Random post – display content only

Consider downloading and installing Otto’s PHP Code Widget, then something like this code in one of those widgets:

<?php
$cat_id = get_cat_ID('mycategory');
$args=array(
  'cat' => $cat_id,
  'orderby'=> 'rand',
  'post_type' => 'post',
  'post_status' => 'publish',
  'posts_per_page' => 1,
  'caller_get_posts'=> 1
);
$my_query = null;
$my_query = new WP_Query($args);
if( $my_query->have_posts() ) {
  while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); ?>
    <?php
    the_content();
  endwhile;
}
wp_reset_query();  // Restore global post data stomped by the_post().
?>

The widget works, but apprently the category call is ignored. I get one random post but from from all categories, although I changed “mycategory” to the appropriate ID (number).

mycategory should be replaced by your category name (e.g. events) not the number.

If I put in the Category-Name, absolutely nothing is returned. There are 8 posts in this category, so it is not due to the Cat being empty ??

For my Events category, this is working for me:

<?php
$cat_id = get_cat_ID('events');
$args=array(
  'cat' => $cat_id,
  'orderby'=> 'rand',
  'post_type' => 'post',
  'post_status' => 'publish',
  'posts_per_page' => 1,
  'caller_get_posts'=> 1
);
$my_query = null;
$my_query = new WP_Query($args);
if( $my_query->have_posts() ) {
  while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); ?>
    <?php
    the_content();
  endwhile;
}
wp_reset_query();  // Restore global post data stomped by the_post().
?>

You’ll need to paste your whole template in a pastebin and report the link back here–maybe someone can spot the problem.

The whole template??
It’s a TwentyTen child.

OK, this is really odd. It works for other categories, but not for the “Quotes” one…

Find the category id for that category and change

'cat' => $cat_id,

to

'cat' => x,

where x is your category id.

By whole template I meant like your sidebar.php or index.php.

sidebar.php and index.php are unchanged TwentyTen files.

Find the category id for that category and change

'cat' => $cat_id,

to

'cat' => x,

where x is your category id.

Yep, this works fine!!!
Thanks a million for your patience ??

Good.

Ignore comments about templates, as I forgot you were using the code in a widget.