[LOOP] Trouble w/ orderby metakey values

How is the event date stored in the database? Is it a Unix time stamp?

I’m using the ‘Advanced Custom Fields’ Plugin to create my custom fields – here’s the settings for that field.

Save Format – DD, MM dd
Display Format – mm/dd/yy

now the SAVE FORMAT is the one that gets entered into the database – if i need to switch this to a number string like ‘20130925’ how would I then convert that # into a String like – ‘Wednesday, September 25, 2013’ in my SECTION code?

If your’e saving ‘20130925’, you could do the following:

<?php
while(have_posts()) : the_post();
  // get the date
  $date= get_field('prana_event_date');
  // convert to Unix timestamp, then reformat, then print result
  echo date(strtotime('M d Y', $date));
  // above prints ex. Sept 25 2013
endwhile;
?>

now is there a way for me to convert that same data to “Wednesday, September 25, 2013”?

I’m sorry I completely spaced – I’m going to see if I can work with this and get it sorting properly by the 20130925 # – let’s see

Okay – I’ve implemented what you’ve suggested into my loop below – the problem seems to be that it’s not “printing” at all – nor are the posts being sorted ASC/DESC by my meta_key value.

<!-- LOOP START -->
<?php //WP_Query Arguments
	$args = array (
		'cat' => '2',
		'posts_per_page' => '5',
		'meta_key' => 'prana_event_date',
		'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
		'order' => 'ASC',
		);
		$date= get_field('prana_event_date');
		?>
<?php $the_query = new WP_Query( $args ); ?>
    <?php while ($the_query -> have_posts()) : $the_query -> the_post(); ?>
    <section>
    <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail( array(175,110) );?><div class="overlay"></div></a>
    <div class="event-info">
    <h3><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
    <p class="date">
    	<?php
			// convert to Unix timestamp, then reformat, then print result
			echo date(strtotime('M d Y', $date));
			// above prints ex. Sept 25 2013
		?>
    </p>
	<?php the_excerpt(); ?><p><?php the_field( 'prana_event_date' ); ?></p>
    <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" class="more-info">more info ></a>
    </div>
    </section>
    <?php endwhile;?>
<!-- LOOP FINISH -->

I’ve modified my LOOP to the following:

<!-- LOOP START -->
<?php //WP_Query Arguments
	$args = array (
		'cat' => '2',
		'posts_per_page' => '5',
		'meta_key' => 'prana_event_date',
		'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
		'order' => 'ASC',
		);
		$date= get_field('prana_event_date');
?>
<?php $the_query = new WP_Query( $args ); ?>
    <?php while ($the_query -> have_posts()) : $the_query -> the_post(); ?>
    <section>
    <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail( array(175,110) );?><div class="overlay"></div></a>
    <div class="event-info">
    <h3><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
    <p class="date"><?php echo date(strtotime('M d Y', $date));	?></p>
	<?php the_excerpt(); ?><p><?php the_field( 'prana_event_date' ); ?></p>
    <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" class="more-info">more info ></a>
    </div>
    </section>
    <?php endwhile;?>
<!-- LOOP FINISH -->

I’m still not getting a proper print of the date at all; it’s also not ordering by the meta_key prana_event_date either.

VICTORY IS MINE!

<!-- LOOP START -->
<?php //WP_Query Arguments
	$args = array (
		//'cat' => '2',
		'posts_per_page' => '5',
		'meta_key' => 'prana_event_date',
		'meta_value' => date('Ymd'),
		'meta_compare' => '>=',
		'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
		'order' => 'ASC',
		);

?>
<?php $the_query = new WP_Query( $args ); ?>
    <?php while ($the_query -> have_posts()) : $the_query -> the_post(); ?>
    <section>
		<?php $date= get_field('prana_event_date'); ?>
    <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail( array(175,110) );?><div class="overlay"></div></a>
    <div class="event-info">
    <h3><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
    <p class="date"><?php echo date('l, F jS, Y', strtotime($date)); ?></p>
	<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
    <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" class="more-info">more info ></a>
    </div>
    </section>
    <?php endwhile;?>
<!-- LOOP FINISH -->