Wordpress truncate posts question (plugin related)

Question

I'm using a plug-in ("Wordpress plugin random post slider") for Wordpress that pulls a random post from a category, and displays it in a slider for use as a shortcode or php code in a template.

I've already made some modifications to the plug-in to get it to display properly on my site (http://lillypillyps.com.au), but it has some limitations that the developer will take forever to follow up on.

I was wondering if someone might be able to help with the following questions in order of importance:

1. it's using some sort of truncate on the post content which is currently set to 170 characters (through the plug-in's settings page in the admin of WP). I want it to truncate to the nearest word so it doesn't cut-off mid-word.

2. is it possible to ONLY have the "... READ MORE" button display IF the content is longer than the truncation point? ie. not display if the content is less that 170 characters.

3. there is a few options for the transitions between the slides (scrollLeft/scrollRight/scrollUp/scrollDown), but the same jquery should be capable of fade-in/fade-out shouldn't it? How can I used this transition instead of the ones the plug-in "allows" me to use?

Answer 1

This is a rather sloppily coded plugin, unfortunately. However, to answer your questions:

1. Replace the function gopiplus_clean with this

   function gopiplus_clean( $excerpt, $length = 0 ) {
   $string = strip_tags( str_replace( '[...]', '...', $excerpt ) );
   if ( $length > 0 ) {
       $words_array = preg_split( "/[\n\r\t ]+/", $excerpt, $length + 1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY );
       $words = count( $words_array );
       if ( $words <= $length ) {
           return $excerpt;
       }
       $array = array_slice( $words_array, 0, $length );
       $string = implode( ' ', $array );
   }
   return $string;
   }
   

2. Replace if ($displayreadmore == "YES") (in 2 places) with

   if ($displayreadmore == "YES" && (str_word_count($post_content) > $displaydesc)) 
   

3. Just enter 'fade' into the settings instead of the slide versions. It will work.