How to use in_category?

Question

There's this "Recent Posts" widget, that should output only posts in category 'News' (ID 26)

So I tried this:

<?php $t =& peTheme(); ?>
<?php $content =& $t->content; ?>
<?php list($data) = $t->template->data(); ?>

<?php if (in_category('26')):?> <!-- Line I added -->

<?php if (!empty($data->title)): ?>
<h3><?php echo $data->title; ?></h3>
<?php endif; ?>

<?php while ($content->looping()): ?>
<span class="small"><?php $content->date(); ?></span>
<a class="comments-num small" href="#"><?php $content->comments(); ?></a>
<p><?php echo $t->utils->truncateString(get_the_excerpt(),$data->chars); ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>

<?php if (!empty($data->link)): ?>
<a class="more-link" href="<?php echo $data->url ?>"><?php echo $data->link ?></a>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php endif; ?> <!-- Line I added -->

But it outputs a blank space where it was the widget. Is there a way I can filter to only show recent posts from category 26 there?

Answer 1

It looks like you're mixing the Wordpress in_category() function with plugin / theme code that isn't setting up a standard WP Query or post object. So you can't use in_category().

Use var_dump($content); and var_dump($data); to see if either of those objects have a 'category' property for the content. Use that in an if statement instead, e.g.: if($data->category-id == 26)