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1. ashtonfitzgerald
   Member
   Posted 2 years ago #

   I am building a theme that has built into the sidebar a call to display a set of random posts from a given category using the get_posts function. It is configured to display the post title, excerpt, and read more link.

   It works perfectly on my main page (index.php). When I am viewing a post or page other than the index page it displays the post title and excerpt properly, but the permalink points to the current active page/post, rather than the post the title and excerpt are pulled from.

   This is the code I am using:

   <?php
    $postslist = get_posts('numberposts=3&orderby=rand&category_name=dog-training-videos');
    foreach ($postslist as $post) :
       setup_postdata($post); ?>
   
    <div style="border-bottom:1px solid #f0f0f0;">
    <br />
    <strong><?php the_title(); ?></strong>
    <?php the_excerpt(); ?>
   <em><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">watch the dog training video...</a></em><br /><br />
    </div>
    <?php endforeach; ?>

   I have a feeling that this has something to do with being on the same page as the loop, but I'm relatively new to template tags still.

   This theme is currently active at: http://sitmeanssit.com (the main page displays and functions properly). http://sitmeanssit.com/contact/ is an example of how the permalinks go funny.

   Any help or direction on how to tweak this is already appreciated.

   Thanks,
   Ashton

2. huggie
   Member
   Posted 2 years ago #

   Yeah, you're probably right. I'd only use get_posts() on the main loop and wp_query() on the sidebar.

3. ashtonfitzgerald
   Member
   Posted 2 years ago #

   Thank you. I'm going to try using wp_query() and see how that works out.

   -Ashton

4. ashtonfitzgerald
   Member
   Posted 2 years ago #

   It turns out that the order of how the php tags are placed affects the outcome dramatically.

   Using my original code, if I place the_permalink before the_excerpt, the permalink points to the proper post. If it's placed after the_excerpt, it displays the active page permalink.

   This occurs with wp_query as well.

   This is the original get_posts code, but with the 'watch the dog training video' link duplicated above the_excerpt. It displays properly above, but not below the_excerpt.

   <?php
    $postslist = get_posts('numberposts=3&orderby=rand&category_name=dog-training-videos');
    foreach ($postslist as $post) :
       setup_postdata($post); ?>
   
   	<em><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">watch the dog training video...</a></em><br /><br />
   
    <div style="border-bottom:1px solid #f0f0f0;">
    <br />
    <strong><?php the_title(); ?></strong>
    <?php the_excerpt(); ?>
   <em><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">watch the dog training video...</a></em><br /><br />
    </div>
    <?php endforeach; ?>

   Can anyone shed some light on this? I don't mind just permalinking the post title, but now I'm curious how this is working.

   -Ashton

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