Filtering Member List from Multiple Member Groups?

Question

On a site I took over from another developer, I need to output a list of members from multiple member groups (Staff, Editors, Super Admins) but only one Super Admin member needs to show in it.

The current implementation uses an obscure plugin — it might be a custom add-on as I can't find it via Google — to list members in the Staff and Editors groups. The need to show a single member of the Super Admin member is a new requirement.

If possible, I would like to avoid using an exclude by member_id approach — that is filtering by a list of member_ids that I do not want to show. Instead, I would like to include by member_id, so only that one specified member is listed. So more {if member_id == ""} and not {if member_id != "}, but with the need to show all members in the other two groups.

Going that route, as new Super Admins are added (which is very infrequently) I won't have to revisit the project to add yet another member_id exclusion.

but an include by member_id, so only a specific Super Admin will show in the list. That way, as new Super Admins are added (which is very infrequently) I won't have to revisit the project to add another exclusion.

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

There are probably multiple ways to accomplish this but the Query module has really become my go-to when there are specialized requirements for the data I want to display, or when there aren't obvious ways to do something with regular EE tags.

Here is an example of what I think you are asking for. Show all the members for a couple member groups (add more if needed) and also for a single suepradmin, selecting that member by id.

{exp:query sql=
    "SELECT screen_name, group_title
    FROM exp_members
    JOIN exp_member_groups ON exp_member_groups.group_id = exp_members.group_id
    WHERE exp_members.group_id = 6 OR exp_members.group_id = 7 OR exp_members.member_id = 1"
}
    <li>{screen_name}, {group_title}</li>
{/exp:query}

This would output something like

<li>Willie Nelson, Super Admins</li>
<li>Johnny Cash, Staff</li>
<li>Merle Haggard, Staff</li>
<li>Doc Watson, Editors</li>
<li>Ralph Stanley, Editors</li>

---

UPDATE

It's been mentioned in the comments below, and in this answer, that the Query module does not escape data so is unsafe for queries containing user input such as segment data. One of the suggested alternatives is to use the Active Record plugin instead, which does escape data.

With that in mind, and even though there is no user input in this particular query, here is the same query using the Active Record plugin instead of the Query module:

{exp:activerecord
    select="screen_name, group_title"
    from="members"
    join="exp_member_groups"
    on="exp_member_groups.group_id = exp_members.group_id"
    where_in:exp_members.group_id="6|7"
    or_where_in:exp_members.member_id="1"
}
    <li>{screen_name}, {group_title}</li>
{/exp:activerecord}