[Resolved] What format has Toolset Date Field?

[Author]

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[daveM]

I have a WP_Query with the following meta_query args:

$today = date( 'Y-m-d', strtotime('today') );
						
					foreach ( $tourDateArtists as $tourDateArtist ) {						
						$tourDateArtist_query = new WP_Query( array(
							'post_type' => 'tour-date',
						    // 'posts_per_page' => -1,
						    'meta_key'     => 'wpcf-tour-date',
							'orderby'      => 'meta_value_num',
							'order'        => 'ASC',
							'cat'          => '-1',
							'tax_query' => array(
						        array(
						            'taxonomy' => 'category',
						            'field'    => 'slug',
						            'terms'    => array( $tourDateArtist->slug ),
						            'operator' => 'IN',
						        ),
					        ),
					        'meta_query' => array(
								array(
									'key'     => 'wpcf-tour-date',
							        'value'   => $today,
							        'compare' => '>=',
							        'type'    => 'DATE',
								),
					        ),
						));

if ( $tourDateArtist_query->have_posts() ) {
							echo '<div id="' . $tourDateArtist->slug . '" class="has-dates">';
							echo '<h2>' . $tourDateArtist->name . '</h2>';
						    echo '<ul class="' . $tourDateArtist->slug . '-tour-dates">';
					    	while ( $tourDateArtist_query->have_posts() ) {
						    	$tourDateArtist_query->the_post();
						    	echo '<li class="tour-date-item">';
						    	echo '<a href="' . types_render_field( 'tour-date-link' ) . '">';
						    	echo '<div class="tour-date-date">' . types_render_field( 'tour-date', array( 'format' => 'F j, Y g:i a') ) . '</div>';
						    	echo '<div class="tour-date-city-state">' . types_render_field( 'city-state' ) . '</div>';
						    	echo '<div class="tour-date-venue">' . get_the_title() . '</div>';
						    	echo '</a>';
						    	echo '</li>';
						    }
						    echo '</ul>';
							echo '</div>';
						    
						    // echo ('<a href="/tour-dates#' . $parentSlug . '" class="load-more-link">Show More Dates</a>');
						
					    } else {
							/* show 'no news' message if no tour dates */
							echo '<div id="' . $tourDateArtist->slug . '" class="no-dates">';
							echo '<h2>' . $tourDateArtist->name . '</h2>';
							echo '<p>' . $tourDateArtist->name . ' is not on tour.' . '</p>';
							echo '</div>';
						}
						$tourDateArtist_query = null;
						wp_reset_postdata();
					}

The problem is that when the 'meta_query' is included, the loop fails and the 'else' statement is fired. When the 'meta_query' is not included, the loop loads as expected(except for the 'cat' => '-1' not excluding that category correctly).

This is the WordPress Codex page explaining the 'meta_query' args: https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Query#Custom_Field_Parameters

It seems like the Types Custom Field key I'm using for 'meta_key' with 'orderby' works fine, but when it's in 'key' for the 'meta_query' it fails.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong? It seems to match the Codex and many other examples I've found exactly. Thanks!

[Beda]

We do not assist Custom PHP coding in the Free Types Forum.

We could if it would use the Types API, but the Types API does not include Queries.

This is a topic of Views and for that, we have an API that we can partially assist:
https://toolset.com/documentation/programmer-reference/views-filters/

Now, related to your issue, I see some possible points:

1. Our Dates Field is a Timestamp.
As such, it's a numeric value, not a date format.

The 'type' DATE works with the 'compare' value BETWEEN only if the date is stored at the format YYYY-MM-DD and tested with this format.

And our Date Field is not storing it in this format but in a simple timestamp format.

2. You compare to a value $today, wich is created by:

date( 'Y-m-d', strtotime('today') );

This returns a string formatted according to the given format string using the given integer timestamp, in your case from strtotime('today') it makes a Y-m-d Date.

So, with strtotime you get a Timestamp, but then you convert it to a Date in format Y-m-d, and then compare that to the Field value, which is again a Timestamp.

That will never match.

As far I get your code, you should be able to simply do:
$today = strtotime('today') );

That should give you a Timestamp and that is comparable as NUMERIC in the field's value.

[daveM]

Thanks, changing the 'type' => 'DATE' to 'type' => 'NUMERIC' and the $today variable to what you mention above made it work!

Finding out that the Types "Date" field is not a date format is really what my post was about. I know the rest is somewhat unrelated, so thanks for looking into it!