Pull images from the gallery

Question

I am building a template where wordpress is being used primarily as an image CMS, I am pulling the first image from the content section of each post.

<img src="<?php echo grab_image() ?>" />

function grab_image() {
global $post, $posts;
$first_img = '';
ob_start();
ob_end_clean();
$output = preg_match_all('/<img.+src=[\'"]([^\'"]+)[\'"].*>/i', $post->post_content, $matches);
$first_img = $matches [1] [0];

if(empty($first_img)){
$first_img = "";
}
return $first_img;
}

My question is how can I, instead of grabbing it from post_content, grab the first image from the uploaded image gallery?

So, the process to add an image would be to upload and then exit out (without inserting into post). I dont know what you call this or what to look for.. attachments? media library? The content area would be used strictly for text along with any extra meta boxes.

Answer 1

Use get_children() (Codex ref):

$images = get_children( array( 
     'post_parent' => $post->ID, 
     'post_type' => 'attachment', 
     'post_mime_type' => 'image', 
     'orderby' => 'menu_order', 
     'order' => 'ASC' 
) );

The first image will be $images[0].

EDIT:

And by "first image", I mean, the $ID of the first image, which you can use with any of the myriad image- and attachment-handling functions in WordPress. If you can clarify what you want to do with the image, I can provide more specific, further instruction.

Answer 2

Maybe you'd like to make a photoblog with YAPB and the reflection theme