2 loops in blog homepage

Question

I would like to have to query loops running on my blog homepage:

1. Featured posts on top displaying 3 posts from the category : "Featured"
2. Underneath it just the basic loop of wordpress which display the latest (10 or other, whatever is selected within the admin) with "next" and "previous" buttons for archive posts (paged)

Important: The top part will display only 3 posts of the "Featured" category but the regular blog loop underneath will display ALL the posts including the "Featured" ones (even if it's a duplication - the featured posts have to appear also in the regular blog loop)

it seems prety easy but when I tried it couple of times even using rewind_posts it broke the pagination.

This is the code I originally used:

// Featured posts section

<section class="featured">
<div class="title">
<h4>Featured</h4>
</div>

            <?php query_posts('showposts=3&category_name=featured'); ?>
 <?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
<article>
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail('post-featured'); ?></a>
<h3><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
<p><?php excerpt('20'); ?></p>
<div class="more"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">Continue Reading</a></div>
</article>
            <?php endwhile; else: ?>
 <p>Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.</p>
 <?php endif; ?>
 <?php wp_reset_query(); ?>
</section>


// Regular normal posts section

<section class="home-posts">
  <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

  <article class="post-details">
    <div class="header">
      <h3 class="cat">
        <?php
$category = get_the_category();
echo $category[0]->cat_name;
?>
      </h3>
    </div>
    <div class="right-image">
      <?php the_post_thumbnail('post-thumb'); ?>
    </div>
    <div class="title">
      <h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">
        <?php the_title(); ?>
        </a></h2>
    </div>
    <div class="date">
      <?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/inc/meta.php' ); ?>
    </div>
    <div class="entry">
      <p>
        <?php excerpt('50'); ?>
        ...</p>
      <?php include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/inc/share.php'); ?>
      <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" class="more">Continue Reading >></a> </div>
  </article>
  <?php endwhile; ?>
  <?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/inc/nav.php' ); ?>
  <?php else : ?>
  <h2>&nbsp;</h2>
  <?php endif; ?>
</section>

hope someone can help Thanks

Answer 1

You can use this code to get 3 posts from category Featured

$args = array(
  'category_name' => 'featured',
  'posts_per_page' => 3
);

$featured_posts = new WP_Query( $args );

if ( $featured_posts->have_posts() ):
  while ( $featured_posts->have_posts() ):
    $featured_posts->the_post();

    // Here you can use the normal loop functions like 'the_title()' to display your
    // 3 posts from the category 'Featured'
  endwhile;
endif;

After this code, it's important you place the following line:

wp_reset_postdata();

After looping through a separate query, this function restores the $post global to the current post in the main query.

Edit
You can use the following code to get a loop with pagination enabled:

$paged = ( get_query_var( 'paged' ) )? absint( get_query_var( 'paged' ) ): 1;

$args = array(
  'posts_per_page' => get_option( 'posts_per_page' ),
  'paged' => $paged
);

$posts = new WP_Query( $args );

// Merge the two results
$posts->posts = array_merge( $posts->posts, $featured_posts->posts );
// Increase the post_count to display all the items in the merged posts array
$posts->post_count += $featured_posts->post_count;

if ( $posts->have_posts() ):
  while ( $posts->have_posts() ):
    $posts->the_post();

    // Here you can use the normal loop functions like 'the_title()' to display your
    // posts from the category 'Featured'
  endwhile;
endif;