With a custom archive.php, an empty block appears on the second page.

[ghost]

Hi, I have combined two wp_query().
When I write the result back to the main query, the second page is empty of all articles.
It is not a 404 error, the second page is prepared but everything is empty, including the_permalink() and the_title().
The $paged is "2" on the second page.

Why is this? Could you please tell me how to fix this?

<?php

/**
 * The template for displaying archive pages
 *
 * @link https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/template-hierarchy/
 *
 * @package Bootscore
 * @version 6.0.0
 */

// Exit if accessed directly
defined('ABSPATH') || exit;
get_header();

$post_type = 'event';
$now = wp_date( 'YmdHis' );
$posts_per_page = 12;
$paged = ( get_query_var( 'paged' ) ) ? get_query_var( 'paged' ) : 1;

$args1 = array(
	'post_type' => 'event',
	'posts_per_page' => $posts_per_page,
	'post_status' => 'publish',
	'paged' => $paged,
	'meta_key' => 'event_start',
	'orderby' => 'meta_value',
	'order'=> 'ASC',
	'type' => 'DATE',
	'meta_query' => array(
		'relation' => 'AND',
		array(
			'key' => 'event_end',
			'value' => $now,
			'compare' => '>=',
			'type' => 'DATE'
		)
	)
);
$args2 = array(
	'post_type' => 'event',
	'posts_per_page' => $posts_per_page,
	'post_status' => 'publish',
	'paged' => $paged,
	'meta_key' => 'event_end',
	'orderby' => 'meta_value',
	'order'=> 'DESC',
	'type' => 'DATE',
	'meta_query' => array(
		'relation' => 'AND',
		array(
			'key' => 'event_end',
			'value' => $now,
			'compare' => '<',
			'type' => 'DATE'
		)
	)
);

$query1 = new WP_Query($args1);
$query2 = new WP_Query($args2);

$posts = array_merge( $query1->posts, $query2->posts );

?>

  <div id="content" class="site-content <?= apply_filters('bootscore/class/container', 'container', 'archive'); ?> <?= apply_filters('bootscore/class/content/spacer', 'pt-4 pb-5', 'archive'); ?>">
    <div id="primary" class="content-area">

      <div class="row">
        <div class="<?= apply_filters('bootscore/class/main/col', 'col') ?>">

          <main id="main" class="site-main">

            <div class="page-header mb-4">
              <?php the_archive_title('<h1>', '</h1>'); ?>
              <?php the_archive_description('<div class="archive-description">', '</div>'); ?>
            </div>

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

                <div class="card horizontal mb-4">
                  <div class="row g-0">

                    <?php if (has_post_thumbnail()) : ?>
                      <div class="col-lg-6 col-xl-5 col-xxl-4">
                        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                          <?php the_post_thumbnail('medium', array('class' => 'card-img-lg-start')); ?>
                        </a>
                      </div>
                    <?php endif; ?>

                    <div class="col">
                      <div class="card-body">

                        <?php bootscore_category_badge(); ?>

                        <a class="text-body text-decoration-none" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                          <?php the_title('<h2 class="blog-post-title h5">', '</h2>'); ?>
                        </a>

                        <?php if ('post' === get_post_type()) : ?>
                          <p class="meta small mb-2 text-body-secondary">
                            <?php
                            bootscore_date();
                            bootscore_author();
                            bootscore_comments();
                            bootscore_edit();
                            ?>
                          </p>
                        <?php endif; ?>

                        <p class="card-text">
                          <a class="text-body text-decoration-none" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                            <?= strip_tags(get_the_excerpt()); ?>
                          </a>
                        </p>

                        <p class="card-text">
                          <a class="read-more" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                            <?php _e('Read more $00BB', 'bootscore'); ?>
                          </a>
                        </p>

                        <?php bootscore_tags(); ?>

                      </div>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                </div>

              <?php endwhile; ?>
            <?php endif; ?>

            <div class="entry-footer">
              <?php bootscore_pagination(); ?>
            </div>

          </main>

        </div>
        <?php get_sidebar(); ?>
      </div>

    </div>
  </div>

<?php
get_footer();

I do not speak English well.
However, if further explanation is needed, I will make an effort to communicate.
Best regards. Thank you.

Code sytnax highlighter edited by maintainer

[crftwrk]

Hi,

• Please use correct code formatter https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/writing-on-github/working-with-advanced-formatting/creating-and-highlighting-code-blocks. If you want to share PHP, use this (I have edited your code, but do it in future):

```php
code goes here
```

• A link to your site is always the key to understand what you want to do, debug and solve it.

However, although I do not understand what you want to do and it seems that you are using an event custom post type, I quickly asked ChatGDP for a code review. Not tested it, but this is the answer:

<?php

/**
 * The template for displaying archive pages
 *
 * @link https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/template-hierarchy/
 *
 * @package Bootscore
 * @version 6.0.0
 */

// Exit if accessed directly
defined('ABSPATH') || exit;

get_header();

$post_type = 'event';
$now = wp_date('YmdHis');
$posts_per_page = 12;
$paged = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;

// Unified query for upcoming and past events
$args = array(
  'post_type' => $post_type,
  'posts_per_page' => $posts_per_page,
  'post_status' => 'publish',
  'paged' => $paged,
  'meta_query' => array(
    'relation' => 'OR',
    array(
      'key' => 'event_end',
      'value' => $now,
      'compare' => '>=',
      'type' => 'DATE',
    ),
    array(
      'key' => 'event_end',
      'value' => $now,
      'compare' => '<',
      'type' => 'DATE',
    ),
  ),
  'orderby' => array(
    'meta_value' => 'DESC',
  ),
);

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

<div id="content" class="site-content <?= apply_filters('bootscore/class/container', 'container', 'archive'); ?> <?= apply_filters('bootscore/class/content/spacer', 'pt-4 pb-5', 'archive'); ?>">
  <div id="primary" class="content-area">

    <div class="row">
      <div class="<?= apply_filters('bootscore/class/main/col', 'col') ?>">

        <main id="main" class="site-main">

          <div class="page-header mb-4">
            <?php the_archive_title('<h1>', '</h1>'); ?>
            <?php the_archive_description('<div class="archive-description">', '</div>'); ?>
          </div>

          <?php if ($query->have_posts()) : ?>
            <?php while ($query->have_posts()) : $query->the_post(); ?>

              <div class="card horizontal mb-4">
                <div class="row g-0">

                  <?php if (has_post_thumbnail()) : ?>
                    <div class="col-lg-6 col-xl-5 col-xxl-4">
                      <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                        <?php the_post_thumbnail('medium', array('class' => 'card-img-lg-start')); ?>
                      </a>
                    </div>
                  <?php endif; ?>

                  <div class="col">
                    <div class="card-body">

                      <?php bootscore_category_badge(); ?>

                      <a class="text-body text-decoration-none" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                        <?php the_title('<h2 class="blog-post-title h5">', '</h2>'); ?>
                      </a>

                      <?php if ('post' === get_post_type()) : ?>
                        <p class="meta small mb-2 text-body-secondary">
                          <?php
                          bootscore_date();
                          bootscore_author();
                          bootscore_comments();
                          bootscore_edit();
                          ?>
                        </p>
                      <?php endif; ?>

                      <p class="card-text">
                        <a class="text-body text-decoration-none" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                          <?= esc_html(strip_tags(get_the_excerpt())); ?>
                        </a>
                      </p>

                      <p class="card-text">
                        <a class="read-more" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                          <?php _e('Read more &raquo;', 'bootscore'); ?>
                        </a>
                      </p>

                      <?php bootscore_tags(); ?>

                    </div>
                  </div>
                </div>
              </div>

            <?php endwhile; ?>
            <?php wp_reset_postdata(); ?>
          <?php else : ?>
            <p><?php _e('No events found.', 'bootscore'); ?></p>
          <?php endif; ?>

          <div class="entry-footer">
            <?php bootscore_pagination($query); ?>
          </div>

        </main>

      </div>
      <?php get_sidebar(); ?>
    </div>

  </div>
</div>

<?php
get_footer();

ChatGDP is a great resource to quickly solve bugs instead spending hours of time to figure that out. I suggest to write your custom archive.php with this assistance.

[ghost]

Thanks for the advice.
I did not explain what I wanted to do.
I am sorry, I have not explained what I am trying to do.

I am trying to create an events website.
I am creating a custom post type EVENT and posting events there.
The event has custom fields for start and end dates.
This is used to separate events into those that have ended and those that have not.
I then create an ascending query ($args1) for events that have not ended and a descending query ($args2) for events that have ended, and I want to combine the two and display every 12 events per page in archive.php.

So the code you suggested did not achieve my goal.

If I var_dump $posts on page 1, I get 12 events as I want.
If I do the same on page 2, $posts was empty.

I was informed that this happens when $post_per_page is different from the basic setting, but all the settings for the number of events per page are set to 12.
We were informed that this is caused by not getting $paged, but on the second page, $paged is 2.

I want to sort the custom post type into two queries and display and paginate the combined query in archive.php correctly.
Please let me know if you know how to do this.

English is not my first language.
Please forgive me if I have used inappropriate sentences or phrases. If you have any difficulty in understanding my explanation, please ask me anything.
Thank you.

[crftwrk]

English is not my first language.
Please forgive me if I have used inappropriate sentences or phrases

All good here, but please share a link to your site. This is much more helpful instead trying to explain in long texts. If we have the link, then we can have a closer look to solve your issue.

Thank you.