get_pages and number - no output; no errors;

Question

I am attempting to get 3 pages from the parent page (id is 2035). I am using wordpress 3.2.1.

Here's my relevant code:

<div id="videos" class="contentLeft"> 
<?php 
// get the three most recent videos (2035 is the video page)
$recentVideos = get_pages('child_of=2035&number=3');

foreach ($recentVideos as $video) : 
?>
<div class="video">
    <h5 class="video-title"><?php echo $video->post_title; ?></h5> 
    <?php echo get_the_post_thumbnail($video->ID, 'thumbnail'); ?>
    <p><?php echo $video->post_excerpt; ?></p>
    <span class="date">Posted <?php echo date('d/m/Y', strtotime($video->post_date));?> 
    &mdash; <a href="<?php echo get_page_link($video->ID); ?> ">View Video</a></span>
</div>

<?php endforeach; ?>

If I use: $recentVideos = get_pages('child_of=2035'); I get results as I would expect; but I want to limit it to 3 videos. I've looked in the docs and it says to use number=X.

When I use this; I simply get a blank content area. The rest of the page renders fine, except where the videos should be. There is no output at all; or errors; as far as I can tell.

Am I missing anything glaringly obvious?

I've also tried passing get_pages an array:

$recentVideos = get_pages(array('child_of'=>2035, 'number'=>3));

but the same thing happens.

Thank you.

Answer 1

According to what I read it is because of an odd implementation of that function, apparently the number is used to add a Limit statement to the SQL that is used to get the pages. Then it applies the child_of requirement after retrieving the data from the database. So if you limit the query to 3 chances are you will not get any results that are also a child_of your page.

Instead leave the number parameter off and do the limit in your foreach block. Ie increment a variable and if it is greater than your limit, exit the for loop.