Using a Custom where Clause in Ditto Safely

Ditto can be pushed far with custom filtering, including date-range logic through a handcrafted where clause. The original example used template variable values and request parameters to build a date filter.

Example Shape

if (isset($_GET['date']) && !empty($_GET['date'])) {
    '@SQL: AND sc.id IN (
        SELECT g.contentid
        FROM modx_site_tmplvar_contentvalues AS g
        WHERE g.tmplvarid = "23"
          AND sc.id = g.contentid
          AND g.value >= "' . $_GET['date'] . '"
    )
    AND sc.id IN (
        SELECT m.contentid
        FROM modx_site_tmplvar_contentvalues AS m
        WHERE m.tmplvarid = "23"
          AND sc.id = m.contentid
          AND g.value <= "' . $_GET['date2'] . '"
    )';
}

Main Warning

This kind of pattern is powerful, but raw request values should never be trusted blindly. Validate and normalize them before they enter SQL-oriented filter strings.

When It Is Worth It

Use this approach when the business logic is real and the dataset justifies it. If not, simpler filtered lists are easier to maintain and safer to debug.