Output blog posts in date order whilst limiting by category?

granttransition · Apr 27th 2021

Hello,

I am trying to output blog posts in date order whilst limiting other parameters such as the category.

Ultimately I want six blog posts listed in date order; however, I am always showing x1 video, x1 podcast, x1 blog and x3 news.

Whilst I have come close with a pure PHP way of achieving the goal, I've hit a snag whilst trying to output the Category Icon I have created. This appears to be ignoring the category array altogether?

PHP

<section class="section-home-blog home-typography">
<div class="wrapper">
<?php
$news = array();
$news[] = perch_blog_custom([
'category' => array('podcast'),
'count' => 1,
'return-html' => false,
'skip-template' => true,
'raw' => true,
]);
$news[] = perch_blog_custom([
'category' => array('video'),
'count' => 1,
'return-html' => false,
'skip-template' => true,
]);
$news[] = perch_blog_custom([
'category' => array('blog'),
'count' => 1,
'return-html' => false,
'skip-template' => true,
]);
$news[] = perch_blog_custom([
'category' => array('news'),
'count' => 3,
'return-html' => false,
'skip-template' => true,
]);
function date_sort($a, $b) {
return strtotime($b[0]['postDateTime']) - strtotime($a[0]['postDateTime']);
}
usort($news, "date_sort");
print_r($news);
foreach($news as $p):?>
<div class="card">
<div class="card__head">
<perch:categories id="categories" set="blog">
<img src="<?php echo $p[0]['image'];?>">
</perch:categories>
</div>
<div class="card__body">
<img src="<?php echo $p[0]['categories']['icon'];?>">
<h1><?php echo $p[0]['postTitle'];?></h1>
<h2><?php echo $p[0]['introText'];?></h2>
</div>
<perch:categories id="categories" set="blog">
<p class="category"><perch:category id="catTitle" type="text"></p>
</perch:categories>
</div>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</div>
</section>

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The above is my current code.

Ideally it would be nice to build up some filters and then just do something like…

PHP

perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'template' => 'home/_blog-card.html',
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'filter' => $news,
]);

Appreciate any helped offered

granttransition · Apr 27th 2021

This is pretty close to what I am after…

PHP

<?php
perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'template' => 'home/_blog-card.html',
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'count' => 1,
'category' => 'podcast'
]);
perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'template' => 'home/_blog-card.html',
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'video',
'count' => 1,
]);
perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'template' => 'home/_blog-card.html',
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'blog',
'count' => 1,
]);
perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'template' => 'home/_blog-card.html',
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'news',
'count' => 3,
]);
?>

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I just need them in date order now…

Byron Fitzgerald · Apr 27th 2021

Could you not do what you were doing before then use perch_template to output the results? Should let you use the category tags as well.

PHP

<?php
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'count' => 1,
'category' => 'podcast'
]);
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'video',
'count' => 1,
]);
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'blog',
'count' => 1,
]);
$news[] = perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'news',
'count' => 3,
]);
function date_sort($a, $b) {
return strtotime($b[0]['postDateTime']) - strtotime($a[0]['postDateTime']);
}
usort($news, "date_sort");
// Uses content namespace now
perch_template('home/_blog-card.html', $news);
?>

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granttransition · Apr 27th 2021

That's is what I was hoping for, this breaks the site though unfortunately

Byron Fitzgerald · Apr 27th 2021

It might be the way the arrays are added together? As the items that return a single post will actually be $news[0], so if we just the single items in and update the sort function that could work

Code

$news = perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'news',
'count' => 3,
]);
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'count' => 1,
'category' => 'podcast'
])[0];
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'video',
'count' => 1,
])[0];
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'blog',
'count' => 1,
])[0];
function date_sort($a, $b) {
return strtotime($b['postDateTime']) - strtotime($a['postDateTime']);
}

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granttransition · Apr 27th 2021

I really appreciate the help, but unfortunately this outputs the template, but the perch fields are empty.

So there is no confusion, here is the current code…

PHP

<section class="section-home-blog home-typography">
<div class="wrapper">
<?php
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true,
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'count' => 1,
'category' => 'podcast'
])[0];
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true,
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'video',
'count' => 1,
])[0];
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true,
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'blog',
'count' => 1,
])[0];
$news[] = perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true,
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'news',
'count' => 3,
])[0];
function date_sort($a, $b) {
return strtotime($b[0]['postDateTime']) - strtotime($a[0]['postDateTime']);
}
usort($news, "date_sort");
perch_template('blog/home/_blog-card.html', $news);
?>
</div>
</section>

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Byron Fitzgerald · Apr 27th 2021

The perch_tempalte use the content namespace so you'd likely need to add a new template such as content/home/_blog-card.html then change the fields from <perch:blog/> to <perch:content/>

granttransition · Apr 27th 2021

I now get a Template file not found: templates/home/_blog-card.html even though the template is defiantly in the right place.

/templates/content/home/_blog-card.html

Debug also shows…

Code

Array
(
[type] => 8
[message] => Trying to access array offset on value of type null
[file] => /Users/grant/Sites/Development/180-Cargilfield-Perch-Updates/cms/templates/layouts/home-blog-grid.php
[line] => 33
)

Which is…

Code

return strtotime($b[0]['postDateTime']) - strtotime($a[0]['postDateTime']);

Byron Fitzgerald · Apr 27th 2021

I think

Code

return strtotime($b[0]['postDateTime']) - strtotime($a[0]['postDateTime']);

Should be

Code

return strtotime($b['postDateTime']) - strtotime($a['postDateTime']);

For the template, what is the path in 'perch_template()' now, and where did you add the new template?

granttransition · Apr 27th 2021

Hi Byron Fitzgerald ,

With some tweaks we have success! However, this does cause one further issue…

Here is the current code

PHP

<section class="section-home-blog home-typography">
<div class="wrapper">
<?php
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true,
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'count' => 1,
'category' => 'podcast',
])[0];
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true,
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'video',
'count' => 1,
])[0];
$news[] =perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true,
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'blog',
'count' => 1,
])[0];
$news[] = perch_blog_custom([
// 'start' => 1,
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true,
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'news',
'count' => 3,
])[0];
$news[] = perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true,
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'news',
'count' => 3,
])[1];
$news[] = perch_blog_custom([
'sort' => 'postDateTime',
'skip-template' => true,
'sort-order' => 'DESC',
'category' => 'news',
'count' => 3,
])[2];
function date_sort($a, $b) {
return strtotime($b['postDateTime']) - strtotime($a['postDateTime']);
}
usort($news, "date_sort");
perch_template('content/home/_blog-card.html', $news);
?>
</div>
</section>

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Which now calls the content/home/_blog-card.html. Ideally I wanted to use the /blog/home/_blog-card.html template as it uses the category info to do other stuff.

Here is that template…

HTML

<div class="card">
<div class="card__head">
<perch:categories id="categories" set="blog">
<perch:if id="catTitle" value="video">
<img class="cat-icon" src="/img/video.svg" alt="Play YouTube Video" width="60" height="60">
</perch:if>
<perch:if id="catTitle" value="podcast">
<img class="cat-icon" src="/img/podcast.svg" alt="Play Podcast" width="60" height="60">
</perch:if>
</perch:categories>
<img src="<perch:blog id="image">">
</div>
<div class="card__body">
<perch:categories id="categories" set="blog">
<img src="<perch:category id="icon" type="image">">
</perch:categories>
<h1><perch:blog id="postTitle" type="text" label="Title"></h1>
<h2><perch:blog id="introText" type="text" label="Intro Text"></h2>
</div>
</div>

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So whilst I can move this to content/home/… and change perch:blog to perch:content. The same is not true for the perch:categories

Thanks ever so much for the help thus far…

Byron Fitzgerald · Apr 27th 2021

Perch category tags are templated differently to perch:blog and perch:content, and exist in their own namespace. You should be able to to keep using the <perch:categories> and <perch:category/> tags as you would in your blog template. Only the <perch:blog/> namespaces require changing as it's the primary namespace

granttransition · Apr 27th 2021

Oh really? Thats odd then, as the category stuff doesn't work in this template…

Code

<div class="card">
<div class="card__head">
<perch:categories id="categories" set="blog">
<perch:if id="catTitle" value="video">
<img class="cat-icon" src="/img/video.svg" alt="Play YouTube Video" width="60" height="60">
</perch:if>
<perch:if id="catTitle" value="podcast">
<img class="cat-icon" src="/img/podcast.svg" alt="Play Podcast" width="60" height="60">
</perch:if>
</perch:categories>
<img src="<perch:content id="image">">
</div>
<div class="card__body">
<perch:categories id="categories" set="blog">
<img src="<perch:category id="icon" type="image">">
</perch:categories>
<h1><perch:content id="postTitle" type="text" label="Title"></h1>
<h2><perch:content id="introText" type="text" label="Intro Text"></h2>
</div>
</div>

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When that is called via perch_blog_custom everything works as expected?

chopperoon · Apr 27th 2021

I had a similar issue recently and it seems that perch_template doesn't render categories. There's a post on the old forum about it here http://forum.grabaperch.com/fo…-doesnt-render-categories from 3 years ago. Maybe something for Perch 4.0...

granttransition · Apr 27th 2021

Actually I found a way, I used <perch:categories id="perch_categories" set="blog">. So id="perch_categories" instead of id="categories".

Thanks all for the help. My final card template now looks like this…

Code

<div class="card">
<div class="card__head">
<perch:categories id="perch_categories" set="blog">
<perch:if id="catTitle" value="video">
<img class="cat-icon" src="/img/video.svg" alt="Play YouTube Video" width="60" height="60">
</perch:if>
<perch:if id="catTitle" value="podcast">
<img class="cat-icon" src="/img/podcast.svg" alt="Play Podcast" width="60" height="60">
</perch:if>
</perch:categories>
<img src="<perch:content id="image">">
</div>
<div class="card__body">
<perch:categories id="perch_categories" set="blog">
<img src="<perch:category id="icon" type="image">">
</perch:categories>
<h1><perch:content id="postTitle" type="text" label="Title"></h1>
<h2><perch:content id="introText" type="text" label="Intro Text"></h2>
</div>
</div>

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