each loop list is sorted by document id not alphabetically

Hi Mehmet,

It would have to be written in PHP to sort the films by name.

Below is example code in the format of a shortcode plugin —?it can be installed as a plugin, or in a theme, or with the Snippets plugin. It uses the Post Title for the actor and film names, but has in comments methods to use meta for names.

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: Shortcode — actorfilms
 * Description: Adds <code>[actorfilms]</code> shortcode, which can be used on an actor page or template, or called with an actor ID like <code>[actorfilms id="123"]</code>.
 */
add_shortcode(
	'actorfilms',
	function( $a ) {
		// Actor ID.
		if ( ! empty( $a['id'] ) ) {
			$actor_id = $a['id'];
		}else {
			$actor_id = get_the_ID();
		}

		$actor_films = get_post_meta( $actor_id, 'actor_films', false );

		if ( ! empty( $actor_films ) ) {
			// Sort
			usort( $actor_films, function( $a, $b ) {
				// Sort by post title.
				return strcmp( $a['post_title'], $b['post_title'] );
				// Alternative: sort by 'name' meta field.
				// return strcmp( get_post_meta( $a['ID'], 'name', true ), get_post_meta( $b['ID'], 'name', true ) );
			});

			// Heading
			printf(
				'<h2><span class="films_of_title">Below is the list of %d 
						%s films in the database:</span></h2><ul class="filmlist">',
				count( $actor_films ),
				get_the_title( $actor_id ) // or get_post_meta( $actor_id, 'actor_name', true )
			);
			// Actor films
			foreach ( $actor_films as $film ) {
				printf(
					'<li><a href="%s">%s</a> <br>Film Genre: <span style="font-size:90%%;font-weight:400;">%s</span></li>',
					esc_url( get_permalink( $film['ID'] ) ),
					esc_html( $film['post_title'] ), // or get_post_meta( $film['ID'], 'name', true )
					esc_html( get_post_meta( $film['ID'], 'film_genre', true ) )
				);
			}
			echo '</ul>';
		}
	}
);

Hi Paul,

Thank you very much. The sorting is done alphabetically now and it works like a charm as a shortcode which I defined through Snippets plugin. The only thing is ‘film_genre’ field is not displaying. It lists the films in correct order and with their correct permalinks but “Film Genre:” stays empty.

Also when I add the shortcode in the auto template, it doesn’t matter where I put [actorfilms] it always writes on the top section

Thanks Mehmet

• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Halit Ayarc?.

If film_genre is not showing, verify the meta key matches exactly —?e.g., film_genre not film-genre or filmgenre. Also verify that it’s a simple text field —?a relationship field would need to be coded differently.

Apologies about the shortcode appearing at the top —?shortcodes should return output, not output directly. Here is the corrected code:

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: Shortcode — actorfilms
 * Description: Adds <code>[actorfilms]</code> shortcode, which can be used on an actor page or template, or called with an actor ID like <code>[actorfilms id="123"]</code>.
 */
add_shortcode(
	'actorfilms',
	function( $a ) {
		ob_start();
		// Actor ID.
		if ( ! empty( $a['id'] ) ) {
			$actor_id = $a['id'];
		}else {
			$actor_id = get_the_ID();
		}

		$actor_films = get_post_meta( $actor_id, 'actor_films', false );

		if ( ! empty( $actor_films ) ) {
			// Sort
			usort( $actor_films, function( $a, $b ) {
				// Sort by post title.
				return strcmp( $a['post_title'], $b['post_title'] );
				// Alternative: sort by 'name' meta field.
				// return strcmp( get_post_meta( $a['ID'], 'name', true ), get_post_meta( $b['ID'], 'name', true ) );
			});

			// Heading
			printf(
				'<h2><span class="films_of_title">Below is the list of %d 
						%s films in the database:</span></h2><ul class="filmlist">',
				count( $actor_films ),
				get_the_title( $actor_id ) // or get_post_meta( $actor_id, 'actor_name', true )
			);
			// Actor films
			foreach ( $actor_films as $film ) {
				printf(
					'<li><a href="%s">%s</a> <br>Film Genre: <span style="font-size:90%%;font-weight:400;">%s</span></li>',
					esc_url( get_permalink( $film['ID'] ) ),
					esc_html( $film['post_title'] ), // or get_post_meta( $film['ID'], 'name', true )
					esc_html( get_post_meta( $film['ID'], 'film_genre', true ) )
				);
			}
			echo '</ul>';
		}
		return ob_get_clean();
	}
);

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the correction. The location is fixed; but what I forgot to mention earlier was “film_genre” is a custom taxonomy. It’s not a simple text field. I checked the meta key and it exactly matches and it is still not showing…

Thanks
Mehmet

I tired changing

esc_html( get_post_meta( $film['ID'], 'film_genre', true ) )

to

esc_html( get_term_meta( $term_id['793'], 'film_genre', true ) )

but still couldn’t get the custom taxonomy data. 793 being the ID of the custom taxonomy “film_genre”

Hi Mehmet,

If film_genre is a relationship to a taxonomy, then it needs to be treated as an array:

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: Shortcode — actorfilms
 * Description: Adds <code>[actorfilms]</code> shortcode, which can be used on an actor page or template, or called with an actor ID like <code>[actorfilms id="123"]</code>.
 */
add_shortcode(
	'actorfilms',
	function( $a ) {
		ob_start();
		// Actor ID.
		if ( ! empty( $a['id'] ) ) {
			$actor_id = $a['id'];
		}else {
			$actor_id = get_the_ID();
		}

		$actor_films = get_post_meta( $actor_id, 'actor_films', false );

		if ( ! empty( $actor_films ) ) {
			// Sort
			usort( $actor_films, function( $a, $b ) {
				// Sort by post title.
				return strcmp( $a['post_title'], $b['post_title'] );
				// Alternative: sort by 'name' meta field.
				// return strcmp( get_post_meta( $a['ID'], 'name', true ), get_post_meta( $b['ID'], 'name', true ) );
			});

			// Heading
			printf(
				'<h2><span class="films_of_title">Below is the list of %d 
						%s films in the database:</span></h2><ul class="filmlist">',
				count( $actor_films ),
				get_the_title( $actor_id ) // or get_post_meta( $actor_id, 'actor_name', true )
			);
			// Actor films
			foreach ( $actor_films as $film ) {
				printf(
					'<li><a href="%s">%s</a> <br>Film Genre: <span style="font-size:90%%;font-weight:400;">%s</span></li>',
					esc_url( get_permalink( $film['ID'] ) ),
					esc_html( $film['post_title'] ), // or get_post_meta( $film['ID'], 'name', true )
					esc_html( 
						implode(
							', ',
							wp_list_pluck(
								get_post_meta( $film['ID'], 'film_genre', false ),
								'name'
							)
						)
					)
				);
			}
			echo '</ul>';
		}
		return ob_get_clean();
	}
);

Hi Paul,

I think I’d better drop the film_genre field; because it is still not displaying ??

Thank you for your time and attention. I really don’t want to trouble you any longer as I already took too much of your time.

Thank you very much for your help ??

Mehmet

Hi Paul

I did the lazy thing, and created a simple text field which had the data from the custom taxonomy. I know it’s not an ideal solution but when I need the data as text I’ll use that field and when I need taxonomy I’ll use “film_genre”

Thank you very much for your help.

Mehmet