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This is a library/plugin to ease complex themes development in WordPress. Its main feature is the custom The Loop creator, useful to manage complex and information-dense layouts, but it gives also many other functions to shortcut some common tasks.

Its dual interface - library/plugin - is designed to allow easy upgrading.

Currently supports WordPress 2.3+.
Use WPP version 0.5 for WordPress 2.1/2.2.

Usage

These are the functions usable once WPP has been included or plugged:

wpp::foreach_post($filter, $limit = null): Creates a custom The Loop. Its first parameter could be either a raw string defining an SQL WHERE clause or an array where each key=>value pair becomes a string of key = 'value', joined with AND.
The good thing is that you can pass also: a page nicename (slug) or a category nicename (slug) and it will get all the matching content.
The filter parameter is just the LIMIT part of the query: write '3' and you'll get three posts, write '3,10' and you'll get ten posts starting from third.
wpp::get_posts($filter, $limit = null): Same parameters as wpp::foreach_post(), but returns an array instead of creating a custom The Loop
wpp::get_terms_recursive($ref, $levels = -1, $taxonomy = 'category'): Gets all the Term rows from the database, starting from the one matching the nicename (slug) passed as $ref and adding all its children.
The returned array is flat, not hierarchical.
The $levels parameters specify how deep it should recurse, by default it's unlimited.
wpp::in_category($nicename): Usable only inside The Loop or The Loop custom.
It checks if the current post belongs to the category passed as nicename (slug).
wpp::is_term_child_of($child_term, $parent_term): Checks if the $child_term is the same or a child of $parent_term.
wpp::get_post_custom($custom, $before = '', $after = '', $optid = 0): Usable only inside The Loop or The Loop custom (without $optid).
Returns a specific post custom field.
It could wrap the results (using $before and $after) and could refer to a specific post (identified by the ID) using $optid.
wpp::get_page_content($nicename, $on_empty = "The page '%s' is empty."): Gets a string with the content of the page identified by the nicename (slug).
It returns a customizable message if it's not found.
wpp::get_zone($key = null): Returns an array containing zone type, zone id and if possible the matching Terms array.
array('type' => ..., 'id' => ..., 'terms' => array(...)).
The WP zone types are matching the is_* functions (i.e. is_page, is_single, ...), while the id is the unique identifier for that zone type (i.e. for pages and post, the post id; for categories the category nicename, ...).
The returned types are: page, post, author, search, category, date, tag, home.
wpp::is_admin($uid = 0): Check if the current user is an Administrator.
Pass an user ID to check a specific user.
wpp::get_last_comments($size = 10, $id = 0): Gets an array with the last 10 comments (use $size to specify how many).
Pass a post ID to retrieve the last $size posts from a specific post.
wpp::get_last_comments_grouped($size = 10): Gets an array with the last 10 commented posts, each one with the last comment details.
wpp::get_pages_root(): Retrieves the top page in the current hierarchy of pages.
The hierarchy of pages starts with a root top page and goes down its children.
wpp::list_pages_of_section($arguments = '&title_li='): Like wp_list_pages(), but it returns just the current hierarchy of pages.
This function is related to wpp::get_pages_root().

Examples

Custom The Loop, by Page, passing just its nicename (slug) and then using it inside the block with any The Loop function.

while (wpp::foreach_post(array('page' => 'about'))) {
	echo the_content();
}

Custom The Loop, by Category, choosing all the posts from the 'blue' category (and all its sub-categories) and limiting to the top 5 entries sorted automatically by date.
Note the function wpp::in_category that is checking a different category: if 'azure' is a sub-category of 'blue', it will show also the custom field named 'color'.

while (wpp::foreach_post(array('category' => 'blue'), 5)) {
	echo the_title();
	if (wpp::in_category('azure')) {
		echo wpp::get_post_custom('color');
	}
}

Get Posts, choosing all the posts from the 'corporate' category (and all its sub-categories) and limiting to the top 2 entries sorted automatically by date.

$posts = wpp::get_posts(array('category' => 'corporate'), 2);
echo $posts[0]->post_content;
echo $posts[1]->post_content;

Download

Download version 0.7.1 here for WP2.3+ (2008 05 15)
Download version 0.5 here for WP2.1/2.2 (2007 08 03)

NOTE: this class is designed to be included WITH the template. But, in order to support separated updates, it could be also added as a plugin: the newer version will be used instead of the template one.

Changelog

0.7.1 (2008 05 15): Improved foreach_post() support for The Loop structures using setup_postdata() WP internal function to handle initialization.
0.7 (2007 10 03): Fixed in-file documentation errors.
0.7 (2007 09 29): Changed WPP interface to static 'wpp' class. Usage as before, but statically called.
0.6 (2007 09 27): Upgraded the library to WordPress 2.3, with a few improvements.
0.5 (2007 08 03): First public release

Argilla

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Usage

Examples

Download

Changelog