Category related -> excerpt, title and thumb in sidebar on article page

Question

I've done some research and tried different solutions but this snippet gets me the actual post content in sidebar, when on a single/article page, from the category the post belogs to.

But I need to show the excerpt instead of the whole text and also a thumbnail and can't figure out how to add them.

Any suggestions please?

<?php
$categories = get_the_category();
echo '<ul><li>';
foreach ($categories as $c) {
    if (strpos(get_permalink($post->ID), $c->slug) !== false) {
        echo '<a href="/' . $c->slug . '/">' . $c->name . '</a>';
        $current_cat = $c->cat_ID;
    }
}
$posts = get_posts(array('cat' => $current_cat));
if (!empty($posts)) {
    echo '<ul>';
    foreach ($posts as $p) {
        echo '<li><a href="' . get_permalink($p->ID) . '">' . $p->post_title . '</a></li>';
        echo $p->post_content;
    }
    echo '</ul>';
}
echo '</li></ul>';
?> 

Or another approach maybe? Thank you.

Answer 1

I tried using your code and fixing it up but it wasn't having any luck. Try this out and let me know how it works for you:

<?php
  $args = array( 
    'numberposts' => 3, 
    'order'=> 'DESC', 'orderby' => 'post_date', 
    'category' => '' 
    );
  ?>
<?php
  $postslist = get_posts( $args );
  foreach ($postslist as $post) :  setup_postdata($post);
  ?>
  <h2>
    <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
    <?php the_title(); ?>
    <?php the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail'); ?></a>
  </h2>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>

Answer 2

Try plugin Mini Loops. It has the features you need. Also checkboxes "Get posts from current category (if archive)?" and "Get posts from first category (if single)?".

Answer 3

I have found a solution and modified it for my needs, maybe there are people looking for same thing, so there you go:

<?php
if ( is_single() ) {
  $categories = get_the_category();
  if ($categories) {
    foreach ($categories as $category) {
      $cat = $category->cat_ID;
      $args=array(
        'cat' => $cat,
        'post__not_in' => array($post->ID),
        'posts_per_page'=>3,
        'offset'=>1,
        'caller_get_posts'=>1
      );
      $my_query = null;
      $my_query = new WP_Query($args);
      if( $my_query->have_posts() ) {
        echo '<h2>More in this section</h2>';
        while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); ?>
        <div class="cat-related-articles">
<?php the_post_thumbnail('thumb'); ?>          

<p class="sidebar-article-title"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link 

to <?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></p>

<?php the_excerpt(5); ?>  

          </div>
         <?php
        endwhile;
      } //if ($my_query)
    } //foreach ($categories
  } //if ($categories)
  wp_reset_query();  // Restore global post data stomped by the_post().
} //if (is_single())
?>

Now, my problem is:

'posts_per_page'=>3,
'offset'=>1,

They don't work. I am trying to leave out and not display the post I am currently on. Remember, if I click on an article article, this code in the sidebar would display the title, thumb and excerpt of 3 more articles from the same category.

So, how do I make it not to display the post I am currently viewing?

Another thing, I the article I am on belongs to 2 categories, that code will show me posts from each category. How do I get rid of this?!