WP_Query with posts_per_page and sticky posts

[yukataninja]

When using WP_Query with showposts=some_number and you have one post set as a sticky that is out of the range of some_number, the query returned will have some_number plus one posts returned. If the sticky post is within the range of some_number then only some_number of posts is returned by WP_Query.

Example Normal: have 3 posts in order: Post 1, Post 2, Post 3

my_WPQuery = new WP_Query("showposts=2");

This will return Post 1 and Post 2

Example Error: have 3 posts in order: Post 1, Post 2, Post 3 (<-- make sticky)

my_WPQuery = new WP_Query("showposts=2");

This will return 3 posts (Post 3, Post 1, Post 2).

Expected to return 2 posts (Post 3, Post 1).

Example OK: have 3 posts in order: Post 1, Post 2 (<-- make sticky), Post 3

my_WPQuery = new WP_Query("showposts=2");

This will return 2 posts (Post 2, Post 1).

Punting due to feature freeze. Reconsider with next release.

there is an argument that lets you disable stickies. see how it's done in the recent posts widget.

I've never commented on the Wordpress Trac before, so forgive me if I'm doing this wrong. But I don't think this issue should be closed. Disabling stickies won't produce the intuitively desired result. From the original example:

have 3 posts in order: Post 1, Post 2, Post 3 (<-- make sticky)

my_WPQuery = new WP_Query("showposts=2");

This will return 3 posts (Post 3, Post 1, Post 2).

But intuitively it should return 2 posts (Post 3, Post 1). I've tried using the new "posts_per_page" and it seems to produce the same result.

You are completely correct in that it is not intuitive. But there's no easy workaround without re-engineering of the WP_Query class.

Intuitively, we'd need to look-up sticky posts first, and then change the query's LIMIT statement accordingly. Doing so, however, introduces a new issue, which is what happens when a sticky post should be returned as part of the result anyway. Quite arguably, we could end up stripping stickies from all non-singular queries where they might appear, but the performance impact is not benign.

The least problematic ends up being the current setup, with you using the caller_get_posts argument.

Changing title so that it conforms to up-to-date parameter name (i.e. not showposts, which has been deprecated for a while).

I am still able to reproduce this bug in 3.0.4, so adding version info as well.

Once I find the time to install 3.1, I'll test for this bug and maybe take a stab at it.