Get next 6 thumbnails – get_posts or loop?

Here is a function adapted from the rewire theme that can be called from within the Loop to display an image from a post:

# Displays post image attachment (sizes: thumbnail, medium, full)
function dp_attachment_image($postid=0, $size='thumbnail', $attributes='') {
if ($postid<1) $postid = get_the_ID();
if ($images = get_children(array(
   'post_parent' => $postid,
   'post_type' => 'attachment',
   'numberposts' => 1,
   'post_mime_type' => 'image',)))
   foreach($images as $image) {
      $attachment=wp_get_attachment_image_src($image->ID, $size);
      ?><a href="<?php the_permalink($postid); ?>" ><img src="<?php echo $attachment[0]; ?>" <?php echo $attributes; ?> /></a><?php
   }
}

I guess I still don’t understand. Please explain what you want to see when you click on a thumbnail. You say you only see the one thumbnail. Do you mean that you don’t see the post content?

When you click on one of the posts in the list, what do you want to see?

You are probably using the_permalink() to set up the links. That will show only one post. You need to change from the_permalink() to something else, but I can’t tell what to change to, because I don’t know what you want to see.

I think I understand now what you want, but the solution is longer/more complex than I can detail here.

The basic approach would involve passing a parameter in the URL to select the post to show in the Main videobox. Here is an outline of what I think is needed:

• Add code to get the parameter and set the query for the main videobox.
• Add a query_posts function for the Videoroll.
• Modify the link creation for the thumbnails to add the ID of the thumbnail’s post to the URL parameter.
• Add filters to next/previous_posts_link_attributes to add the parameter to the next/previous links. Without this parameter, these links would cause the latest post to show.

If you want to pursue this, email me at m_a_mcdonald =at= bellsouth =dot= net, and I will try to give more details. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to test the code, so you will have to do some debugging on your own.

OOPS – after thinking it over, I realized the filters will not work. They add ‘attributes’, not ‘parameters’ to the link. I will try to come up with an alternative.

I also think that using the Loop for the Main videobox will not work because it will always show just the most recent post, not the one clicked in the Videoroll.

I think it would as long as you don’t have next/previous links for the Videoroll (VR). Here is my thinking:

If you hover on an image in the VR, you will see that it adds ?p=22 (for example) to the URL, so the next time the page is loaded, it will display post 22.

However, if you have next/previous links, those links would not have a means of knowing what to pass as the post for the Main area.

It comes down to the fact that you need to pass both the post ID for the Main area, and the page number for the VR in the URL. I just thought it would be a little easier to add the post ID to the built-in next/previous functions.