Add New Custom Field and Query by Weekly Views in WordPress

WordPress allows you to create new meta_keys for your posts. This is useful when you want to store additional information about your posts.

By the other hand the WordPress CRON event allows you to schedule events to run at specific times. In this case, we will use it to reset the daily views counter every day, store the daily views in a weekly array, and calculate the total weekly views.

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1. Add a New Custom Field to Store Daily Views

We can add a new custom field in different ways. Without code by using the plugin ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) or with code. In this case, we will use code.

To add a new custom field, WordPress provides the add_post_meta() and update_post_meta() functions. It’s not necessary to use the first one because update_post_meta() will add the custom field if it doesn’t exist.

Code for single.php

<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

  <?php
  // Get the post ID and increment the daily views counter
  $post_id = get_the_ID(); // Get the post ID from the loop 
  $daily_views = get_post_meta($post_id, 'daily_views', true);
  $daily_views = $daily_views ? $daily_views + 1 : 1;

  update_post_meta($post_id, 'daily_views', $daily_views);
  ?>

  ...Your post content

<?php endwhile; ?>

By doing so, we can see in the database that the custom field daily_views has been added to the post. Inside the postmeta table

2. Create CRON event to reset the daily views counter every day

To reset the daily views counter every day, we can use the WordPress CRON event. We will create a new function in functions.php to reset the daily views counter for all posts.

Code for functions.php

function reset_daily_views()
{
	$args = array(
		'post_type'      => 'post',
		'posts_per_page' => -1,
		'post_status'    => 'publish',
	);

	$posts = new WP_Query($args);

	if ($posts->have_posts()) {
		while ($posts->have_posts()) {
			$posts->the_post();
			delete_post_meta(get_the_ID(), 'daily_views'); // Delete the daily views counter
		}
	}
	wp_reset_postdata();
}

if (!wp_next_scheduled('reset_daily_views_hook')) {
	wp_schedule_event(time(), 'daily', 'reset_daily_views_hook');
}

add_action('reset_daily_views_hook', 'reset_daily_views');

3. Add a New Custom Field to Store Weekly Views With a CRON Event

We will create a new function in functions.php to store the daily views in a weekly array. This function will be executed every day to store the daily views in the weekly_views custom field.

function add_day_to_week()
{
	$args = array(
		'post_type'      => 'post',
		'posts_per_page' => -1,
		'post_status'    => 'publish',
	);

	$posts = new WP_Query($args);

	if ($posts->have_posts()) {
		while ($posts->have_posts()) {
			$posts->the_post();

			$daily_views = get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), 'daily_views', true);  // Comes from single.php
			$weekly_views = get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), 'weekly_views', true);

			if (!is_array($weekly_views)) {
				$weekly_views = array();
			}

			if (count($weekly_views) >= 7) {
				array_shift($weekly_views);
			}

			$weekly_views[] = $daily_views;

			update_post_meta(get_the_ID(), 'weekly_views', $weekly_views);
		}
	}
	wp_reset_postdata();
}

if (!wp_next_scheduled('add_day_to_week_hook')) {
	wp_schedule_event(time(), 'daily', 'add_day_to_week_hook');
}

add_action('add_day_to_week_hook', 'add_day_to_week');

4. Add a New Custom Field to Store The Total Views During The Week

This is a simple sum of the weekly_views array. We will create a new function in functions.php to store the total weekly views for all posts.

function total_weekly_views()
{
	$args = array(
		'post_type'      => 'post',
		'posts_per_page' => -1,
		'post_status'    => 'publish',
	);

	$posts = new WP_Query($args);

	if ($posts->have_posts()) {
		while ($posts->have_posts()) {
			$posts->the_post();

			$weekly_views = get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), 'weekly_views', true);

			if (!is_array($weekly_views)) {
				$weekly_views = array();
			}

			$total_weekly_views = array_sum($weekly_views);

			update_post_meta(get_the_ID(), 'total_weekly_views', $total_weekly_views);
		}
	}
	wp_reset_postdata();
}

if (!wp_next_scheduled('total_weekly_views_hook')) {
	wp_schedule_event(time(), 'daily', 'total_weekly_views_hook');
}

add_action('total_weekly_views_hook', 'total_weekly_views');

5. Query Posts by Weekly Views

Now that we have the total_weekly_views custom field, we can query the posts by weekly views. We will create a new file called most-viewed.php to query the posts by weekly views.

<?php
$args = array(
  'post_type'      => 'post',
  'posts_per_page' => 5,
  'meta_key'       => 'total_weekly_views',
  'orderby'        => 'meta_value_num',
  'order'          => 'DESC',
);

$query = new WP_Query($args);
?>

This code will return the $query we can use to loop through the posts.

<?php require_once('most-viewed.php'); ?>
// This returns the $query we can use to loop through the posts
...Filter the loop

How To Test The CRON Events

To test the CRON events you can use the WP Crontrol plugin. This plugin allows you to view and control what’s happening in the WP-Cron system.

Then you can simulate the CRON events by clicking on the “Run Now” button.

Conclusion

There are of course many ways to achieve this. This is just one of them. You can use this as a base and improve it according to your needs.

Hope this helps you to filter posts by weekly views in WordPress without external plugins.