Add incremental parameter value to each post in wordpress query loop - php

Question

I'm trying to combine several loops into one and sort the final results by relevance.
For the former part, I did this:
// set the variables
$author_id = get_the_author_meta('ID');
$tags_id = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);
$first_tag = $tags_id[0]->term_id;
$categories_id = wp_get_post_categories($post->ID);
// loop for same author
$by_author = new WP_Query (array(
'author' => $author_id,
'posts_per_page' => '5'
));
// add ids to array
if ($by_author->have_posts()) {
while ($by_author->have_posts()) {
$by_author->the_post();
$add[] = get_the_id();
}
}
// loop for same tag
$by_tag = new WP_Query(array(
'tag__in' => $first_tag,
'posts_per_page' => '5'
));
// add ids to array
if ($by_tag->have_posts()) {
while ($by_tag->have_posts()) {
$by_tag->the_post();
$add[] = get_the_id();
}
}
// loop for same category
$by_category = new WP_Query(array(
'category__in' => $categories_id,
'posts_per_page' => '5'
));
// add ids to array
if ($by_category->have_posts()) {
while ($by_category->have_posts()) {
$by_category->the_post();
$add[] = get_the_id();
}
}
// loop array of combined results
$related = new WP_Query(array(
'post__in' => $add,
'post__not_in' => array($post->ID),
'posts_per_page' => '10',
'orderby' => $weight[$post->ID],
'order' => 'DESC'
));
// show them
if ($related->have_posts()) {
while ($related->have_posts()) {
$related->the_post();
// [template]
}
}
This is working nicely combining the loops into one. For the latter part, what I'm trying to do next is to add an incremental "weight" value to each post as they come up so as to later sort them with something like 'orderby' => $weight,.
For example, if a post comes up in "same author" it gets 3 points, if another one comes up in same tag it gets 2 points and so on. If it comes up in more than one loop, it should get the combined points i.e. 3+2+1=6 hence be boosted to the top of the final query.
I have tried to add a counter to each preliminary loop, like $weight = +3 etc, but this only adds everything up for every post, not individually.
I also tried inserting something like this at the end of each preliminary loop...
$weight = 0;
if ($by_author){
foreach ($by_author as $post){
setup_postdata($post);
$weight = +10;
add_post_meta($post->ID, 'incr_number', $weight, true);
update_post_meta($post->ID, 'incr_number', $weight);
}
}
... and this to the final one
echo get_post_meta($post->ID,'incr_number',true);
But it still doesnt do it right. It assigns a global value, while I want them to be different depending on the actual main posts one is reading.
So is there a way to do this?

Answer 1

If I understand your question right, I think your last solution was close. Instead of a global $weight parameter, however, I think you need to build an array of $weights that's unique to each post:
$weights[$post.id] += 10;
Then, you could sort that array and get your most heavily weighted post IDs from there.