wp_query with category and custom post type

I want to create a wp_query to list the post titles of posts from category X, in ascending order based on a custom field I inputted in each post called “eventdate”.

<?php
  	$loop = new WP_Query( array(
    		'showposts' => 5,
    		'post_type' => array('eventdate'),
    		'category_name' => X,
    		)
    		);
  	while ( $loop->have_posts() ) : $loop->the_post(); ?>
   	<div>
      		<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
    	</div>
  <?php endwhile; ?>

I tried the following code but it didnt work. any idea how to fix? please advise. thanks in advance!

Hi,

There are a couple of things wrong with your code.
In the WP_Query, ‘post_type’ refers to a custom post type, yet if I understand you correctly, you are trying to fetch posts by category instead.
Also, the parameter ‘category_name’ expects a string.
My suggestion would be to fetch the posts by category, then to order them using ‘meta_key’ and ASC or DESC as appropriate.
This should do what you want:

<?php
  $loop = new WP_Query( array(
    'showposts' => 5,
    'category_name' => 'X',
    'orderby' => 'meta_value',
    'meta_key' => 'eventdate',
    'order' => ASC)
  );
  while ( $loop->have_posts() ) : $loop->the_post(); ?>
  <div>
    <h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
  </div>
<?php endwhile; ?>

bingo! thank you.