Passing a variable from a FOREACH loop in a link

Question

How would you pass a variable from a foreach loop, through a link? I have tabs that display correctly. The jQuery works. But when I call the variable $category down where the content sorts, $category doesn't have a value.

<ul id="tabs">

    <li id="tab-content-all" class="active-tab">
        <a href="javascript:viewTab('content-all');">ALL</a>
    </li>

<?php 
    $categories=  get_categories('child_of=104'); 
    foreach ($categories as $category) {
    $option = '<li id="tab-content-';
        $option .= $category->cat_name;
        $option .= '"><a href="javascript:viewTab(\'content-';
        $option .= $category->cat_name;
        $option .='\');">';
        $option .= $category->cat_name;
        $option .= '</a></li>';
        echo $option;
    }
?>


</ul><!--end of tabs-->
<div id="contents-container">

    <div id="content-all">
        <ul class="gallery">

        <?php
            /**Get the posts by a category*/
            $portfolio_posts = new WP_Query('category_name=portfolio');
            /** Initiate the output*/
            $output = '';
            /** Loop through the post */
            while ($portfolio_posts->have_posts()): $portfolio_posts-> the_post();

                /** Add Thumbnail to the anchor if present     */
                $output .= '<li class="g_image"><a href="' . get_permalink($post->ID) . '">';
                $size='medium';
                if(has_post_thumbnail($post->ID))
                    $output .= get_the_post_thumbnail($post->ID,$size);   
                /** Close the widget*/
                $output .= '</a></li>';

            endwhile;
            echo $output;
        ?>  
        </ul>  <!--end of gallery--> 
    </div><!--end of ALL -->  


    <?php
        $output = '';
        $output = '<div id="content-'.$category->cat_name.'">';
    ?>
    <ul class="gallery">"

        <?php

            $category_name = strtolower($category->cat_name);


            /**Get the posts by a category*/
            $portfolio_posts = new WP_Query('category_name='.$category_name);
            /** Initiate the output*/

            $output = '';
            /** Loop through the post */
            while ($portfolio_posts->have_posts()): $portfolio_posts-> the_post();

                /** Add Thumbnail to the anchor if present     */
                $output = $category_name;
                $output .= '<li class="g_image"><a href="' . get_permalink($post->ID) . '">';

                $size='medium';
                if(has_post_thumbnail($post->ID))
                    $output .= get_the_post_thumbnail($post->ID,$size);   
                /** Close the widget*/
                $output .= '</a></li>';

            endwhile;
            echo $output;

            rewind_posts();
        ?>  
    </ul>  <!--end of gallery--> 
</div><!--end of ALL -->  

The jQuery tabbing works. Thanks.

Answer 1

This is more of a basic PHP question, but still it's somewhat important. Inside your foreach loop, $category is a locally-defined variable. That's to say, it only exists inside the foreach loop.

So if you have

foreach ( $categories as $category ) {
    // You can use $category all you want in here
}

// Out here $category ceases to exist

This is just the way iterative loops work ... Even if the variable still existed outside of the foreach you have no way to know which $category you're referencing.

From the looks of things, though the $category you want is your portfolio category (I'm guessing it has a category ID of 104 based on your earlier code).

You can still fetch this category based on its ID, just be sure to give it a unique name rather than $category:

$parent_category = get_category( 104 );
$parent_category_name = $parent_category->name;

You can then chug merrily along.