How to get a variable number of posts per post type on the main loop?

Question

I'm looking for a way to balance the content at the homepage of my blog:

the blog has a few post types like Poscasts, Videos and Blog and I'd like to have let's say 10 Posts on the homepage, but I'd like to make 5 of them always the lastest Blog.

Making 3 separated boxes don't solve my problem because the posts are mixed and there won't always be as many posts of the other types.

I could think of the solution for it on pure PHP , but I'd like to get a idea on how to do this using the wordpress API, any help , reference will be welcome!

Answer 1

So, after a few months. I found the answer to your exact question:

add_action('pre_get_posts', 'custom_main_query', 1);
function custom_main_query( $query ) {
  if ( $query->is_main_query() && is_home() ) { 
  //be super careful with this and to be safe, keep the is_home() 
  //bit there, I've had some funny results without it.

    $query->query_vars['posts_per_page'] = 3; //displays 3 posts ;)
    $query->query_vars['post_type'] = array('post'); //and if you wanted multiple cpts <3

    return $query;

    }
}

Cheers

Answer 2

If you are still looking for an alternative that may be faster this may help you:

<?php
function customBlogFeed() {

// The Query 
$the_query = new WP_Query( array ( 'post_type' => array( 'post', 'page', 'movie', 'book'), 'posts_per_page' => '6' ) );
//Your post_type array is a list of random post_types. You can add whatever you'd like to match your system.

// The Loop 
while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>


  <?php the_title(); ?>
      <?php the_content(); ?>

<?php endwhile;

// Reset Post Data
wp_reset_postdata();
}
?>

Then to get it's output put <?php customBlogFeed(); ?> wherever you'd like this to output.

If you really want to get fancy you can hook into the post_limits Filter and limit how many posts per post type are displayed. I hope this helps you on your quest.

PS - Look into WP_Query, it will really help you out.

After some research you might actually want to look into post_clauses to get those SQL characterizations done with WP3.1+ Syntax