Trying to add taxonomy to get_categories() but it's not working. How to fix this?

Question

I have this template I purchased and I'm trying to customize.

I added a new taxonomy category called location and I'm trying to replace the default categories being loaded in the theme with my new taxonomy categories.

here's the current code and where it loads the categories:

 $cats_array = get_categories('hide_empty=0');
 $pages_array = get_pages('hide_empty=0');
 $site_pages = array();
 $site_cats = array();

 foreach ($pages_array as $pagg) {
$site_pages[$pagg->ID] = htmlspecialchars($pagg->post_title);
$pages_ids[] = $pagg->ID;
 }

 foreach ($cats_array as $categs) {
$site_cats[$categs->cat_ID] = $categs->cat_name;
$cats_ids[] = $categs->cat_ID;
 }


    array( "name" => "Featured Category",
           "id" => $shortname."_feat_cat",
           "type" => "select",
           "options" => $site_cats,
           "desc" => "description"),

Ideally, this change should work:

$cats_array = get_categories('hide_empty=0&taxonomy=location');

but it doesn't! I'm obviously missing something and don't know how to fix this. Any help is appreciated.

Here's the register taxonomy part:

    // Register custom taxonomy
    register_taxonomy(  "location", 
                        array(  "woo_estate"    ), 
                        array ( "hierarchical"      => true, 
                                "label"             => "Locations", 
                                'labels'            => array(   'name'              => __('Locations'),
                                                                'singular_name'     => __('Location'),
                                                                'search_items'      => __('Search Real Estate'),
                                                                'popular_items'     => __('Popular Locations'),
                                                                'all_items'         => __('All Locations'),
                                                                'parent_item'       => __('Parent Location'),
                                                                'parent_item_colon' => __('Parent Location:'),
                                                                'edit_item'         => __('Edit Location'),
                                                                'update_item'       => __('Update Location'),
                                                                'add_new_item'      => __('Add New Location'),
                                                                'new_item_name'     => __('New Location Name')  ), 
                                'public'            => true,
                                'show_ui'           => true,
                                    "rewrite"           => true )
                        );

The pages codes can also be found at:

http://codepad.viper-7.com/4Wkgg3

http://codepad.viper-7.com/n2hZRI

I wasn't able to fix the issue in the end, but instead of using the theme options file to dynamically select the category I want, I used an override code to directly (statically) select the category I wanted and it worked.

Answer 1

Use :

$terms = get_terms( 'location', 'hide_empty=0' );
if(is_wp_error($terms)){
    // error occurred
} else if (empty($terms )){
    // no terms were found
} else {
    // process terms
    foreach($terms as $term){
        // process this individual $term
    }
}

I'd advise you use the generic taxonomy & term functions everywhere, and avoid the special case category and tag functions where possible.

Answer 2

From your comment:

This should be what you're looking for: object(WP_Error)#337 (2) { ["errors"]=> array(1) { ["invalid_taxonomy"]=> array(1) { [0]=> string(16) "Invalid taxonomy" } } ["error_data"]=> array(0) { } }

The error message reveals the problem: "Invalid taxonomy"

You're not passing a valid taxonomy to get_categories().

Answer 3

I wasn't able to fix the issue in the end, but instead of using the theme options file to dynamically select the category I want, I used an override code to directly (statically) select the category I wanted