wp_count_comments() and get_comments_count() both do SQL queries

[markjaquith]

wp_count_comments() and get_comments_count() are similar functions, with a few differences:

• Their results are returned in different formats:
  • wp_count_comments() returns an object of:
    • spam
    • approved
    • moderated
    • total_comments
    • trash
    • post-trashed
  • get_comment_count() returns an array of:
    • spam
    • approved
    • awaiting_moderation
    • total_comments
• wp_count_comments() caches, but get_comment_count() always hits the database.
• get_comment_count() is used nowhere in WordPress core.

I propose that we add 'trash' and 'post-trashed' reporting to get_comment_count(), and then have wp_count_comments() use get_comment_count() instead of doing its own SQL queries.

See #6884 and #19901

Hi Mark,

Wouldn't it make better sense to simply get rid of get_comment_count and make wp_count_comments count in the optimised way (see ticket #19901)?

Keeping them both around is very confusing, especially as get_comment_count is not used in core. Duplicate functions have been a bit of a bugbear for us.

Alec

Wouldn't it make better sense to simply get rid of get_comment_count and make wp_count_comments count in the optimised way

Yeah, probably would. I think I was just thinking we needed both because I'd assumed that core needed the non-cached one, which isn't the case... it doesn't use it at all.

Patch deprecates get_comment_count().

Could the deprecated version become a wrapper for wp_count_comments()? We'd simply need to rename the returned array keys.

Fixing the description to note that wp_count_comments() returns an object.

Could the deprecated version become a wrapper for wp_count_comments()? We'd simply need to rename the returned array keys.

Maybe. Unless people are using it to get "hot" data from the database. The cached counts might sometimes be wrong.