So on the add post screen in wordpress there is the category checkbox div. Before you select a category for your post it shows the correct hierarchical structure as defined in the category admin screen. After selecting a category and saving the post it will put your selected category at the top of the list instead of keeping the structured layout. Is there a way to stop it from doing this?
2 Answers
Yup.
Use the add_meta_boxes_post
to add a new category metabox that preserves the structure and while you're at it, remove the default one, like this:
add_action( 'add_meta_boxes_post', 'fix_hierarchical_post_categories_metaboxes', 10, 1 );
And here's the callback:
/*
* This include provides an alternative post category metabox that sets the checked_ontop argument of wp_terms_checklist to false.
* This prevents the re-ordering of selected category items to the top of the list, instead preserving their hierarchical
* order.
*/
function fix_hierarchical_post_categories_metaboxes( $post ){
global $wp_meta_boxes;
foreach ( $wp_meta_boxes as &$post_metaboxes ){
foreach ( $post_metaboxes as &$position_metaboxes ){
foreach ( $position_metaboxes as &$priority_metaboxes ){
foreach ( $priority_metaboxes as &$metabox ){
if ( $metabox['callback'] == 'post_categories_meta_box' ){
$metabox['callback'] = 'hierarchical_post_categories_meta_box';
}
}
}
}
}
}
function hierarchical_post_categories_meta_box( $post, $box ) {
$defaults = array('taxonomy' => 'category');
if ( !isset($box['args']) || !is_array($box['args']) )
$args = array();
else
$args = $box['args'];
extract( wp_parse_args($args, $defaults), EXTR_SKIP );
$tax = get_taxonomy($taxonomy);
?>
<div id="taxonomy-<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>" class="categorydiv">
<ul id="<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>-tabs" class="category-tabs">
<li class="tabs"><a href="#<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>-all" tabindex="3"><?php echo $tax->labels->all_items; ?></a></li>
<li class="hide-if-no-js"><a href="#<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>-pop" tabindex="3"><?php _e( 'Most Used' ); ?></a></li>
</ul>
<div id="<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>-pop" class="tabs-panel" style="display: none;">
<ul id="<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>checklist-pop" class="categorychecklist form-no-clear" >
<?php $popular_ids = wp_popular_terms_checklist($taxonomy); ?>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>-all" class="tabs-panel">
<?php
$name = ( $taxonomy == 'category' ) ? 'post_category' : 'tax_input[' . $taxonomy . ']';
echo "<input type='hidden' name='{$name}[]' value='0' />"; // Allows for an empty term set to be sent. 0 is an invalid Term ID and will be ignored by empty() checks.
?>
<ul id="<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>checklist" class="list:<?php echo $taxonomy?> categorychecklist form-no-clear">
<?php wp_terms_checklist($post->ID, array( 'taxonomy' => $taxonomy, 'popular_cats' => $popular_ids, 'checked_ontop' => false ) ) ?>
</ul>
</div>
<?php if ( current_user_can($tax->cap->edit_terms) ) : ?>
<div id="<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>-adder" class="wp-hidden-children">
<h4>
<a id="<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>-add-toggle" href="#<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>-add" class="hide-if-no-js" tabindex="3">
<?php
/* translators: %s: add new taxonomy label */
printf( __( '+ %s' ), $tax->labels->add_new_item );
?>
</a>
</h4>
<p id="<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>-add" class="category-add wp-hidden-child">
<label class="screen-reader-text" for="new<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>"><?php echo $tax->labels->add_new_item; ?></label>
<input type="text" name="new<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>" id="new<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>" class="form-required form-input-tip" value="<?php echo esc_attr( $tax->labels->new_item_name ); ?>" tabindex="3" aria-required="true"/>
<label class="screen-reader-text" for="new<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>_parent">
<?php echo $tax->labels->parent_item_colon; ?>
</label>
<?php wp_dropdown_categories( array( 'taxonomy' => $taxonomy, 'hide_empty' => 0, 'name' => 'new'.$taxonomy.'_parent', 'orderby' => 'name', 'hierarchical' => 1, 'show_option_none' => '— ' . $tax->labels->parent_item . ' —', 'tab_index' => 3 ) ); ?>
<input type="button" id="<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>-add-submit" class="add:<?php echo $taxonomy ?>checklist:<?php echo $taxonomy ?>-add button category-add-sumbit" value="<?php echo esc_attr( $tax->labels->add_new_item ); ?>" tabindex="3" />
<?php wp_nonce_field( 'add-'.$taxonomy, '_ajax_nonce-add-'.$taxonomy, false ); ?>
<span id="<?php echo $taxonomy; ?>-ajax-response"></span>
</p>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>
<?php
}
The first function is responsible for swapping the metabox callback on the default post_categories_meta_box
for our new one.
The second function is basically a copy-and-paste of the original post_categories_meta_box
callback, where I've modified the part that puts the selected categories on top.
Seems like a lot of work for something so basic, eh?
The 'wp_terms_checklist_args' filter might not have been around back in August 2012 but now there's a much easier way of making sure checked terms stay put.
This filter is called right inside the wp_terms_checklist() function and let's you filter the arguments used to create the checklist:
add_filter( 'wp_terms_checklist_args', 'my_website_wp_terms_checklist_args', 1, 2 );
function my_website_wp_terms_checklist_args( $args, $post_id ) {
$args[ 'checked_ontop' ] = false;
return $args;
}