[Resolved] Limit Dynamic Term Output to 1

[Matt Stern]

Hi Guys,

I’ve got a content template block element that outputs category terms above the post title. Can you suggest a way to only display a single term (the first one)? Instead of showing all the terms associated with a given post.

Url for reference: https://4sternstaging.com/

Screenshot clarification: https://nimb.ws/v4pkUV

Thanks kindly.

[Elvin]

Hi Matt,

Will the single term to be displayed be purely whatever the first term is?

Or perhaps, do you have some sort of a pre-determined primary term to be single displayed?

if it’s a pre-determined, primary term (ie. like how yoast assigns a primary category), can you share with us how your site determines which one is the primary term to be displayed?

[Matt Stern]

Hi Elvin,

Let’s just go with whatever the first term is. There isn’t a predetermined term at this point.

[Elvin]

I see,

In that case we can make a shortcode you can use on a shortcode block that displays only the first term of the current post.

Here’s the shortcode: [display_single_category_term]

here’s the snippet that makes the shortcode.

add_shortcode( 'display_single_category_term', function() {
	$termslist = get_the_term_list( get_the_ID(), 'category', '', ', ');
	$terms = get_the_terms( get_the_ID(), 'category');
	$term_link = get_term_link( (int) $terms[0]->term_id, 'category');
	$term_name = $terms[0]->name;
    ob_start();
    // Start your PHP below
  
    echo '<a href="'.$term_link.'" rel="category" class="custom-single-category">'.$term_name.'</a>';
  
    // End your PHP above
    return ob_get_clean();
} );

[Matt Stern]

That did work to output a single term, but now if I try to edit the block element, I get a “Critical Error” page. It’s not a huge deal, I can just deactivate the snippet to edit the element, but it would be nice to fix since it’s a client site. 🙂

[Elvin]

Can you try and see what happens if the snippet is modified to this?

add_shortcode( 'display_single_category_term', function() {

    ob_start();
    // Start your PHP below
  	$termslist = get_the_term_list( get_the_ID(), 'category', '', ', ');
	$terms = get_the_terms( get_the_ID(), 'category');
	$term_link = get_term_link( (int) $terms[0]->term_id, 'category');
	$term_name = $terms[0]->name;
    echo '<a href="'.$term_link.'" rel="category" class="custom-single-category">'.$term_name.'</a>';
  
    // End your PHP above
    return ob_get_clean();
} );

[Matt Stern]

Same issue I’m afraid.

[David]

Hi there,

do you have any more info from error_logs as to what the Critical Error is ?

[Matt Stern]

Hi David,

Here’s some info from a debug plugin log:

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/sterndes/public_html/4sternstaging.com/wp-content/plugins/code-snippets/php/snippet-ops.php(469) : eval()’d code on line 7

Notice: Trying to get property ‘term_id’ of non-object in /home/sterndes/public_html/4sternstaging.com/wp-content/plugins/code-snippets/php/snippet-ops.php(469) : eval()’d code on line 7

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/sterndes/public_html/4sternstaging.com/wp-content/plugins/code-snippets/php/snippet-ops.php(469) : eval()’d code on line 8

Notice: Trying to get property ‘name’ of non-object in /home/sterndes/public_html/4sternstaging.com/wp-content/plugins/code-snippets/php/snippet-ops.php(469) : eval()’d code on line 8

Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Object of class WP_Error could not be converted to string in /home/sterndes/public_html/4sternstaging.com/wp-content/plugins/code-snippets/php/snippet-ops.php(469) : eval()’d code:9 Stack trace: #0 /home/sterndes/public_html/4sternstaging.com/wp-includes/shortcodes.php(356): {closure}(”, ”, ‘display_single_…’) #1 [internal function]: do_shortcode_tag(Array) #2 /home/sterndes/public_html/4sternstaging.com/wp-includes/shortcodes.php(228): preg_replace_callback(‘/\\[(\\[?)(displa…’, ‘do_shortcode_ta…’, ‘

apply_filters(‘<div class=”gb-…’, Array) #5 /home/sterndes/public_html/4sternstaging.com/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-posts-controller.php(1792): apply_filters(‘the_content’, ‘<!– wp:generat…’) #6 /home/sterndes/public_html/4sternstaging.com/wp-in in /home/sterndes/public_html/4sternstaging.com/wp-content/plugins/code-snippets/php/snippet-ops.php(469) : eval()’d code on line 9

Thank you!

[Elvin]

I see.

It was working with a Hook element but let’s simplify it a bit more to work on the Block editor.

Try this one:

add_shortcode( 'display_single_category_term', function() {

    ob_start();
    // Start your PHP below
	
	$category = get_the_category();

	if ( ! empty( $category ) ) {
		echo '<a href="'.esc_url( get_category_link( $category[0]->term_id ) ).'">'.$category[0]->cat_name.'</a>';
	}
  
    // End your PHP above
    return ob_get_clean();
} );

[Matt Stern]

Hi Elvin, that worked! Many thanks.

[Elvin]

No problem. 😀

[Author]

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