[Support request] A button with selection function

[nudnavda]

Hello helpdesk,

it seems deceivingly simple, but I don’t find a way to create it: a button with text “select” that produces (when clicked) a rolldown menu of single pages, filtered or queried from a specified category.

So this would not use a standard menu (manually produced) or a general pagelist widget.
It would be automatically generated from the database, and used as an extra option on specific category archives.

Until now I haven’t found a method in GP or GB, nor a plugin that does this.
Maybe it’s due to my limited knowledge of WordPress.

Would you know if this is possible, and if so, how?
Thanks very much!

[David]

Hi there,

yeah, thats not WP does by default and we don’t have anything in the Theme or GB.
The closet thing in WP is the Category List block, which does has a Display as Dropdown option in its settings.

Where would this select box be displayed?
And what would the list contain ? I assume it would be dynamic

[nudnavda]

It would be displayed on an archive page of specific category.
It would contain all url’s from the category.
And yes, it would keep its contents automatically updated.

[nudnavda]

For instance:
https://dharmoebe.nl/visie/yulu/

The button under the header is an element that uses a manually edited menu.

I’m looking for something similar, but with automated contents (url’s).

[David]

That URL is for a static page which is display a fixed parameter query loop.
Are you manually creating each of those category pages?

If so would a shortcode with a category argument, where you set the terms to list, work ?

[nudnavda]

Thanks so much for thinking along!
I am not a coder and creating shortcodes is not instantly clear for me.

Am I in the right direction with investigating the information on the following page:
https://diveinwp.com/shortcode-display-post-from-categories/

[David]

Try this PHP Snippet:

function display_post_links_select_box( $atts ) {
    $output = '';
    
    // Set up the shortcode attributes
    $atts = shortcode_atts( array(
        'category_slug' => '',
    ), $atts );

    // Get the current category ID, or the ID of the specified category slug
    if ( $atts['category_slug'] ) {
        $category = get_category_by_slug( $atts['category_slug'] );
        $category_id = $category->term_id;
    } else {
        $category = get_queried_object();
        $category_id = $category->term_id;
    }

    // Set up the query arguments to get posts in the current or specified category
    $args = array(
        'posts_per_page' => -1,
        'post_type' => 'post',
        'post_status' => 'publish',
        'orderby' => 'title',
        'order' => 'ASC',
        'category__in' => array( $category_id ),
    );

    $query = new WP_Query( $args );
    if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
        $output .= '<select name="post_links" onchange="location = this.value;">';
        while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
            $query->the_post();
            $output .= '<option value="' . get_permalink() . '">' . get_the_title() . '</option>';
        }
        $output .= '</select>';
        wp_reset_postdata();
    }
    return $output;
}
add_shortcode( 'category_posts', 'display_post_links_select_box' );

Then on your page add the shortcode: [category_posts category_slug="your-category-slug"]

[nudnavda]

Great!
I’ll let you know… 😉

[David]

Please do 🙂

[nudnavda]

I put the PHP (without any alterations) in Snippets, David.
And then the shortcode [category_posts slug=”praktijk-leraren”] on the page which is:

https://dharmoebe.nl/praktijk/leraren-overzicht/

Alas, there’s no result – not via inserting shortcode, nor via element (hook, after-entry) plus shortcode.
I am not supposed to change any of your php-code, am I?
Just the slug in the shortcode?

What I want to achieve is placing underneath the title ‘Leraren overzicht’ a sort of TOC-button with index of the page-titles within the category.
Must confess, I’m a bit troubled by the fact that this competes with the archive-page itself which after all is kind of an index of the category-pages.

But it would be nice for visitors to have a compact overview and be able to select a preferred teacher.
Also, I might change the lay-out of the template (more text, featured image).
And this button would be applied to several of these kind of archives on this site.

I do hope my explanations are of any help.

[David]

Are the posts a normal Post ? Or are they custom posts ?

[nudnavda]

Normal posts (pages).

[nudnavda]

I’m sorry, I’ve given you the wrong slug-name for the category.
Must be [praktijkleraren] and not [praktijk-leraren].

[David]

I edited my code above.
Can you use that instead.

And the Shortcode you must enter looks like: [category_posts category_slug="your-category-slug"]

So if your category term is: praktijkleraren then your shortcode would be:

[category_posts category_slug="praktijkleraren"]

[nudnavda]

Hi David, somehow I missed the notification of your last reaction.
Will check it out tomorrow!

[Author]

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