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ThemeShaper Forums » Thematic

1. 

   PitaMaria
   Member

   My example page is here: http://coloradohealthstory.org/category/location/. This page serves up excerpts of all pages with class.category-location, just like it should. Now, I need some organization to how those excerpts appear: I want the page to group each child category (.category-aurora, .category-denver, etc.) in alpha order, with an H2 of the child category name, like this:

   Aurora
   Jimmy Sample
   [excerpt]
   Jenny Sample
   [excerpt]
   Jane Sample
   [excerpt]

   Denver
   José Sample
   [excerpt]
   Joe Sample
   [excerpt]
   John Sample
   [excerpt]

   Thornton
   Janet Sample
   [excerpt]

   ...and so on.

   I'd also like to automatically check for new child categories and have them considered in this equation. I found something here but am not sure if it will work: http://themeshaper.com/forums/topic/automatically-check-for-new-categories#post-12158

   I'm running a Thematic child theme and, if possible, would like to accomplish this in my functions.php rather than hard code it into templates. Ultimately I'll need an array of these types of organizations (by .category-topic, .category-keyword, etc.)

   Apologies for starting a new topic on this but my head is spinning looking at the different ways requests like this could be handled, and my head is spinning. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If any additional information is need please let me know.

   Posted 2 years ago #
2. 

   middlesister
   Member

   You will need to use a childtheme_override function for the category loop, and use a custom loop for the posts under each subcategory heading. I tested this code and it seems to work:

   function childtheme_override_category_loop() {
   	$parent_cat_id = '3';              // this would be your parent category
   	if( is_category($parent_cat_id) ) {
   		$subcat_args = array(
   		  'orderby'  => 'name',
   		  'order'    => 'ASC',
   		  'child_of' => $parent_cat_id
   		);
   		$subcategories = get_categories($subcat_args);
   		foreach($subcategories as $subcat) {
   			echo '<h2>'. $subcat->name . '</h2>';
   
   			$post_args = array(
   				'cat'      => $subcat->cat_ID,
   				'orderby'  => 'name',
   				'order'    => 'ASC'
   			);
   			$subcat_posts = new WP_Query( $post_args );
   
   			while ($subcat_posts->have_posts()) : $subcat_posts->the_post()
   
                                   // your loop for the posts goes here
   
   			endwhile;
   			wp_reset_postdata();
   		}
   	} else {
   
   		// your normal category loop goes here
   
   	}
   }

   Posted 2 years ago #
3. 

   PitaMaria
   Member

   @middlesister: First, thanks for taking the time to offer a tested solution to my issue; I really appreciate it. Everything looks super-thorough and I've (finally) added it to my functions.php.

   That said, I have yet resolved the areas where you say I must drop in my "loop for the posts" and my "normal category loop". I'm so green that just thinking about The Loop makes me break out into hives, let alone finding the right code to copy and paste into these two areas.

   Knowing that I'm using a child theme of Thematic, can you tell me exactly where to find those two bits of code? If it's in the index.php that came out of the box with Thematic, can you tell me which line numbers make up those bits? Tell me if you need me to email you some files and I'd be happy to.

   Thanks again for your attention to my issue and thanks in advance for your reply, especially since I took so long to take this up with you.

   Posted 1 year ago #
4. 

   middlesister
   Member

   You're welcome :)
   Well the loops in thematic can be found in the file content-extensions.php. The category loop looks like this
   

   while (have_posts()) : the_post(); 
   
   	thematic_abovepost(); ?>
   
   	<div id="post-<?php the_ID();
   	echo '" ';
   	if (!(THEMATIC_COMPATIBLE_POST_CLASS)) {
   		post_class();
   		echo '>';
   	} else {
   		echo 'class="';
   		thematic_post_class();
   		echo '">';
   	}
   		thematic_postheader(); ?>
   		<div class="entry-content">
   		<?php thematic_content(); ?>
   
   		</div><!-- .entry-content -->
   		<?php thematic_postfooter(); ?>
   	</div><!-- #post -->
   
   	<?php 
   
   	thematic_belowpost();
   
   endwhile;

   You can paste that as the "normal" category loop, and if you don't want to change anything in the layout you can use the same loop for the other posts. Just copy the parts from thematic_abovepost() to thematic_belowpost() - without the while/endwhile lines - and paste as the loop for your posts.

   Posted 1 year ago #
5. 

   PitaMaria
   Member

   @middlesister: You're so great. I've implemented your solution and it works like a charm. I just need it to do one more thing: I need it to work for category IDs 3, 4 and 5. As you'll see in my setup below, it's working just for category 3...
   

   function childtheme_override_category_loop() {
   	$parent_cat_id = '3'; // this would be your parent category
   	if( is_category($parent_cat_id) ) {
   		$subcat_args = array(
   		  'orderby'  => 'name',
   		  'order'    => 'ASC',
   		  'child_of' => $parent_cat_id
   		);
   		$subcategories = get_categories($subcat_args);
   		foreach($subcategories as $subcat) {
   			echo '<h4>'. $subcat->name . '</h4>';
   			$post_args = array(
   				'cat'      => $subcat->cat_ID,
   				'orderby'  => 'name',
   				'order'    => 'ASC'
   			);
   			$subcat_posts = new WP_Query( $post_args );
   
   			while ($subcat_posts->have_posts()) : $subcat_posts->the_post()
   				// begin loop for the posts
   					?>
   					<div id="post-<?php the_ID();
   					echo '" ';
   					if (!(THEMATIC_COMPATIBLE_POST_CLASS)) {
   						post_class();
   						echo '>';
   					} else {
   						echo 'class="';
   						thematic_post_class();
   						echo '">';
   					}
   						thematic_postheader(); ?>
   						<div class="entry-content">
   						<?php thematic_content(); ?>
   						</div><!-- .entry-content -->
   						<?php thematic_postfooter(); ?>
   					</div><!-- #post -->
   					<?php
   				// end loop for the posts
   			endwhile;
   			wp_reset_postdata();
   		}
   	} else {
   		// begin normal category loop
   			while (have_posts()) : the_post();
   				thematic_abovepost(); ?>
   				<div id="post-<?php the_ID();
   				echo '" ';
   				if (!(THEMATIC_COMPATIBLE_POST_CLASS)) {
   					post_class();
   					echo '>';
   				} else {
   					echo 'class="';
   					thematic_post_class();
   					echo '">';
   				}
   					thematic_postheader(); ?>
   					<div class="entry-content">
   					<?php thematic_content(); ?>
   					</div><!-- .entry-content -->
   					<?php thematic_postfooter(); ?>
   				</div><!-- #post -->
   				<?php
   				thematic_belowpost();
   			endwhile;
   		// end normal category loop
   	}
   }

   So, could you shed some light on how I get it to work for categories 4 and 5? As always, many thanks in advance.

   Posted 1 year ago #
6. 

   middlesister
   Member

   Well that only needs a small change. In the beginning, add all the category IDs that you need to the is_category() conditional and then change the $subcat_args to use the current category. Like so:

   function childtheme_override_category_loop() {
   	if( is_category( array(3,4,5) ) ) {     // all your parent categories in an array
   		$this_cat_id = get_query_var('cat');   // fetches which category we are on
   		$subcat_args = array(
   		  'orderby'  => 'name',
   		  'order'    => 'ASC',
   		  'child_of' => $this_cat_id
   		);

   And the rest is the same.

   Posted 1 year ago #
7. 

   PitaMaria
   Member

   @middlesister: This works perfectly, of course. I can't thank you enough. You rock!

   Posted 1 year ago #

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