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Related Posts List Styles

The related posts list can be formatted via CSS style sheet applying format to DIV elements of class "crossreferences".

Examples:

Place this at your theme's style.css file in order to get a light grey background color for the list.

    div.crossreferences { background-color:#f0f0f0; }

Put this to get green linked posts.

    div.crossreferences a { color:green; }

Template Funtions

Funtion `the_crossreferences`

You can place this function at your templates, in order to get the related posts list for a particular post or page. You do not need to use this, because the plugin shows the list automatically, but this function gives you a greater control on the appearance and the position of the list. If you use this function, please set up "Do not show related posts list" at the admin panel / Settings / Cross-references. Otherwise the related posts list will appear twice.

the_crossreferences($before,$between,$after,$id,$emptylist)

 $before - Optional. This string being printed once before the related posts list (only if there is 1 related post or more)
 $between - Optional. This string being printed between 2 entries in the related posts list.
 $after - Optional. This string being printed once after the related posts list (only if there is 1 related post or more)
 $emptylist - Optional. This string being printed if there are no related posts.
 $id - Optional. The post id number to which the related posts list are shown. Defaults to the current post or page.

Examples:

If you write <?php the_crossreferences() ?> you get an output such as (here without hyperlinks):

• <ul><li>Post title 1</li><li>Post title 2</li><li>Post title 3</li></ul> (if there are 3 related posts)
• Nothing (if there are no related posts)

If you write <?php the_crossreferences('See also:', '; ', '.') ?> you get an output such as:

• See also: Post title 1; Post title 2; Post title 3. (if there are 3 related posts)
• Nothing (if there are no related posts)

If you write <?php the_crossreferences('See also:', '; ', '.',0,'There are currently no related posts.') ?> you get an output such as:

• See also: Post title 1; Post title 2; Post title 3. (if there are 3 related posts)
• There are currently no related posts. (if there are no related posts)

If you write <?php the_crossreferences('<h2>Related posts</h2><ul><li>') ?> you get an output such as:

• <h2>Related posts</h2><ul><li>Post title 1</li><li>Post title 2</li></ul> (if there are 2 related posts)
• Nothing (if there are no related posts)

If you write <h2>Related posts</h2><?php the_crossreferences() ?> you get an output such as:

• <h2>Related posts</h2><ul><li>Post title 1</li><li>Post title 2</li></ul> (if there are 2 related posts)
• <h2>Related posts</h2> (if there are no related posts)

It is better to enclose the call to the_crossreferences() within a if function_exists() block, otherwise your template will raise an error if the plugin is inactive.

if (function_exists('the_crossreferences')) the_crossreferences();

Function `get_the_crossreferences`

Same as above, but you get a string instead of an output to screen:

$string = get_the_crossreferences($before,$between,$after,$id,$emptylist);

Template Funtion Filters

There are the following filters available for the functions the_crossreferences() and get_the_crossreferences():

`cref_order_by`

With this filter you can define the sort order of the related posts list. Examples:

Place this at the functions.php file of your template in order to sort the related posts from older to newer:

add_filter('cref_order_by','mytheme_order_by');
function mytheme_order_by() { return 'post_date'; }

Place this in order to sort the related posts by post title:

add_filter('cref_order_by','mytheme_order_by');
function mytheme_order_by() { return 'post_title'; }

Place this in order to sort the related posts by post title descending Z-A:

add_filter('cref_order_by','mytheme_order_by');
function mytheme_order_by() { return 'post_title DESC'; }

`cref_post_from`

With this filter you can define how the link to a related post is shown.

Parameters: $default, $post

• $default - The default appearence (hyperlinked post title)

• $post - Related post info. You can use this properties:

  $post->ID - The ID number
      $post->post_title - Post Title
      $post->post_excerpt - Post Excerpt
      $post->post_content - Post Content
      etc. (all fields from the table wp_posts)
  

Examples:

Place this at your template to get each related post as: <hyperlinked post title> (<author>, <date>)

add_filter('cref_post_from','mytheme_post_from',10,2);
function mytheme_post_from($default,$post) {
    $author = get_author_name($post->post_author);
    $date = mysql2date(get_option('date_format'),$post->post_date);
    return "$default ($author, $date)";
}

Place this to get the same as above but being the whole (not just the title) hyperlinked to the related post:

add_filter('cref_post_from','mytheme_post_from',10,2);
function mytheme_post_from($default,$post) {
    $url = get_permalink($post->ID);
    $title = $post->post_title;
    $author = get_author_name($post->post_author);
    $date = mysql2date(get_option('date_format'),$post->post_date);
    return '<a href="'.$url.'">'.$title.' ('.$author.', '.$date.')</a>';
}

`cref_before`

`cref_between`

`cref_after`

`cref_emptylist`

With this filters you can control the parameters of the template function (s. above).