Pagination Issues

Resolved harshclimate
(@harshclimate)

4 years, 6 months ago
Hi Gang,

I’m going nuts trying to figure out why my pagination isn’t showing up. I’ll set the scene:

I have a custom page template named /* Template Name: Page - Photography */. In this page I have a custom query set up for all of my photography posts. They aren’t custom post types but just plain ole posts. My new query is as follows:
```
$paged = ( get_query_var( 'paged' ) ) ? get_query_var( 'paged' ) : 1;
$photography = new WP_Query(array(
	'post_type' => 'post',
	'posts_per_page' => 16,
	'orderby' => 'date',
	'paged' => $paged
));
```
Then I have my custom loop with all of its glorious code. Now, out of the loop I have this under my content:
```
the_posts_pagination( array(
	'screen_reader_text' => __( 'To view more, click the links below' ),
	'mid_size'  => 2,
) );
```
Now, this DOES work on my blog page, but that’s a custom post type and under an archive template. Can someone please figure out what I’m doing wrong and why it’s not showing up at all? ARGH!
- This topic was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by harshclimate.

Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

Shashwat
(@shashwatmittal)

4 years, 6 months ago
Have you tried setting the prev_text and next_text parameters in the array you are passing to the_posts_pagination() and also are the number of posts available more than 16?
- This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Shashwat.
catacaustic
(@catacaustic)

4 years, 6 months ago
the_posts_pagination() uses the actual loop, and not one that you define yourself, so unless you’re setting the loop up maunally and setting it to over-write the actual WordPress loop, it won’t work.

The two options you have are…
1. Set your custom loop query to over-write the existing WordPress loop
2. Wrie your own pagination code bsaed on your custom loop
I’d probably lean towards the second myself, just so there’s less confusion.
Moderator keesiemeijer
(@keesiemeijer)

4 years, 6 months ago
The the_posts_pagination() function uses the paginate_links() function to display the pagination. With this function you can set the total of pages from your custom query manually.
https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/paginate_links/

See this example for how to set the total for your custom query.
https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/paginate_links/#comment-418
- This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by keesiemeijer.
Thread Starter harshclimate
(@harshclimate)

4 years, 6 months ago
Thanks for the responses.

@shashwatmittal I removed the prev and next text from the array because I didn’t want those in the pagination itself. There were many times that I did leave those in the array and still didn’t work.

@catacaustic Sadly, I’m not very php savvy so writing my own pagination isn’t really an option. I depend on other examples out there that I might be able to piece together and make my own.

@keesiemeijer Thanks for the links. I did try to make those examples work but I was still getting nothing returned.

Under admin -> settings -> reading I set the number of blog posts to 2 but what confuses me is should I be letting wordpress know that the photography page (being named page-photography.php) that this is my blog posts page? I do actually have a CPT archive-blog.php already. That pagination works perfectly :/

Here’s a link to the complete file: http://www.harshclimate.com/page-photography.txt
- This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by harshclimate. Reason: Added link for reference
Shashwat
(@shashwatmittal)

4 years, 6 months ago
@harshclimate Have you tried logging the $paged variable, is it returning a proper value, also have you used wp_reset_postdata() anywhere, if yes is it before or after the_posts_pagination()?

Edit: Saw wp_reset_postdata() in the txt file you shared, can you move it after the post pagination and try once.
- This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Shashwat.
Thread Starter harshclimate
(@harshclimate)

4 years, 6 months ago

I did that and it didn’t change anything :/ When you say ‘logging the $paged variable’, what do you mean exactly? Can you give me an example?

Thread Starter harshclimate
(@harshclimate)

4 years, 6 months ago

Here’s the page where the pagination isn’t showing up: http://www.harshclimate.com/photography/

If you scroll down under the 16 photographs you’ll see a faint dashed line and a thick solid line. The pagination is supposed to show up in between those lines.
Moderator keesiemeijer
(@keesiemeijer)

4 years, 6 months ago
You can’t use the_posts_pagination() as it’s using the global query to paginate.
Try it with this for the pagination
```
$big = 999999999; // need an unlikely integer
 
echo paginate_links( array(
    'base' => str_replace( $big, '%#%', esc_url( get_pagenum_link( $big ) ) ),
    'format' => '?paged=%#%',
    'current' => max( 1, get_query_var('paged') ),
    'total' => $photography->max_num_pages
) );
```
Can you post the full code of the page template here?
Thread Starter harshclimate
(@harshclimate)

4 years, 6 months ago

Here’s a link to the complete file: http://www.harshclimate.com/page-photography.txt
Moderator keesiemeijer
(@keesiemeijer)

4 years, 6 months ago
I don’t see anything wrong with that.

Try changing this
```
<?php
				the_posts_pagination( array(
					'screen_reader_text' => __( 'To view more, click the links below' ),
					'mid_size'  => 2,
					'prev_text' => __( 'back', 'textdomain' ),
					'next_text' => __( 'next', 'textdomain' ),
				) );
			 ?>
```
with this
```
<?php
$big = 999999999; // need an unlikely integer
 
echo paginate_links( array(
    'base' => str_replace( $big, '%#%', esc_url( get_pagenum_link( $big ) ) ),
    'format' => '?paged=%#%',
    'current' => max( 1, get_query_var('paged') ),
    'total' => $photography->max_num_pages
) );
?>
```
Thread Starter harshclimate
(@harshclimate)

4 years, 6 months ago

Holy crap, that worked! Thanks a lot! So why does the other way work with a CPT and not just a normal post?
Moderator keesiemeijer
(@keesiemeijer)

4 years, 6 months ago
You’re welcome 🙂

I’m guessing that page uses the global query ($wp_query) with the correct page total and there is no custom query in that template. If you don’t tell the WordPress pagination functions the page total (from a custom query) it’s going to default to the page total from the global query.

You can add the other arguments as well:
```
echo paginate_links( array(
	'base'               => str_replace( $big, '%#%', esc_url( get_pagenum_link( $big ) ) ),
	'format'             => '?paged=%#%',
	'current'            => max( 1, get_query_var('paged') ),
	'total'              => $photography->max_num_pages,
	'screen_reader_text' => __( 'To view more, click the links below' ),
	'mid_size'           => 2,
	'prev_text'          => __( 'back', 'textdomain' ),
	'next_text'          => __( 'next', 'textdomain' ),
) );
```
- This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by keesiemeijer.
- This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by keesiemeijer.
Thread Starter harshclimate
(@harshclimate)

4 years, 6 months ago

Alright cool. Appreciate all your time, people!