Single.php Category Post Count

Question

I have the following code in my single.php file:

<?php 
    if ( have_posts() ) : 
        while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); 
            next_post_link('%link', 'Next', TRUE); 
            previous_post_link('%link', 'Previous', TRUE);

            the_title(); 
            the_content(); 

        endwhile; 
    endif; 
?>

What I would like to do is count the number of posts in a category and use the next_post_link and previous_post_link link to navigate through them, then display a count.

So, if the post is the second one in the category the output would look like (Post 2 of 20), if it were the third the output would look like (Post 3 of 20), etc.

Any help or direction is appreciated :-)

Thanks,
Josh

Answer 1

Ok,

So, this is a two part question, part #1:

What I would like to do is count the number of posts in a category and use the next_post_link and previous_post_link link to navigate through them, then display a count.

What I did to fix this issue was install the Smarter Navigation plugin

Then use the following for my Previous and Next Links:

next_post_smart("%link", "Next", TRUE);
previous_post_smart("%link", "Previous", TRUE);

The next part is a little bit more tricky...

Part #2:

So, if the post is the second one in the category the output would look like (Post 2 of 20), if it were the third the output would look like (Post 3 of 20), etc.

Now, to fix this one I used the following function:

1. Display and get the post number (which is a tweaked version of what I found here):

   function Get_Post_Number($postID){
       $temp_query = $wp_query;
       $referrer_cat = get_referrer_category();
       $referrer_cat_id = ( is_object( $referrer_cat ) ) ? $referrer_cat->term_id : false;
       $postNumberQuery = new WP_Query('cat='.$referrer_cat_id.'&orderby=date&posts_per_page=-1');
       $counter = 1;
       $postCount = 0;
       if($postNumberQuery->have_posts()) : while ($postNumberQuery->have_posts()) : $postNumberQuery->the_post();
           if ($postID == get_the_ID()) {
               $postCount = $counter;
           } else {
               $counter++;
           }
           endwhile; endif;
       wp_reset_query();
       $wp_query = $temp_query;
       return $postCount;
   }
   

Basically the differences is...

1. I get my two referrer variables from the Smarter Navigation plugin: referrer_cat and referrer_cat_id and add them to my function (Lines two and three of my function):

   $referrer_cat = get_referrer_category();
   $referrer_cat_id = ( is_object( $referrer_cat ) ) ? $referrer_cat->term_id : false;
   

2. I query the current category from my referrer variable that I added to the function - look at the $postNumberQuery (fourth line town from the start of the function) at the start of new WP_Query I added 'cat='.$referrer_cat_id.'&

So, now my final code goes from:

This:

<?php 
if ( have_posts() ) : 
    while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); 
        next_post_link('%link', 'Next', TRUE); 
        previous_post_link('%link', 'Previous', TRUE); 

        the_title(); 
        the_content(); 

    endwhile; 
endif; 
?>

To This:

<?php 
    if ( have_posts() ) : 

        while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); 

            $referrer_cat = get_referrer_category();
            $referrer_cat_id = ( is_object( $referrer_cat ) ) ? $referrer_cat->term_id : false;

            next_post_smart("%link", "Next", TRUE);
            previous_post_smart("%link", "Previous", TRUE);

            the_title(); 
            the_content();

        endwhile; 

        $cat = get_category($referrer_cat);
        $count = $cat->count;
        $currentID = get_the_ID(); 
        $current = Get_Post_Number($currentID);

        printf(_( 'Post: %d of %d' ), $current, $count );

    endif;
?>

So, after adding a plugin and combining some code I have from a few places, I now have a nice piece of code that displays a Next and Previous link for posts that reside in multiple categories and I have the ability to display a post count and a total post count on single.php.

I hope this helps someone!