Use WP_Query in shortcode

Question

I'm trying to get meta information from the first four posts that have a meta key equal to Sedan, then format that posts meta in order to set up gallery type display boxes. I believe it has something to do with my method, as I am still on the steep part of the learning curve. Any comments, advice or answers would be deeply appreciated.

With this code, the HTML I'm trying to generate does not show on the front-end. As if I hadn't done anything.

add_shortcode('sedan-tabs','build_sedan_tabs');
function build_sedan_tabs(){
    $args1 = array(
        'meta_key'   => 'vehicle-type',
        'meta_value' => 'Sedan',
        'posts_per_page' => '4'
    );
    $query1 = new WP_Query($args1);
    while ( $query1->have_posts() ) {
        $query1->the_post();
        $currentPostID = get_the_id();
        $querySedans =  '<div class="col-sm-3><div class="display-car"><img src="' . get_post_meta(get_the_id(),'wpcf-vehicle-images', true) . '"/>' . 
        '<h3>' . get_post_meta($currentPostID,'wpcf-vehicle-year', true) . ' ' . 
        get_post_meta($currentPostID,'wpcf-vehicle-make', true) . ' ' . 
        get_post_meta($currentPostID,'wpcf-vehicle-model', true) .'</h3><p>' .
        get_post_meta($currentPostID,'wpcf-vehicle-mileage', true) . ' ' . 
        get_post_meta($currentPostID,'wpcf-vehicle-transmission', true) . '<br /><strong>' . 
        get_post_meta($currentPostID,'wpcf-vehicle-retail-price', true) . '</strong></p></div></div><a href="' . get_permalink($currentPostID, false) . '"></a>';
        return get_the_id();
    }
}

Answer 1

Your have two major issues here

• The string you are building is correct, but it gets overriden on each iteration of the loop, which at the end will only hold the info from the last post. You need to define your variable outside the loop and then concatenate your info to that variable across the entire loop in order for you to display all postdata from all posts

• You are returning the wrong info. You are returning post id after the first iteration of the loop. Your should be returning your string with post info outside the loop

I think your code should look like this:

add_shortcode('sedan-tabs','build_sedan_tabs');
function build_sedan_tabs(){
    $querySedans = '';
    $args1 = array(
        'post_type'  => 'inventory',
        'meta_key'   => 'vehicle-type',
        'meta_value' => 'Sedan',
        'posts_per_page' => '4'
    );
    $query1 = new WP_Query($args1);
    while ( $query1->have_posts() ) {
        $query1->the_post();
        $currentPostID = get_the_id();
        $vehicleImg = get_post_meta($currentPostID,'vehicle-images', true);
        $querySedans .=  '<div class="col-sm-3"><div class="display-car"><img src="' . $vehicleImg . '"/>' . 
        '<h3>' . get_post_meta($currentPostID,'vehicle-year', true) . ' ' . 
        get_post_meta($currentPostID,'vehicle-make', true) . ' ' . 
        get_post_meta($currentPostID,'vehicle-model', true) .'</h3><p>' .
        get_post_meta($currentPostID,'vehicle-mileage', true) . ' ' . 
        get_post_meta($currentPostID,'vehicle-transmission', true) . '<br /><strong>' . 
        get_post_meta($currentPostID,'vehicle-retail-price', true) . '</strong></p></div></div><a href="' . get_permalink($currentPostID, false) . '"></a>';
    }
    return $querySedans;
}