Title: PHP Coding Page Template
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# PHP Coding Page Template

 *  [andymike](https://wordpress.org/support/users/andymike/)
 * (@andymike)
 * [19 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-coding-page-template/)
 * I am using WP as a CMS so I am not using the WP packaged archives. Instead, I
   am using a a custom page template to display posts from a specific category by
   date so they look like this:
 * /——————————————-start example———————————————————-/
 * –Category 2 Posts From 2006–
 * –January–
 * post date, post title, comments
    post date, post title, comments repeat…
 * –February–
 * post date, post title, comments
    post date, post title, comments repeat…
 * –Repeat..–
 * –Category 2 Posts from 2005–
 * Repeat same as above…
 * /——————————————-end example———————————————————-/
 * The pertinent page template code looks like this:
 * /——————————————-start code———————————————————-/
    ` <div class="entries"> <h5>
   <a name="06" id="06">Questions From 2006</a></h5> <?php query_posts('cat=2&year
   =2006&monthnum=1'); ?> <dl> <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : 
   the_post();?>  <dt>January</dt> <dd><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark"
   title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><span class="comments_number"><?php comments_number('
   0', '1', '%', ''); ?></span><span class="date"><?php the_date('j','',''); ?></
   span><?php the_title(); ?></a></dd> <?php endwhile; endif; ?> </dl> <?php query_posts('
   cat=2&year=2006&monthnum=2'); ?> <dl> <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()):
   the_post();?>  <dt>February</dt> <dd><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="
   bookmark" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><span class="comments_number"><?php comments_number('
   0', '1', '%', ''); ?></span><span class="date"><?php the_date('j','',''); ?></
   span><?php the_title(); ?></a></dd> <?php endwhile; endif; ?> </dl> ***I then
   repeat this with a new query and definition list for each of the 12 months, and
   if I don't have any posts for that month I have to manually omit it.*** </div
   ><!--end entries from 2006--> <div class="entries"> <h5><a name="05" id="05">
   Questions From 2005</a></h5>  ****I then repeat the same queries and definition
   list for each of the 12 months of 2005**** </div><!--end entries from 2005-->/———————————————-
   end code————————————————————–/
 * As you can see I am having to manually add a new div for each new year(which 
   isn’t a big deal). The big problem is having to add the months manually as they
   go by, and I know there has to be a way to do this dynamically with PHP.
 * So here are my questions:
 * 1. How can I dynamically display the month name in the <dt> tags, since it has
   been queried just above the <dt>?
 * 2. How can I wrap the definition list in an PHP IF statement so that IF the query_posts
   for that specific year and month returns nothing the <dl> for that month is skipped?
 * more specifically—> Have WP run a query like <?php query_posts(‘cat=2&year=2006&
   monthnum=2’); ?> then IF there are posts in the query then output the <dl>, otherwise
   continue and do nothing.
 * 3. Of course I would like to be able to generate the year dynamically as well,
   but that may be asking too much.
 * 4. Also, is there an easier way of accomplishing all this that I am missing? 
   If so please let me know!
 * If anyone can help me I would appreciate it greatly.
 * Thanks

The topic ‘PHP Coding Page Template’ is closed to new replies.

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 * 0 replies
 * 1 participant
 * Last reply from: [andymike](https://wordpress.org/support/users/andymike/)
 * Last activity: [19 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-coding-page-template/)
 * Status: not resolved

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