Conditional Queries within a Wordpress Loop - php

Question

I'm going to have a WP_Query run with arguments based on user input. The user can select multiple categories/terms and the query will filter based on the AND boolean.
// main arguments
$args = array(
'tax_query' => array(
'relation' => 'AND',
array(
'taxonomy' => 'industry',
'terms' => $user_input,
),
array(
'taxonomy' => 'format',
'terms' => $user_input2,
),
),
);
// less specific arguments
$lessargs = array(
'tax_query' => array(
array(
'taxonomy' => 'industry',
'terms' => $user_input,
),
),
);
If no results are returned in the first query, I want to run the second query with less specificity ($lessargs). I know I need to use if/else statements but I don't know the correct way to do this within the loop. Example:
<?php $the_query = new WP_Query( $args ); ?>
<?php if ($the_query->have_posts()) : ?>
<?php while ($the_query->have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
// Return Query Results
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php else : ?>
<?php $the_second_query = new WP_Query( $less_args ); ?>
<?php while ($the_second_query->have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
// Return Second Query Results
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
Is this the proper way to conditionally call queries if the previous query returns empty?

Answer 1

I always build my own loop whenever I needed a custom query.
You can probably do it like this,
# First Argument
$args = array(
'tax_query' => array(
'relation' => 'AND',
array(
'taxonomy' => 'industry',
'terms' => $user_input,
),
array(
'taxonomy' => 'format',
'terms' => $user_input2,
),
),
);
# Second Argument
$lessargs = array(
'tax_query' => array(
array(
'taxonomy' => 'industry',
'terms' => $user_input,
),
),
);
$query = new WP_QUery( $args ); //Run First Query
$posts = $query->get_posts(); //Get Post of first Query
if ( !$posts ) { //If no post on First query Run Second Query
$query = new WP_QUery( $lessargs );
$posts = $query->get_posts(); //Get Post of second query
}
if ( !$posts ) return 'No Result Found'; //stop execution if no results
foreach( $posts as $post ) { //Loop through each result
_e( $post->post_title ); // Echo the title
}
}

Answer 2

I would do it slightly differently, just to cater for the fact that neither query will return any rows:
$the_query = new wp_query($args);
if ($the_query->have_posts()) {
while ($the_query->have_posts()) {
the_post();
// Return Query Results
}
} else {
$the_query = new wp_query($lessargs);
if ($the_query->have_posts()) {
while ($the_query->have_posts()) {
the_post();
// Return Second Query Results
}
} else {
echo '<p>No posts found.</p>';
}
}
Note you have a typo with your $lessargs variable.