tax_query to get posts with a field with empty value? - metadata

Question

I defined a custom field, to be able to hide posts from home, like this:
/* Campo adicional que puede ocultar noticia de la home */
function mnd_get_custom_field( $value ) {
global $post;
$custom_field = get_post_meta( $post->ID, $value, true );
if ( !empty( $custom_field ) )
return is_array( $custom_field ) ? stripslashes_deep( $custom_field ) : stripslashes( wp_kses_decode_entities( $custom_field ) );
return false;
}
function mnd_add_custom_meta_box() {
add_meta_box( 'home-page', __( 'Home page', 'mnd' ), 'mnd_meta_box_output', 'post', 'normal', 'high' );
}
add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'mnd_add_custom_meta_box' );
function mnd_meta_box_output( $post ) {
wp_nonce_field( 'my_mnd_meta_box_nonce', 'mnd_meta_box_nonce' ); ?>
<p>
<label for="mnd_hide_homepage"><?php _e( 'Hide from homepage', 'mnd' ); ?>:</label>
<input type="checkbox" name="mnd_hide_homepage" id="mnd_hide_homepage" checked="<?php echo mnd_get_custom_field( 'mnd_hide_homepage' ) == 1 ? 'checked' : ''; ?>" value="1" size="50" />
</p>
<?php
}
function mnd_meta_box_save( $post_id ) {
if( defined( 'DOING_AUTOSAVE' ) && DOING_AUTOSAVE ) return;
if( !isset( $_POST['mnd_meta_box_nonce'] ) || !wp_verify_nonce( $_POST['mnd_meta_box_nonce'], 'my_mnd_meta_box_nonce' ) ) return;
if( !current_user_can( 'edit_post', get_the_id() ) ) return;
if( isset( $_POST['mnd_hide_homepage'] ) )
update_post_meta( $post_id, 'mnd_hide_homepage', esc_attr( $_POST['mnd_hide_homepage'] ) );
}
add_action( 'save_post', 'mnd_meta_box_save' );
and I'm trying like:
// The Query
$ppp = 12;
$page = $_GET['page'];
$args_count = array(
'post_type' => 'post',
'paged' => false,
'status' => 'publish'
);
$posts_home_count = new WP_Query( $args_count );
$manyPosts = $posts_home_count->found_posts;
$paginas = $manyPosts / $ppp;
wp_reset_postdata();
$meta_params = array(
array(
'key' => 'mnd_hide_homepage',
'value' => 1,
'compare' => '!=',
'type' => 'NUMERIC'
)
);
$args = array(
'post_type' => 'post',
'posts_per_page' => $ppp,
'paged' => $page,
'page' => $page,
'status' => 'publish'/*,
'meta_query' => $meta_params */
);
//print_r ( $args );
$posts_home = new WP_Query( $args );
And it won't return any posts,
But if I change to
'compare' => '=',
Then it returns all the checked posts
Any idea what I'm missing?

Answer 1

There are some problems with Meta Query sometimes and the problem is not always visible. Try the following:
var_dump the WP_Query object and check the SQL manually. Do you see the problem?
Did you try to remove 'type' => 'NUMERIC'?
The “hack” solution (untested):
global $wpdb;
$ids = $wpdb->get_results("
SELECT $wpdb->posts.id FROM $wpdb->posts
WHERE post_status=publish
INNER JOIN $wpdb->post_meta
ON $wpdb->post_meta.post_id = $wpdb->posts.id
AND $wpdb->post_meta.key = 'mnd_hide_homepage'
AND $wpdb->post_meta.value != '1'
");
// put the ids with post__in into the WP_Query arguments
Maybe this is the solution. If not, it may help to find it.

Answer 2

Try this:
array(
'key' => 'mnd_hide_homepage',
'value' => '1',
'compare' => '!=',
'type' => 'NUMERIC'
)
Or
array(
'key' => 'mnd_hide_homepage',
'value' => array('1'),
'compare' => 'NOT IN'
)