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How to Filter Posts by Custom Fields - P2 - using Meta Box and FacetWP

On an archive page, we'll display posts and filter them by the values stored in the custom fields created by Meta Box. With the help of FacetWP, we can do it easily without coding.

Here is an archive that I created for example.

The example of filtering posts

Video Version

https://youtu.be/kjkVaC_QKQs

Before Getting Started

On the page, we'll have 2 sections. One is used to filter the restaurants by conditions. We'll create this part using FacetWP. The second part is to show up all the restaurants.

Two sections of the page

All the information of the restaurants is saved in a custom post type. Each restaurant is a post of that post type. Besides the basic information such as name and image of the restaurants which are the post title and featured images, other additional information will be saved in different custom fields.

In the upcoming execution, we'll create them one by one. No matter if you're using any page builder or not, you can also use FacetWP to filter posts as I'm doing in this practice. In this case, I chose Elementor to build the page and use the pro version.

For the custom fields, we need Meta Box core plugin and some of its extensions, including:

Create a Custom Post Type

Go to Meta Box > Post Types > Add New to create a new post type.

Create a custom post type

After publishing, we'll have a new Restaurants menu in the admin dashboard.

The created post type appears in the admin dashboard

Then, let's create custom fields to save restaurants' information in the next step.

Create Custom Fields

Go to Meta Box > Custom Fields to create a new field group. Here are the field that I created:

The created custom fields

For the Voucher information, choose the Checkbox list field to allow adding some options in the Choices box. These options will be used as a condition to filter posts when creating a filter section in the next step.

Choose the Checkbox list field for the Voucher information to add some options in the Choices box

After creating all the needed fields, move to the Settings tab, choose Location as Post Type and select Restaurant to apply these fields to this post type.

Set Location for the created post type

When creating a new post in Restaurant post type, you'll see all the created custom fields:

All created custom fields appear in a new post of the created post type

Create a Template

Depending on the page builder you're using, there will be some differences in the creating page and template. You may need to create a template for the page or edit the page directly.

In this case, with Elementor, we need to create one. This template is to display all the posts along with their information. About the filter section, we'll create it later.

Since we'll have a list of restaurants on the page, we need a special type of template which is a loop. This option is provided by Elementor Custom Skin. You can try it.

Go to Templates > Theme Builder and choose Loop.

Go to Templates and then Theme Builder

Choose Loop option

Remember to set the preview for the template.

Since the image and name of the restaurants are the featured image and title of the post, add the Featured Image and Post Title elements.

Add the Featured Image and Post Title elements

For the address of the restaurant, add the Text Editor element. Since the restaurants' addresses are saved in a custom field created by Meta Box and the custom field is for post, let's use the Dynamic Tags > choose Meta Box Fields in the Post section.

Add the Text Editor element for the address of the restaurant

And then, select the corresponding field. In this case, it's Address.

Connect the Text Editor element to the correct field by using Dynamic Tags

For the voucher information, do likewise.

Do likewise with the voucher information

Connect the element to the right field

Now, all the restaurant's information has been displayed.

All the information has been obtained

Save the template and remember to set the condition to apply this template.

Save the template and remember to set the condition to apply this template

Create the Page

Go to Pages to create a new page and edit it with Elementor.

Create a new page

Add the Posts element to the page.

Add the Posts element to the page

In the Skin setting of the Posts element, choose Custom and then select the default template as the one we've just created.

In the Skin setting of the Posts element, choose Custom and then select the created template

Next, go to the Query section, choose the source as the post type you want. In this case, it's Restaurant.

In the Query section, choose the source as the wanted post type

Now, the preview shows all the posts with the information as we want.

The preview shows all the posts with the information.

Let's see how to add a filter section in the next step.

Add Filter

This task will be done by FacetWP. If you use other page builders, you can also create the filter as I'm doing in this practice.

In the admin dashboard, go to Settings and choose FacetWP to create a new filter.

Create a new filter

Since we will filter the post by the promotion of the restaurant which is saved in the Voucher field, choose the Data Source as Voucher in the Restaurant post type.

Choose the Data Source as Voucher in the Restaurant post type

Save the changes and copy the shortcode of the facet.

Save the changes and copy the shortcode of the facet

Then, go back to the created page editor with Elementor, add a Shortcode element to paste the code we've just copied.

Add a Shortcode element to paste the copied code

After applying the code, you'll see a section to filter posts in the frontend. All the restaurants having the same coupons are filtered correctly.

All the restaurants having the same coupons are filtered correctly

Style the Page

Go back to the template of the page, you can style each element as you want.

In the event that you want to have more further styling, you can use some CSS code.

Style the page

All the changes in style will be applied immediately. This is how it looks on the frontend. The filter section created by FacetWP works well and all the posts have been filtered.

The final result

Last Words

Using custom fields with the help of FacetWP is a brilliant way to create conditions and filter posts. If you see this practice is helpful, try it out and share the result with us. If you want to suggest any ideas, feel free to let us know by leaving a comment. Good luck!

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