Random Posts from Single Category in Sidebar

function random_post ($limit)
{
	global $wpdb, $wp_version;

	if ($wp_version < '2.1')
		$post_type_sql = "AND post_status = 'publish'";
	else
		$post_type_sql = "AND post_status = 'publish' AND post_type = 'post'";

	$order_by_sql = "rand()";

	// query records that contain img tags, ordered randomly
	// do not select images from password protected posts
	$sql = "SELECT $wpdb->posts.ID, $wpdb->posts.post_title, $wpdb->posts.post_content,
			$wpdb->posts.post_date, $wpdb->posts.post_author
		FROM $wpdb->posts
		WHERE post_password = ''
		$post_type_sql
		ORDER BY $order_by_sql
		LIMIT $limit";
	return $wpdb->get_results($sql);
}

That’d be to use instead of a query_post or get_post.

$posts = randon_post(5);
foreach ($posts as $post) :
      echo $post->$post_title;
endforeach;

Hey, first, thanks a lot for writing this code! But can you please give me a bit of instruction on where to put it? For example, the top part… does it get saved as a plugin or entered directly into the sidebar.php file as-is? And if so, what do I do with the bottom part?

Also, I don’t understand the difference between “query_post” or “get_post”… ???

Thanks again,
kopper

Hey, where’d you go?

Oops! sorry.
You can put the function anywhere in your template files and the other code where you want to display.
However, I didn’t get the Category thing…I’d have to join it with link2post in the sql query. :S

Hi, wondering how I would incorporate your script with the script I am using to create a list of posts with a thumbnail image.

<ul id="candidates">
<?php
$postslist = get_posts('category=1&order=ASC&orderby=post_title');

foreach ($postslist as $post) :
    setup_postdata($post);

// check for thumbnail
$thumb = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'thumbnail', $single = true);
// check for thumbnail class
$thumb_class = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'thumbnail-class', $single = true);
// check for thumbnail alt text
$thumb_alt = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'thumbnail-alt', $single = true);
    ?>
<li>
<?php // if there's a thumbnail
if($thumb !== '') { ?>

	<img src="<?php echo $thumb; ?>"
	class="<?php if($thumb_class !== '') { echo $thumb_class; } else { echo "left"; } ?>"
	alt="<?php if($thumb_alt !== '') { echo $thumb_alt; } else { echo the_title(); } ?>"
	/>

<?php } // end if statement

// if there's not a thumbnail
else { echo ''; } ?> 

<h3><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?></li>

<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>