Additional custom taxonomy

Hello,

Thank you for using AlphaListing. Yes, it’s definitely possible to display the subtitle (in your case, a registered taxonomy) in the format “[TITLE] – [SUBTITLE]” by customizing the listing template.

To do this, you can copy the file templates/a-z-listing.php from the plugin directory into your theme’s root directory and name it a-z-listing.php. That custom template will allow you to modify how each product is displayed.

Within the template, you’ll find a loop like this:

<?php
while ( $a_z_query->have_items() ) :
  $a_z_query->the_item(); ?>
  <li>
    <a href="<?php $a_z_query->the_permalink(); ?>">
      <?php $a_z_query->the_title(); ?>
    </a>
  </li>
<?php endwhile; ?>

Inside that loop, you can use the $a_z_query->get_the_item_id() helper to get the product/post ID, and then use WordPress’s get_the_terms() function to retrieve the subtitle taxonomy and output it alongside the title. This gives you the flexibility to format each item exactly how you described.

Hello Martin,

The same approach can be applied. A custom field in WordPress is saved as post meta (or metadata), so instead of using get_the_terms(), you would use the get_post_meta() function to retrieve the custom field value.

You mentioned you’re using WooCommerce for products. While I’m not deeply familiar with WooCommerce, it appears that it uses the same custom field mechanism as WordPress, so get_post_meta() should work just fine. If it doesn’t return the expected value, it might be worth checking WooCommerce’s documentation to see if they handle their custom fields differently or provide any specific helper functions to retrieve the custom field value.

Best regards,

Ethan

Hi Martin,

Try replacing get_the_ID() with $a_z_query->get_the_item_id() in the loop. The get_the_ID() function only works in the standard WordPress query loop. In this case, it does not work because the $a_z_query loop only looks like the standard loop, but it is not the same.

Best,

Ethan

Hi Martin,

Yes, there are options available to change the number of columns, column width, and column gap. If you are using the Gutenberg (block) editor, those options are presented in the AlphaListing’s block settings. If you are using the shortcode, the following attributes are available: columns, column-width, and column-gap.

• columns: controls the target number of columns for the rendered list.
  • Default value: 3.
  • Accepts numeric values.
  • The rendered layout uses the CSS min() function to clamp the actual column count based on the user-specified value. That is, the layout won’t always render exactly the number of requested columns, but instead, the CSS min() function ensures the actual column count is capped by what can realistically fit, so the final layout is the smaller of the user’s request and the available space.
• column-width: sets the desired width for each column in the rendered list.
  • Default value: 15em.
  • Accepts any CSS length unit (such as px, em, rem, %, etc.).
• column-gap: controls the spacing between columns in the rendered list.
  • Default value: 0.6em.
  • Accepts any CSS length unit as well.

You are not required to use those attributes to adjust the layout, and you may need to play with different numbers to get the spacing you want. You can always override the listing’s style using any custom CSS.

Also, if you want to limit the number of items per column, at the moment, the only way to do it is to add and set $a_z_listing_minpercol variable to your desired number of items per column at top of the listing’s custom template file.

Best,
Ethan

Hi Martin,

Glad to hear everything worked out. Thank you for using AlphaListing!

Best,

Ethan