get_posts custom paging

Question

I created a search for my site using attachments. Each attachment is in category "Pictures", so my search form looks like:

<form method="get" id="searchform" action="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>">
    <input type="text" name="s" id="s" value="Search..." onfocus="if (this.value=='Search...') this.value='';" onblur="if (this.value=='') this.value='Search...';" />
    <?php
        $parent = get_cat_ID("Pictures");
    ?>
    <input type="hidden" name="cat" value="<?php echo $parent; ?>" />
    <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="" />
</form>

My search results page search.php returns those results through a get_postsquery. The problem I am having is with the pagination. I have been able to limit the number of posts on the page and even return the pagination, but when I click on the link for the pagination, the page does not display. I am thinking because these are attachments the pages are setup a little different, but I don't know what the url looks like. My current code looks like:

<?php
    $args = array(
        'post_type' => 'attachment',
        'numberposts' => '-1',
        'category_name' => get_the_title()
    );
    $images = get_posts($args);
    if (!empty($images)) {
?>

    <?php
        $limit = 5;

        $total = count($images);
        $pages = ceil($total / $limit);
        $result = ceil($total / $limit);

        $current = isset($_GET['paged']) ? $_GET['paged'] : 1;
        $next = $current < $pages ? $current + 1 : null;
        $previous = $current > 1 ? $current - 1 : null;

        $offset = ($current - 1) * $limit;
        $images = array_slice($images, $offset, $limit)
    ?>

    <h4><span>Search</span> Results</h4>
    <ul class="category">
        <?php
            foreach ($images as $image) {
                $title = $image->post_title;
                $description = $image->post_content;
                $attachment_link = get_attachment_link( $image->ID );
        ?>
            <li>
                <div class="col1">
                    <a href="<?php echo $attachment_link; ?>"><?php echo wp_get_attachment_image($image->ID, "medium"); ?></a>
                </div>
                <div class="col2">
                    <h5><?php echo $title; ?></h5>
                    <p><?php echo $description; ?></p>
                </div>
            </li>
        <?php } ?>
    </ul>

    <?php echo "<p>(Page: ". $current . " of " . $result .")</p>"; ?>
    <? if($previous): ?>
        <a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>?paged<?= $previous ?>">Previous</a>
    <? endif ?>
    <? if($next) : ?>
        <a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>?paged<?= $next ?>">Next</a>
    <? endif ?> 
<?php } ?>

The paging was integrated from the code I found on: https://erikeldridge.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/simple-php-paging/

I'm so close, probably just a tweak here or there, can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks,
Josh

Answer 1

Your problem is that you use core url parameters (paged in this case) for something that is not the main loop.

There are two possible solutions

1. instead of writing your own loop, use the pre_get_posts filter to modify the main loop.

2. Use your own pagination parameters (for example jr_paged).

Answer 2

I found a solution!

I installed the "Search Everything" plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/search-everything/) and in the plugin settings I selected to search all categories and all attachments.

Then, on my search results page I query the posts with the paging parameter. I needed the plugin to search categories, because each image in the Media Library has categories, but that would return posts from all categories, it would not just be limited to attachments. So, in my query, I made sure that the attachment post type was specified.

The code now looks like:

<?php
    $paged = (get_query_var("paged")) ? get_query_var("paged") : 1;
    query_posts($query_string."&post_type=attachment&posts_per_page=10&paged=".$paged);
    $count = $wp_query->found_posts; 
?>
    <h4><span>Search</span> Results</h4>
    <p align="center">We were able to find <?php if ($count == 1) $count .= " Image"; else $count .=" Images"; echo $count; //Image Count ?> for: "<?php the_search_query(); ?>"</p>
    <?php if ( have_posts() ) : ?>
        <ul class="category">
            <?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
                <li>
                    <div class="col1">
                        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php echo wp_get_attachment_image($image->ID, "medium"); ?></a>
                    </div>
                    <div class="col2">
                        <h5><?php the_title(); ?></h5>
                        <?php
                            $thumb = get_post(get_post_thumbnail_id()); // Get post by ID
                            echo '<p>'.$thumb->post_content.'</p>'; // Display Description
                        ?>
                    </div>
                </li>
            <?php endwhile; ?>
        </ul>
    <?php endif; ?>
    <?php echo "<p>(Page: ". $paged . " of " . $wp_query->max_num_pages .")</p>"; ?>
    <p><?php previous_posts_link( 'Previous' ); ?></p>
    <p><?php next_posts_link( 'Next', '' ); ?></p>
<?php wp_reset_query(); ?>

Not sure what "Search Everything" is doing differently, but this works and has the right functionality. I would have loved to have used something besides a plugin, but this gets the job done :-)

Thanks,
Josh