Title: Extending wp_query
Last modified: August 30, 2016

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# Extending wp_query

 *  [apofiSS](https://wordpress.org/support/users/apofiss/)
 * (@apofiss)
 * [10 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/extending-wp_query/)
 * Hi,
 * Im working on specific project for my client.
    They got their own database with
   products on mySQL server (images/title/meta data). They use it for their company
   system.
 * They want big website with lots of posts and pages but they also want to display
   their products online. I dont want to import them into WP database ‘cos data 
   in DB are always changing.
 * So if I create custom post type “products” is there any chance to extend WP_QUERY
   to query posts from different database and use results as standard WP post object?
 * Thank you.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [10 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/extending-wp_query/#post-6887244)
 * No, WP_Query relies on the WP DB connection through the global `$wpdb` object,
   there’s no way to FROM a table through a different connection. AFAIK you cannot
   even FROM a different DB’s table even in mySQL.
 * It’s not a big problem connecting to a different DB and running queries on it,
   then merging the results with WP_Query results, provided the results are structured
   the same way. I suspect they are not even structured the same, which is the real
   problem.
 * You have a significant DB organization challenge that warrants careful consideration.
   I see two major approaches. One is to code product queries such that the final
   results array is structured exactly like a WP_Query array. The issue here would
   be ensuring that post IDs in the WP DB can never conflict with IDs assigned to
   products.
 * The other is to go ahead and import the data and the resulting WP DB becomes 
   the one that is constantly updated. The current product DB is no longer used.
   Or alter the product DB so that it functions as a WP DB. The difference is just
   semantics. This is really what you should do, but I realize it’s easier said 
   than done. How your client interfaces with the new DB structure will be different,
   even if there is an interface outside of WP.
 * There are some good e-commerce plugins available that make organizing products
   easy. It doesn’t matter if the site is actually selling products or not, it’s
   the product organization that we’re after. It’ll obviously be different than 
   what they are doing now, but it could be an improvement. We almost all resist
   change, but change is often for the better.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

The topic ‘Extending wp_query’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [cpt](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/cpt/)
 * [database](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/database/)
 * [posts](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/posts/)
 * [wp_query](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/wp_query/)

 * In: [Hacks](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/hacks/)
 * 1 reply
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * Last activity: [10 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/extending-wp_query/#post-6887244)
 * Status: not resolved

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