Title: Problem with custom shortcode using mysql query
Last modified: August 30, 2016

---

# Problem with custom shortcode using mysql query

 *  [lolo23](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lolo23/)
 * (@lolo23)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-custom-shortcode-using-mysql-query/)
 * I have some code, which is currently working correctly in my content templates,
   that I wish to put into a shortcode to use on the home page. Problem is, it just
   displays the word ‘Array’ on my page.
    Here is the code:
 *     ```
       function cat_posts_function($atts){
          extract(shortcode_atts(array(
       	  'cat' => 2
          ), $atts));
          	global $wpdb;
       	$querystr = $wpdb->get_results
       	("
       		SELECT wposts.*
       		FROM $wpdb->posts wposts, $wpdb->postmeta wpostmeta
       		WHERE wposts.ID = wpostmeta.post_id
       		AND wpostmeta.meta_key  = 'product_name'
       		AND wposts.post_type = 'post'
       		AND ID IN ( SELECT object_id FROM $wpdb->term_relationships WHERE term_taxonomy_id = '$cat' )
       		GROUP BY wpostmeta.meta_value
       	");
       	$pageposts = $wpdb->get_results($querystr, OBJECT);
   
       	 	 if ($pageposts):
       			global $post;
       			foreach ($pageposts as $post):
       			setup_postdata($post);
       			'<a href="'.get_permalink().'"><img class="th_list" src="'.site_url().'/images/'.get_field("product_code").'.jpg" /></a>';
       			endforeach;
       			wp_reset_postdata();
       		endif;
       	return $pageposts;
       }
       add_shortcode( 'cat_posts', 'cat_posts_function' );
       ```
   
 * Does anyone know where I’ve gone wrong?
    Thanks

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-custom-shortcode-using-mysql-query/#post-6764193)
 * In your $pageposts foreach loop you’re not accumulating the link/image HTML into
   a variable. THAT is the variable you should return, not $pageposts.
 *  Thread Starter [lolo23](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lolo23/)
 * (@lolo23)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-custom-shortcode-using-mysql-query/#post-6764194)
 * Thank you, I’m not sure how to fix that though?!
 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-custom-shortcode-using-mysql-query/#post-6764252)
 *     ```
       $html='';
         if ($pageposts):
           global $post;
           foreach ($pageposts as $post):
             setup_postdata($post);
             $html .= '<a href="'.get_permalink().'"><img class="th_list" src="'.site_url().'/images/'.get_field("product_code").'.jpg" /></a>';
           endforeach;
           wp_reset_postdata();
         endif;
       return $html;
       ```
   
 *  Thread Starter [lolo23](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lolo23/)
 * (@lolo23)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-custom-shortcode-using-mysql-query/#post-6764263)
 * Thanks – makes sense. It has got rid of “Array” appearing, but now displays nothing
   at all!
 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-custom-shortcode-using-mysql-query/#post-6764265)
 * Either there’s a PHP error somewhere or the query is not returning anything. 
   I think I see the problem though. Nesting PHP `statement (): endstatement;` formats
   have never worked for me, try using the `{}` format instead with `foreach`:
 *     ```
       foreach ($pageposts as $post){
             setup_postdata($post);
             $html .= '<a href="'.get_permalink().'"><img class="th_list" src="'.site_url().'/images/'.get_field("product_code").'.jpg" /></a>';
           }
       ```
   
 * If you still have trouble, be sure WP_DEBUG is defined as `true` in wp-config.
   php so you see any error messages.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘Problem with custom shortcode using mysql query’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [shortcode](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/shortcode/)

 * In: [Hacks](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/hacks/)
 * 5 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * Last activity: [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-custom-shortcode-using-mysql-query/#post-6764265)
 * Status: not resolved

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