Getting a single MYSQL result where the field is an array - php

Question

Wordpress database, bit stuck on this one.
I'm using the following to get the ID of the current user.
$user_ID = get_current_user_id();
This returns something like this :
15
Now I try to find the matching value of $user_ID in the field show_user_list The data in this field is stored in an array.
Which looks something like this :
a:2:{i:0;s:2:"29";i:1;s:2:"15";}
This is the query i'm running (along with a set of conditions) :
global $wpdb; $result = $wpdb->get_results( "SELECT post_id FROM wp_postmeta WHERE show_user_list IN (' . implode(',', $user_ID) . ' AND post_type = 'show' AND post_status = 'publish'" );
And then I'm trying to echo the value of the matching post_id with this :
foreach ( $result as $unique ) {
echo $unique->post_id;
}
But it's not returning anything. I know I must be making a mistake while dealing with the array but I don't know where I'm going wrong?

Answer 1

looks like you have stored a serialized array in the show_user_list field, so it will be a hustle to search for values into using a db query.
In the model you described, you have to select all the rows from wp_postmeta that match "post_type = 'show' AND post_status = 'publish'", then manually filter results that do not have the user id in the unserialized show_user_list field.
You might try something like :
in_array($user_ID, unserialize($row->show_user_list))
Also, I noticed multiple errors in your query: string not properly concatenated with PHP code and the right parenthesis of the IN clause not closed.
Regards,
same
EDIT
Here is how I would solve your problem providing info you have given :
$user_ID = get_current_user_id();
global $wpdb;
$results = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT post_id, show_user_list FROM wp_postmeta WHERE post_type = 'show' AND post_status = 'publish'");
$user_post_ids = array();
foreach ($results as $post) {
if (in_array($user_ID, unserialize($post->show_user_list))) {
$user_post_ids[] = $post->post_id;
}
}
Hope this helps !