort them by that thing. I would appreciate help as this forum has told me everything I did wrong but I can’t to have someone tell me how to do it right. Please help.

I replied but I think it got deleted…

Thanks for telling me what I did wrong, but I still don’t understand how to do it right. I can’t find any documentation on a step by step to understand what should I do to the posts to be able to sort them by a custom sort option. Would appreciate the help as I am not understanding how to pull it off and it’s not intuitive.

Thanks!

@maumex

You cannot sort by taxonomies with the default plugin features. This is only achievable with custom coding and extending plugin functionality.

At the moment, you can only sort by simple custom fields, like numerical, or text ones. The taxonomies, are a bit different, as you can apply multiple values to one post, which is bringing confusion about how it should be sorted then. And what about the subterms in those taxonomies? There are a lot of such nuances when it comes to sorting, so sorting at the moment works only with the singular values.

Best Regards – Victor

Thanks! Yes, it’s pretty clear that I cannot sort by taxonomies at this point, understood.

What I am trying to understand is how to achieve the custom sort, still no example or documentation on that. I see the field META NUMERIC and META KEY but I don’t know how to apply that to my posts, that’s where I am requesting for your help on this thread.

Where in my posts should I have that meta numeric or meta key?

Thanks!

@maumex

The issue in your case is that you have too many variables by which you want to sort your items. Usually, it is just one value, what you want to do should include at least two or three.

So in your case, you can only “hardcode” it.

numerical value: 1 / post name: post 4
numerical value: 2 / post name: post 7
numerical value: 3 / post name: post 10
numerical value: 4 / post name: post 1
numerical value: 5 / post name: post 100
numerical value: 6 / post name: post 2

So when you make a sorting order by meta key numeric ABS it will display those posts like that from smaller value to the bigger. So you can hardcode which post should go next in your sorting. And name the sorting like by “iron in metal, lighter from heavy, dirty from clean” order. So it will simulate multiple sortings at the same time because there is no other way to make the sorting following your scenario, only some custom coding.

Best Regards – Victor

Thanks! I think this has been a mix up where the 2 topics got tangled. On one hand I was asking on how to use the SORT CUSTOM option without any hardcode, just trying to understand how would I use it out from the box with the posts I have to see what use could I give it, and I find no documentation or video explaining how to get or add those meta key to the available posts.

On the other hand, I was asking if combined sorting was possible, but as a separate topic, and it was clear on other response that wasn’t possible out of the box and I should hard code it, that’s clear.

So this got complicated for no reason, sorry for that, I am just trying to understand how to make use of the CUSTOM SORT that comes with the plugin, trying to add some customization to it without hardcoding anything, but I don’t find any explanation on how would I accomplish that, is this clear enough?

Thanks!

@maumex

There is no “CUSTOM SORT” that comes with the plugin. There is only the ability to sort your posts by custom field data.

For example, you create a numerical custom field via ACF and apply it to your post type. Then you open your post and type some number in that custom field like 1, you open a second post and type a number like 20, and so on. Then you can use this custom field meta key for sorting so it will sort your posts by numerical values in it from high to low or low to high. That’s the whole logic behind it, this is how the sorting is working.

Best Regards – Victor

I seem to found out what’s going on… the custom sort with meta key is using the TAG_ID number from the categories instead of the TEXT name of the Slug. That’s why if I choose to SORT BY MANUFACTURER instead of sorting A, B, C, D, E, it groups each Manufacturer correctly but it sorts it by the TAG_ID of each Slug even though I didn’t select the Meta Key numeric.

Is there a way to sort this out? Or at least to paste some sort of code snippet so that it actualy uses the slug name instead of tag_id to sort? Because I have no control over tag_id and that’s dynamic, I will be adding and deleting manufacturers daily so it should be able to sort them alphabetically.

Hope there’s a way

thanks

Hi @maumex

Unfortunately, there is no way to do so with default plugin functionality.

What you can do is check the templates overriding – https://filtereverything.pro/resources/templates-overriding/ specifically the orderby.php in order to modify it to get the TAG_ID titles. Since the custom field only holds the tag_id and not the title.

Best Regards – Victor

Thanks for the patience and the help. I will try to modify the order.php but in the meantime I found a solution that is to add the same fields as ACF fields and then use that instead of taxonomies to sort, it’s not ideal workflow for adding 400 items but at least it works.

Regarding the query, FILTER EVERYTHING does not come with query true? It would work with my theme’s query? The thing is AVADA THEME is pretty basic to create a Query of Posts… do you happen to know an alternative plugin (if FE doesn’t do it) for creating the Querys with more controls like how to order and pre-filter, etc that would work well with your filters?

I think if I get this to work next step is to purchase and try it out with the theme or plugin query

Thanks!