WordPress Paginate $wpdb->get_results

Due to a complex multisite config, I have a query which combines the posts from two blogs and I would like to paginate the results. I am grateful for any help. I have posted my query.

            $latestposts = $wpdb->get_results(

            "
            (SELECT * FROM net_5_posts
            INNER JOIN net_5_term_relationships ON net_5_posts.ID=net_5_term_relationships.object_id  
            WHERE post_type = 'post' 
            AND post_status = 'publish' 
            AND term_taxonomy_id = '151' 
            )

            UNION ALL

            (SELECT * FROM net_7_posts
            INNER JOIN net_7_term_relationships ON net_7_posts.ID=net_7_term_relationships.object_id  
            WHERE post_type = 'post' 
            AND post_status = 'publish' 
            AND term_taxonomy_id = '20' 
            )

            ORDER BY post_date
            DESC LIMIT 5",'ARRAY_A');

            foreach ($latestposts as $latestpost) {

            $da_id = $latestpost['ID'];
            $da_title = $latestpost['post_title'];
            $da_content = strip_tags($latestpost['post_content']);
            $da_content = limit_words($da_content,55);
            $da_link = $latestpost['guid'];
            $da_date = $latestpost['post_date'];
            $da_date = date('F j, Y', strtotime($da_date));

            echo '
            <div class="ldapost">
            <h2 class="lheader"><a href="'.$da_link.'">'.$da_title.'</a></h2>
            <span class="ldate">'.$da_date.'</span>
            <span class="lcontent">'.$da_content.'…</span><br>
            <a class="button btnright" href="'.$da_link.'">Continue Reading</a>
            </div>
            ';

            }

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2 comments

  1. Update

    I’ve tested this and it works on my site. A few things:

    • Replace my $query with yours
    • global $wpdb (per your comment regarding global variables) since it’s out of scope!
    • get_results() returns an object when not told otherwise (second parameter is the return type)
    • I placed this in a plugin, but you could extract the code and place it in your theme or just put it in functions.php.

    Here’s the function:

    function test_function() {
    
        global $wpdb;
    
        $query = "
            (SELECT * FROM wp_18_posts
            INNER JOIN wp_18_term_relationships ON wp_18_posts.ID=wp_18_term_relationships.object_id  
            WHERE post_type = 'post' 
            AND post_status = 'publish' 
            AND term_taxonomy_id = '2')
    
            UNION ALL
    
            (SELECT * FROM wp_17_posts
            INNER JOIN wp_17_term_relationships ON wp_17_posts.ID=wp_17_term_relationships.object_id  
            WHERE post_type = 'post' 
            AND post_status = 'publish' 
            AND term_taxonomy_id = '2')";
    
        $total_query = "SELECT COUNT(1) FROM (${query}) AS combined_table";
        $total = $wpdb->get_var( $total_query );
        $items_per_page = 1;
        $page = isset( $_GET['cpage'] ) ? abs( (int) $_GET['cpage'] ) : 1;
        $offset = ( $page * $items_per_page ) - $items_per_page;
        $latestposts = $wpdb->get_results( $query . " ORDER BY post_date LIMIT ${offset}, ${items_per_page}" );
    
        foreach ($latestposts as $latestpost) {
            $da_id = $latestpost->ID;
            $da_title = $latestpost->post_title;
            $da_content = strip_tags($latestpost->post_content);
            $da_content = wp_trim_words($da_content, 55);
            $da_link = $latestpost->guid;
            $da_date = $latestpost->post_date;
            $da_date = date('F j, Y', strtotime($da_date));
    
            echo '
            <div class="ldapost">
            <h2 class="lheader"><a href="'.$da_link.'">'.$da_title.'</a></h2>
            <span class="ldate">'.$da_date.'</span>
            <span class="lcontent">'.$da_content.'…</span><br>
            <a class="button btnright" href="'.$da_link.'">Continue Reading</a>
            </div>
            ';
        }
    
        echo paginate_links( array(
            'base' => add_query_arg( 'cpage', '%#%' ),
            'format' => '',
            'prev_text' => __('&laquo;'),
            'next_text' => __('&raquo;'),
            'total' => ceil($total / $items_per_page),
            'current' => $page
        ));
    }
    

    Original Post

    The paginate_links function is independent of your query. Given a few parameters, like the total number of items and the current page, it can provide the pagination that you’re looking for. So you need to calculate:

    1. The total number of items
    2. The current page number, 1-based
    3. The offset for the mysql limit statement.

    I was thinking something like this (untested, sorry!):

    $query = "
        (SELECT * FROM net_5_posts
        INNER JOIN net_5_term_relationships ON net_5_posts.ID=net_5_term_relationships.object_id  
        WHERE post_type = 'post' 
        AND post_status = 'publish' 
        AND term_taxonomy_id = '151' 
        )
    
        UNION ALL
    
        (SELECT * FROM net_7_posts
        INNER JOIN net_7_term_relationships ON net_7_posts.ID=net_7_term_relationships.object_id  
        WHERE post_type = 'post' 
        AND post_status = 'publish' 
        AND term_taxonomy_id = '20' 
        )";
    
    $total = $wpdb->get_var( "SELECT COUNT(1) FROM (${query}) AS combined_table" );
    $items_per_page = 5;
    $page = isset( $_GET['cpage'] ) ? abs( (int) $_GET['cpage'] ) : 1;
    $offset = ( $page * $items_per_page ) - $items_per_page;
    $latestposts = $wpdb->get_results( $query . " ORDER BY post_date LIMIT ${offset}, ${items_per_page}" );
    
    foreach ($latestposts as $latestpost) {
        // Your code here ...
    }
    
    echo paginate_links( array(
        'base' => add_query_arg( 'cpage', '%#%' ),
        'format' => '',
        'prev_text' => __('&laquo;'),
        'next_text' => __('&raquo;'),
        'total' => ceil($total / $items_per_page),
        'current' => $page
    ));
    

    References:

  2. // This worked great for me so much thanks! I just adapted for what I needed. Right in template file, Sweet!
    global $wpdb;
    // QUERY HERE TO COUNT TOTAL RECORDS FOR PAGINATION $total = $wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(*)
    $post_per_page = 10;
    $page = isset( $_GET['cpage'] ) ? abs( (int) $_GET['cpage'] ) : 1;
    $offset = ( $page * $post_per_page ) - $post_per_page;
    
    // QUERY HERE TO GET OUR RESULTS $results = $wpdb->get_results
    
    // PHP FOR EACH LOOP HERE TO DISPLAY OUR RESULTS
    // END OUR FOR EACH LOOP
    
    // PAGINATION HERE IN NICE BOOTSTRAP STYLES
    <?php 
    echo '<div class="pagination">';
    echo paginate_links( array(
    'base' => add_query_arg( 'cpage', '%#%' ),
    'format' => '',
    'prev_text' => __('&laquo;'),
    'next_text' => __('&raquo;'),
    'total' => ceil($total / $post_per_page),
    'current' => $page,
    'type' => 'list'
    ));
    echo '</div>';
    ?>