Sort WP_User_Query by meta_key value with pre_user_query

1 comment

1. As written, this is unlikely to do anything. If you add a couple of var_dumps like this:

   function sort_by_member_number( $vars ) {
     var_dump($vars);
     if ( isset( $vars->query_vars['orderby'] ) && 'member-number' == $vars->query_vars['orderby'] ) {
         $vars = array_merge(
             $vars->query_vars, array(
                 'meta_key' => 'arcc_member_number'
             )
         );
     }
     var_dump($vars);
     return $vars;
   }
   add_filter( 'pre_user_query', 'sort_by_member_number' );
   

   You will notice that nothing has changed before and after your code, and you won’t find your arrc_member_number value in there anywhere. And, if you look at that dumped data, you will notice that the query has already been constructed (sample query only):

   ["query_fields"]=>
     string(30) "SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_users.*"
   ["query_from"]=>
     string(13) "FROM wp_users"
   ["query_where"]=>
     string(9) "WHERE 1=1"
   ["query_orderby"]=>
     string(28) "ORDER BY user_registered ASC"
   ["query_limit"]=>
     NULL
   

   And if you look in the source for where the query actually runs, those are the properties used.

   In other words, pre_user_query does not work like pre_get_posts. You will need to actually parse that query_* values, which can be tricky and means you need to be good with SQL. If you can write your user query to be something like this…

   $user_query = new WP_User_Query( 
     array ( 
       'orderby' => 'arcc_member_number',
       'meta_query' => array(
           array(
               'key'     => 'arcc_member_number',
               'compare' => 'EXISTS'
           ),
       )
     ) 
   );
   

   … it will get you started but you still need to alter query_orderby because there are hard-coded limits to what you can order by.

   function sort_by_member_number( $vars ) {
     if ( isset( $vars->query_vars['orderby'] ) && 'arcc_member_number' == $vars->query_vars['orderby'] ) {
       $vars->query_orderby = 'ORDER BY arcc_member_number ASC';
     }
     return $vars;
   }
   add_filter( 'pre_user_query', 'sort_by_member_number' );
   

   You are only gong to get users that have the arcc_member_number meta_key with that. If you need all users, just sorted by that key you need still more query manipulation.

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