Ionut Staicu - Webdeveloper Blog » Wordpress

Show only posts with certain custom field in WordPress

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:57:28 +0000

Today I spent a few hours on trying to figure how the hell should I display only posts with certain custom field. For those who don�t know, a custom field allows you to add some extra information in each post. That information allows you to do various stuff like displaying a custom image on each post and so on. For example, the thing I tried to do today was to make a gender selector for the current project.

The usual way for displaying posts in WordPress is this:

if (have_posts()) :
 while (have_posts()) : the_post();

What I did is this:

$gender = htmlentities($_GET['gender'], ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');
switch($gender ){
	case "f":
		query_posts('meta_key=gender&meta_value=f');
	break;

	case "m":
		query_posts('meta_key=gender&meta_value=m);
	break;
	default :

	break;
}

After that i continued with regular code:

if (have_posts()) :
 while (have_posts()) : the_post();

That’s all!

Of course, i could use an unlisted tag or category, but i also made a neat custom field manager in the “post.php” page that makes administration of those custom fields a breeze.

WP-Print – show me the link ONLY!

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:48:21 +0000

I had to use a WP-Print for a recent WordPress project and, because the way i work, i started to search for plugins AFTER the psd was converted into html and a big part of code was already up & running. So, i downloaded latest version of WP-Print and I tried to use a basic setup:

The problem is that the plugin display the whole link tag (a href="...") and I only needed the href value. I edited wp-print.php (which is inside of you wp-content/plugins/wp-print folder) and i looked for print_link() function.

I saw the function accept three parameters: with first two you can set some extra text and the third (which is boolean) is for setting the way how function behave. So, you can call the function like the previous example or like this:

For showing the way you want. But, because i wanted only the link to that page, i edited wp-print.php and i changed the return of the function when the last parameter was boolean:

if($echo) {
	echo $output."\n";
} else {
	return $output;
}

Became:

if($echo) {
	echo $output."\n";
} else {
	return $print_link;
}

So now, i can use it like this:

PRINT !

Easy, isn’t it?

Ntz Antispam WordPress Plugin

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:53:58 +0000

Wassup guys?

I’ve worked a LOT lately and i didn’t have time to do too much things. I know i had promised you some free WordPress themes, but right now I really don’t know when i will launch them.

Anyhow, few months ago i posted a very effective spam trick. Because that method was somehow hard to apply and everytime you update wordpress or change your theme you had to redo some steps, i though is better to make a plugin for this.

Is a small plugin, is free to use and redistribute (even i ask you to do so!).

How to use?

Extract in your wp-content/plugins folder
Activate from your admin area
Watch your spam queue. ZERO. Nothing, NADA!

How effective is this ?

I use this trick for over six months. Before I use this, i had around 50 spams/day catched by Akismet. After i put this, i have MAXIMUM five spams/week. Very impressive, isn’t it?

Dowload from here:

[download id="1"]

You don’t have to pay a dime. Anyhow, any link love is well appreciated

Update:

I also can be found HERE.

WordPress 2.7 final to be released

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:53:38 +0000

If you use wordpress, you may be happy. The 2.7 will go final in two days from now. The good news is this: old browsers are not supported anymore. Yes, IE6 is included in “old browser” category!

I already update this blog to 2.7 RC because i just messed up feed.

What i did? Well.. In my “have more money than Bill Gates” race, i wanted to put some ads in RSS feeds. I set up this in adsense account but… The problem is that i screw things up Ads are displayed, but in reader you can see a small excerpt. I spend over two hours to find a fix (including removing the ads!) but with no luck. So… If you know how to fix and you want to help me, be my guest!

Very effective antispam trick on blogs

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:13:56 +0000

Most of bloggers have a problem with spam. Of course, there is Akismet, but sometimes Akismet is not good enough because he doesn’t catch all spam messages. So, with this in mind, i wanted only to get rid of all automated messages.

So, look what i did:

First of all, i go with �robots fills ALL fields with something� in my mind. I’ve added only TWO lines of code: one in comments.php from your theme folder and one in wp-comments-post.php from your root folder.

Ok, how you do it?

First of all you need a ftp client and a text editor. E-texteditor is 2 in 1 so you can download a trial version for doing this. Ofcourse, you can use the old and ugly notepad (or whatever your OS has default).

Open comments.php (which is in your wp-content/themes/your_theme_name folder) then find this line:

Some things can vary (like ID of the form), but 90% in cases you won’t need to look for something else

Just AFTER this line you add:

Don't fill this!

We put a form here and hide it. I didn’t use display:none because i wanted to be sure that field will be showed up, even is on the left side of the screen (you should actually turn you head to left to see it ) So the bot will actually SEE that form and will fill. Normal user won’t.

Save and upload (or just save if you work directly on ftp) then open wp-comments-post.php from your root folder. Just after the

beginning part, just add this:

if( $_POST['name2']!= ''){
	die('Spammer!');
}

Save and upload.

Next you need to... Hmm... You don't need to do anything else ! Now empty your Akismet queue and wait to see if you get any other spam messages

Note that is possible to not catch ALL spams, but those are automated you won't get it anymore Also, when you upgrade wordpress make sure you make those changes again. And finally, BACK UP FIRST!

Update.

READ THIS!

Verry annoying thing that i had recently noticed: even if this small plugin do a great job for spamm *comments*, will NOT work on trackback spam.

Advanced Carousel

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:40:25 +0000

Ok, as ai said you before, i want to make a tutorial about a more advanced carousel than previous was.

I won’t explain HTML and CSS code (is very simple and intutive):



		Previous
		Next

CSS file:

* {margin:0;padding:0;}

.clearfix:after {content:".";display:block;height:0;clear:both;visibility:hidden}
.clearfix {display:inline-block}
/* Hide from IE Mac \*/
.clearfix {display:block}
/* End hide from IE Mac */
* html .clearfix {height:1px}
.carousel {
	position: relative;
	overflow:hidden;
	height:500px;
	width:540px;
	margin:50px auto
}
	.carousel .ctrls {
		margin:10px
	}
	.carousel ul {
		position: absolute;
		width:8000px;
	}
		.carousel li {
			float:left;
			width:98px;
			height:98px;
			border: 1px solid #fff;
			list-style:none;
			margin-right:10px;
			text-align: center;
		}

The good part of this carousel is that you can have as many as you want in your page. You can have both fixed and fluid width and will work with no problem. Or at least no problem: on fluid layout, some images can be cutted. So, the best use is fixed width. Also, you can have autoscroll (with timers, i will say more later), but is not recommended because you may encounter some performance troubles.

After we include last version of jQuery, we have to do these things:

1) Iterate trough all .carousel containers (if you want to pick another name, this is the place and this is also the time!) and set the width.

$('.carousel').each(function(){
	var _this=this;
	var elWidth = $(_this).find('li:eq(0)').width()+12;
	$(_this).find('ul').width(elWidth*$(_this).find('li').length).css('left', 0);
});

We assume that all LI have same width, 10px margin and a border. So we adjust the width with 12 px (2px from border). If you have a wider margin (or none) change it, otherwise you will have some serious problems

The previous/next buttons we will control with a separate function, because we don’t have double scroll on double click, right? We put the function INSIDE of the each loop:

function carouselCtrls () {
	$(_this).find('a.prev').unbind().click(function(){
		$(this).unbind();
		if(parseInt($(_this).find('ul').css('left'))<0) {
			$(_this).find('ul').animate({
				left: '+='+elWidth
			}, function(){
				carouselCtrls();
			});
		}
		return false;
	});
	$(_this).find('a.next').unbind().click(function(){
		$(this).unbind();
		var maxWidth = (parseInt($(_this).find('ul').width())-$(_this).width()-10)-(-parseInt($(_this).find('ul').css('left')));
		if(maxWidth>0){

		$(_this).find('ul').animate({
			left: '-='+elWidth
		}, function(){
				carouselCtrls();
			});
		}else {
			$(_this).find('ul').animate({left:0},function(){
				carouselCtrls();
			});
		}
		return false;
	});
	};

Let see how it works (i will explain only one link because the other one works same – but reverted):

Unbind any action from current link. This is because some users use double click on web (yes, there is some users like that!). So, once clicked, you can’t click again on the same link. Will won’t work. Seriously!
We verify if the carousel is scrolled, and if it is, to be scrolled enough to not be outside the area
Animate the carousel and call the control function after the animation is complete. After the animation is complete, you can click on the next/prev button

So, the final code looks like this:

$('.carousel').each(function(){
	var _this=this;
	var elWidth = $(_this).find('li:eq(0)').width()+12;
	$(_this).find('ul').width(elWidth*$(_this).find('li').length).css('left', 0);
	carouselCtrls();

	function carouselCtrls () {
	$(_this).find('a.prev').unbind().click(function(){
		$(this).unbind();
		if(parseInt($(_this).find('ul').css('left'))<0) {
			$(_this).find('ul').animate({
				left: '+='+elWidth
			}, function(){
				carouselCtrls();
			});
		}
		return false;
	});
	$(_this).find('a.next').unbind().click(function(){
		$(this).unbind();
		var maxWidth = (parseInt($(_this).find('ul').width())-$(_this).width()-10)-(-parseInt($(_this).find('ul').css('left')));
		if(maxWidth>0){

		$(_this).find('ul').animate({
			left: '-='+elWidth
		}, function(){
				carouselCtrls();
			});
		}else {
			$(_this).find('ul').animate({left:0},function(){
				carouselCtrls();
			});
		}
		return false;
	});
	};
});

And that’s all!
You can see a demo HERE. In few days i will show you how to make a pagination on this carousel and how to make an autoscroll carousel Stay tuned!

Wordnewz WordPress theme

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:36:16 +0000

Well.. is done The Wordnewz is finally done.

As i said, there is two version of theme: free and premium. Read below to see the differences.

Preview:

Free theme :

You have to edit all files to make some changes. For ads you need to edit files from ads folder. For index settings you need to change index.php
- For featured slider: find
```
< ?php $my_query = new WP_Query('tag=featured&showposts=3');
```
  featured – enter tag slug and how many slides you want
- For small excerpts find:
```
$my_query = new WP_Query('category_name=economy&showposts=3');
```
  Change category_name according to your category slug
Images is added width custom fields with 130x130px for index and 200x150px for inner slider
Plugin settings
Print This
Email this
Excerpt length: 150

Download here.

What about premium version?

When you purchase the premium version you will have:

Technical support
Install/configure wordpress theme and plugins
Small changes of theme (colours, sizes, etc)
Admin panel for theme
RSS for each category
- mail: slice [@] iamntz. [] com
- y!messenger: i0nutzb
- skype: i0nutzb

The price for premium theme is $50 and for more details you can contact me here:

For now i don’t have an automatic way for purchasing, but i will reply you ASAP.

WordPress get_posts() function

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:42:28 +0000

Today i spent some time trying to figure how to get existing (and also used) tags from wordpress and using in admin panel as a combo box, for my brand new theme Wordnewz.

The return of get_tags() function was some kind of array but, because of my skills (not) in PHP i spend WAY too much time to go figure what to do. The initial result of get_tags() function is:

Array
(
    [0] => stdClass Object
        (
            [term_id] => 28
            [name] => Featured
            [slug] => featured
            [term_group] => 0
            [term_taxonomy_id] => 29
            [taxonomy] => post_tag
            [description] =>
            [parent] => 0
            [count] => 6
        )
)

And i only needed [name] and [slug]. Ofcourse, like a smart guy that i am, i pointed my browser on wordpress codex where i found… NOTHING. Nothing about this function… Great. Let’s try various stuff and google it for any ideas. And i found a PHP function get_object_vars for easy conversion. After this, all was GREAT. I use it like this:

$allTags = get_tags();
foreach($allTags as $thisTags) {
		$thisTag = get_object_vars($thisTags);
		echo '


\n';
}

And it WORKS like a charm. I posted this thing because i didn’t found too much references for stdClass Object or get_tags() WordPress function.

And another one!

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:43:24 +0000

After last two wordpress themes that i released in last weeks was a success (i expected to have less feedback than i had), i was thinking to make another theme. This time will be a free-premium theme. What it mean this? The theme will be launched as a free theme and will have some features available only if you pay (almost anything from site will be customizable from admin panel).

Anyway, it’s a theme great for using in a news site, fixed width, two sidebars, using custom fields and various plugins.

Here is a preview of current progress:

I think will be done by the end of this week, when i will release both free and premium version of the theme.

Stay tuned for more.

Another free WordPress theme – Rounded.Cube

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:50:09 +0000

Yesterday i was pretty bored: weekend, alone, and all bad things and i say to make another free wordpress theme. I opened Photoshop and i start to draw. You can see the results on the next screenshot or here.

Some of the main features:

Widgetizable;
Xhtml 1.1 / CSS 2.1 Valid;
2 columns;
trackbacks and pingbacks are separated from comments;
and more things that you can discover if you try this great and free wordpress theme

You can download the teme HERE.

But wait! There is more nice things to come! More free wordpres theme to come and if you want a premium theme, don’t wait and contact me.

And the free wordpress theme is here

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:11:24 +0000

Finally!

I finished my first free wordpress theme. What it make it so special? Well… The theme is with two and with three column: if you don’t have widgets on a sidebar, that sidebar is hidden and content is stretched. Nice, huh?
Anyway, you can download the theme with a single CLICK. If you (don’t) like it or if you have a problem, let me know.

Enjoy

Edit:

For now i can’t put a functional demo. But you can see the screenshot i put it yesterday here.

Free WordPress Theme II

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:55:43 +0000

Yesterday i told you that i will provide a free wordpress theme. At least one!

Today i want to tell you something about progress:

Theme name: Weekend. I made a quick search on google, i didn’t find any theme with this name so…�

Theme status: 90%. I’m stuck on dynamic sidebars but is nothing serious; Also, the whole theme is CSS 2.1 & XHTML 1.0 strict valid. You know that is for freaks, right?

Launch ETA: few hours, up to one day. This is mean one thing: tomorrow you can download the Weekend Theme!

Stay tuned!

Free WordPress Theme

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:42:18 +0000

Well… Is true, in few days i will release my very first free wordpress theme Some blue, some gray and some pink (or red, i’m not too sure). Today i spent few hours for design (i don’t know if i telling you this before, but even i’m a good coder – and some people think i really am – i’m not the best designer in the world. Actually… I’m not designer at all ) and i hope that i will have some time in next few days for coding.

Anyways, here is a sneak preview of my first theme:

What do you think?
ps: some extra nice features will be also available (you can pick how many sidebars you will use and also their positions – top/bottom/right/left ). Just stay close

NtzAutoQuote

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:46:15 +0000

On my other blog, i made a JS script that allows to add selected text on the comment box (after pressing Q). After redesign, i didn’t wanted to use that same old way, so i wrote a little plugin. Actually, you need some awesome imagination to name this plugin

Anyway, you can download this plugin from here and activate in the old fashion way (admin-> pluggins -> look for NtzAutoquote and press activate). How to use it? Very simple: select the text you want to quote and press Q key. In this way, you avoid to write over and over again

when you want to quote some comments.

You want a demo? Try it right here! Select ANY text that you want, press Q and check out the textarea on the comment form With all these, there is a limitation tough: you can have only one textarea on your page. I did it in this way because some theme developers don’t keep the name/id’s on forms when they develop themes. If you have more than one textarea, ask here and i will be glat to help you.

Oups, i did it (first time, not again)

Staicu Ionuț-Bogdan — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:28:47 +0000

Well… I put my non-designer skills on work and this is what i got. A nice and clean (or at leas i hope so) brand new layout for this great blog.

I spend last night on CSS Galleries for inspiration, the whole day for design and this night (actually few hours) for slicing and implementing the new masterpiece

So. What do you say guys? Should i start to design too?