Below, you’ll find a detailed guide on how to add the WP News and Scrolling Widgets Shortcode to your WordPress website, including its parameters, examples, and PHP function code. Additionally, we’ll assist you with common issues that might cause the WP News and Scrolling Widgets Plugin shortcode not to show or not to work correctly.
Before starting, here is an overview of the WP News and Scrolling Widgets Plugin and the shortcodes it provides:
![Plugin Icon](https://ps.w.org/sp-news-and-widget/assets/icon-128x128.png?rev=1402776)
"WP News and Scrolling Widgets is a dynamic WordPress plugin designed to add versatility to your website. It enables easy display of latest news and scrollable widgets, enhancing user engagement."
- [sp_news]
WP News and Scrolling Widgets [sp_news] Shortcode
The ‘sp_news’ shortcode from the SP News and Widget plugin displays news items on your WordPress site. It allows for customization of numerous parameters, including the limit of news items displayed, the categories of news to show, and the layout of the news items.
Shortcode: [sp_news]
Parameters
Here is a list of all possible sp_news shortcode parameters and attributes:
limit
– defines the maximum number of news items to show.category
– filters the news items by specific categories.grid
– sets the layout of the news items to a grid if value is 1.show_date
– if ‘true’, the date of the news item will be displayed.show_category_name
– if ‘true’, the category of the news item will be displayed.show_content
– if ‘true’, the content of the news item will be displayed.show_full_content
– if ‘true’, the full content of the news item will be displayed, not just an excerpt.content_words_limit
– sets the maximum number of words for the news item’s content if not showing full content.order
– sets the order of the news items, ‘ASC’ for ascending, ‘DESC’ for descending.orderby
– sets what parameter the news items are ordered by, such as ‘date’.pagination
– if ‘true’, pagination will be enabled.pagination_type
– sets the type of pagination, either ‘numeric’ or ‘prev-next’.extra_class
– adds any additional CSS classes to the news items.className
– adds a CSS class to the news items.align
– aligns the news items to the left, right, or center.
Examples and Usage
Basic example – Displaying a list of news items using the default settings.
[sp_news]
Advanced examples
Displaying a list of news items from a specific category, limiting the number of news items to 5, and arranging them in descending order.
[sp_news limit="5" category="sports" order="DESC"]
Displaying a grid of news items, hiding the date, and showing full content instead of the excerpt with a word limit of 50 words.
[sp_news grid="2" show_date="false" show_full_content="true" content_words_limit="50"]
Displaying a list of news items with pagination disabled and sorted by title.
[sp_news pagination="false" orderby="title"]
Displaying a list of news items from a specific category, with an extra CSS class for custom styling.
[sp_news category="business" extra_class="my-custom-class"]
PHP Function Code
In case you have difficulties debugging what causing issues with [sp_news]
shortcode, check below the related PHP functions code.
Shortcode line:
add_shortcode( 'sp_news', 'wpnw_get_news_shortcode' );
Shortcode PHP function:
function wpnw_get_news_shortcode( $atts, $content = null ) {
// Taking some globals
global $post, $multipage, $paged;
// SiteOrigin Page Builder Gutenberg Block Tweak - Do not Display Preview
if( isset( $_POST['action'] ) && ( 'so_panels_layout_block_preview' == $_POST['action'] || 'so_panels_builder_content_json' == $_POST['action'] ) ) {
return "[sp_news]";
}
// setup the query
extract( shortcode_atts(array(
"limit" => 10,
"category" => '',
"grid" => 1,
"show_date" => 'true',
"show_category_name" => 'true',
"show_content" => 'true',
"show_full_content" => 'false',
"content_words_limit" => 20,
"order" => 'DESC',
"orderby" => 'date',
'pagination' => 'true',
"pagination_type" => 'numeric',
'extra_class' => '',
'className' => '',
'align' => '',
), $atts, 'sp_news') );
// Define variables
$unique = wpnw_get_unique();
$posts_per_page = ! empty( $limit ) ? $limit : 10;
$cat = ! empty( $category ) ? explode( ',', $category ) : '';
$type = ( $grid == 'list' ) ? 'list' : 'grid';
$show_date = ( $show_date == 'true' ) ? 1 : 0;
$show_category_name = ( $show_category_name == 'true' ) ? 1 : 0;
$show_content = ( $show_content == 'true' ) ? 1 : 0;
$show_full_content = ( $show_full_content == 'true' ) ? 1 : 0;
$words_limit = ! empty( $content_words_limit ) ? $content_words_limit : 20;
$pagination = ( $pagination == 'false' ) ? false : true;
$pagination_type = ( $pagination_type == 'numeric' ) ? 'numeric' : 'prev-next';
$order = ( strtolower( $order ) == 'asc' ) ? 'ASC' : 'DESC';
$orderby = ! empty( $orderby ) ? $orderby : 'date';
$align = ! empty( $align ) ? 'align'.$align : '';
$extra_class = $extra_class .' '. $align .' '. $className;
$extra_class = wpnw_sanitize_html_classes( $extra_class );
$multi_page = ( $multipage || is_single() || is_front_page() || is_archive() ) ? 1 : 0;
ob_start();
// Pagination Variable
$paged = 1;
if( $multi_page ) {
$paged = isset( $_GET['news_page'] ) ? $_GET['news_page'] : 1;
} else if ( get_query_var( 'paged' ) ) {
$paged = get_query_var( 'paged' );
} else if ( get_query_var( 'page' ) ) {
$paged = get_query_var( 'page' );
}
$args = array (
'post_type' => WPNW_POST_TYPE,
'post_status' => array( 'publish' ),
'orderby' => $orderby,
'order' => $order,
'posts_per_page' => $posts_per_page,
'paged' => ( $pagination ) ? $paged : 1,
);
if( $cat != "" ) {
$args['tax_query'] = array(
array(
'taxonomy' => WPNW_CAT,
'field' => 'term_id',
'terms' => $cat
));
}
$query = new WP_Query( $args );
$count = 0;
$post_count = $query->post_count;
$max_num_pages = $query->max_num_pages;
if( $type == 'list' ) {
$gridcol = $query->post_count;
} else {
$gridcol = ( ! empty( $grid ) && $grid <= 4 ) ? $grid : 1;
}
?>
<div class="wpnawfree-plugin news-clearfix <?php echo esc_attr( $extra_class ); ?>" id="wpnw-news-<?php echo esc_attr( $unique ); ?>">
<?php if ( $query->have_posts() ) :
while ( $query->have_posts() ) : $query->the_post();
$count++;
$news_links = array();
$terms = get_the_terms( $post->ID, WPNW_CAT );
if( $terms ) {
foreach ( $terms as $term ) {
$term_link = get_term_link( $term );
$news_links[] = '<a href="'. esc_url( $term_link ) .'">'.wp_kses_post( $term->name ).'</a>';
}
}
$cate_name = join( ", ", $news_links );
// CSS class
$main_wrap_css = "wpnaw-blog-class";
$main_wrap_css .= $show_date ? ' has-date' : ' has-no-date';
$main_wrap_css .= ( $type == 'list' ) ? " news-col-list" : " news-col-{$gridcol}";
if( $gridcol > 1 ) {
if( $count % $gridcol == 1 ) {
$main_wrap_css .= ' wpnaw-first';
} elseif ( $count % $gridcol == 0 ) {
$main_wrap_css .= ' wpnaw-last';
}
} else {
$main_wrap_css .= ( $count == 1 ) ? ' wpnaw-first' : '';
$main_wrap_css .= ( $count >= $post_count ) ? ' wpnaw-last' : '';
}
?>
<div id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" class="news type-news <?php echo esc_attr( $main_wrap_css ); ?>">
<div class="news-inner-wrap-view news-clearfix <?php if ( ! has_post_thumbnail() ) { echo 'wpnaw-news-no-image'; } ?>">
<?php if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) { ?>
<div class="news-thumb">
<?php if( $gridcol == 1 && $type == 'grid' ) { ?>
<div class="grid-news-thumb">
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail( 'large' ); ?></a>
</div>
<?php } else { ?>
<div class="grid-news-thumb">
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail( 'medium_large' ); ?></a>
</div>
<?php } ?>
</div>
<?php } ?>
<div class="news-content">
<?php if( $type == 'grid' && $gridcol == 1 && $show_date ) { ?>
<div class="date-post">
<h2><span><?php echo get_the_date('j'); ?></span></h2>
<p><?php echo get_the_date('M y'); ?></p>
</div>
<?php } elseif( $gridcol > 1 ) { ?>
<div class="grid-date-post">
<?php
echo ( $show_date ) ? get_the_date() : "";
echo ( $show_date && $show_category_name && $cate_name != '' ) ? " / " : "";
echo ( $show_category_name && $cate_name != '' ) ? wp_kses_post($cate_name) : "";
?>
</div>
<?php } ?>
<div class="post-content-text">
<?php the_title( sprintf( '<h3 class="news-title"><a href="%s" rel="bookmark">', esc_url( get_permalink() ) ), '</a></h3>' );
if( $show_category_name && $gridcol == 1 ) { ?>
<div class="news-cat"><?php echo wp_kses_post( $cate_name ); ?></div>
<?php }
if( $show_content ) { ?>
<div class="news-content-excerpt">
<?php if( empty( $show_full_content ) ) { ?>
<div class="news-short-content">
<?php echo wpnw_limit_words( $post->ID, get_the_content(), $words_limit, '...' ); ?>
</div>
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" class="news-more-link"><?php esc_html_e( 'Read More', 'sp-news-and-widget' ); ?></a>
<?php } else {
the_content();
} ?>
</div><!-- .entry-content -->
<?php } ?>
</div>
</div>
</div><!-- #post-## -->
</div><!-- #post-## -->
<?php endwhile;
endif;
if( $pagination && $max_num_pages > 1 ) { ?>
<div class="news_pagination wpnw-<?php echo esc_attr( $pagination_type ); ?>">
<?php echo wpnw_news_pagination( array( 'paged' => $paged , 'total' => $max_num_pages, 'multi_page' => $multi_page, 'pagination_type' => $pagination_type, 'unique' => $unique ) ); ?>
</div>
<?php } ?>
</div>
<?php
wp_reset_postdata(); // Reset WP Query
$content .= ob_get_clean();
return $content;
}
Code file location:
sp-news-and-widget/sp-news-and-widget/includes/shortcode/sp-news-shortcode.php
Conclusion
Now that you’ve learned how to embed the WP News and Scrolling Widgets Plugin shortcode, understood the parameters, and seen code examples, it’s easy to use and debug any issue that might cause it to ‘not work’. If you still have difficulties with it, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.
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