Optimize blog story IDs validation

includes/functions/_helpers-query.php

@@ -512,12 +512,12 @@ if ( ! function_exists( 'fictioneer_sql_filter_valid_collection_ids' ) ) {
     // Prepare
     $item_ids = is_array( $item_ids ) ? $item_ids : [ $item_ids ];
     $item_ids = array_map( 'intval', $item_ids );
+    $item_ids = array_filter( $item_ids, function( $value ) { return $value > 0; } );
 
     if ( empty( $item_ids ) ) {
       return [];
     }
 
-    $item_ids = array_filter( $item_ids, function( $value ) { return $value > 0; } );
     $item_ids = array_unique( $item_ids );
 
     // Exclude forbidden IDs
@@ -559,6 +559,53 @@ if ( ! function_exists( 'fictioneer_sql_filter_valid_collection_ids' ) ) {
   }
 }
 
+if ( ! function_exists( 'fictioneer_sql_filter_valid_blog_story_ids' ) ) {
+  /**
+   * Filters out non-valid blog story array IDs
+   *
+   * Note: This is a lot faster than using WP_Query().
+   *
+   * @since 5.26.0
+   *
+   * @global wpdb $wpdb  WordPress database object.
+   *
+   * @param int   $story_author_id  Author ID of the story.
+   * @param int[] $story_blogs      Array of story blog IDs.
+   *
+   * @return int[] Filtered and validated array of item IDs.
+   */
+
+  function fictioneer_sql_filter_valid_blog_story_ids( $story_author_id, $story_blogs ) {
+    global $wpdb;
+
+    // Prepare
+    $story_blogs = is_array( $story_blogs ) ? $story_blogs : [ $story_blogs ];
+    $story_blogs = array_map( 'intval', $story_blogs );
+    $story_blogs = array_filter( $story_blogs, function( $value ) { return $value > 0; } );
+
+    if ( empty( $story_blogs ) ) {
+      return [];
+    }
+
+    $story_blogs = array_unique( $story_blogs );
+
+    // Prepare placeholders
+    $placeholders = implode( ',', array_fill( 0, count( $story_blogs ), '%d' ) );
+
+    // Prepare SQL query
+    $sql =
+      "SELECT p.ID
+      FROM {$wpdb->posts} p
+      WHERE p.post_author = %d
+        AND p.ID IN ($placeholders)
+        AND p.post_type = 'fcn_story'
+        AND p.post_status IN ('publish', 'private', 'future')";
+
+    // Execute and return
+    return $wpdb->get_col( $wpdb->prepare( $sql, $story_author_id, ...$story_blogs ) );
+  }
+}
+
 if ( ! function_exists( 'fictioneer_sql_has_new_story_chapters' ) ) {
   /**
    * Checks whether there any added chapters are to be considered "new".

includes/functions/_setup-meta-fields.php

@@ -3359,31 +3359,9 @@ function fictioneer_save_extra_metabox( $post_id ) {
   // Story blogs
   if ( isset( $_POST['fictioneer_post_story_blogs'] ) && $post_type === 'post' ) {
     $story_blogs = fictioneer_explode_list( $_POST['fictioneer_post_story_blogs'] );
+    $story_blogs = fictioneer_sql_filter_valid_blog_story_ids( $post_author_id, $story_blogs );
 
-    if ( ! empty( $story_blogs ) ) {
+    $fields['fictioneer_post_story_blogs'] = array_map( 'strval', $story_blogs ); // Safer to match with LIKE in SQL
-      $story_blogs = array_map( 'absint', $story_blogs );
-      $story_blogs = array_unique( $story_blogs );
-
-      // Ensure the stories belong to the post author
-      $blog_story_query = new WP_Query(
-        array(
-          'author' => $post_author_id,
-          'post_type' => 'fcn_story',
-          'post_status' => ['publish', 'private'],
-          'post__in' => $story_blogs ?: [0], // Must not be empty!
-          'fields' => 'ids',
-          'posts_per_page'=> -1,
-          'update_post_meta_cache' => false, // Improve performance
-          'update_post_term_cache' => false, // Improve performance
-          'no_found_rows' => true // Improve performance
-        )
-      );
-
-      $story_blogs = $blog_story_query->posts;
-      $story_blogs = array_map( 'strval', $story_blogs ); // Safer to match with LIKE in SQL
-    }
-
-    $fields['fictioneer_post_story_blogs'] = $story_blogs;
   }
 
   // Patreon