Create citation and url in post using 3 custom fields with conditions for each field... So close!

Question

I am creating a new baseball blog. When submitting a post, I want Authors to cite their source for a news type of post.

I have created a custom meta box with three custom fields:

• Source title, the title of the source. Field name - source_title
• Source URL, the URL of the source. Field name - source_url
• Source name, the name of the person or website of the information. Field name - source_name

I want to display every bit of information the Author gives, so credit goes where it is deserved.

The output of the code (with all fields present) will be something like:

<h3><a href="source_url">source_title</a> | source_name</h3>

When the source_url is entered, but not source_title, the output should be:

<h3><a href="source_url">source_url</a> | source_name</h3>

(it would be nice to trim the source_url to 25 or so characters and remove http:// if possible)

Through searching and help elsewhere, this is what I have so far:

<?php 
$seperator = '';

$name = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'source_name', true);
$url = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'source_url', true);
$title = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'source_title', true);

if($title != '' || $name != '' || ($url != '' && $title != '')){
  $output = '<h3>Source: ';
  $output .= ($url != '' && $title != '') ? '<a href="'.$url.'">': '';
  if($title != '' && $name != '') {
  $seperator = ' | ';
}
  $output .=  $title;
  $output .= ($url != '' && $title != '') ? '</a>': '';
  $output .= $seperator.$name;
  echo $output . '</h3>';
}
?>

What works:

• When all three fields are entered everything is perfect.
• When title and name are entered, but not url everything is perfect.
• When title and url are entered, but not name everything is perfect.
• When only name is entered everything is perfect
• When only title is entered everything is perfect

The problems:

• When url and name are entered but no title, only the name shows.

In this case, I would like to display:

<h3><a href="source_url">source_url</a> | source_name</h3>

• Similar is true when only the url is entered (no title or name), nothing shows.

In this case, I would like to display:

<h3><a href="source_url">source_url</a></h3>

Thanks in advance for helping out this novice.

Answer 1

I'm not sure if I'm meeting all of your requirements here, but I think this might work.

<div class="source">
<?php

$name = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'sourcename', true);
$url = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'sourceurl', true);
$title = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'sourcetitle', true);

$snippet = str_replace( "http://", "", $url );
$snippet = substr( $snippet, 0, 22 ) . "...";

if ( !empty( $title ) && !empty( $name ) && !empty( $url ) )
    $output = '<h3 class="cite"><a href="' . $url . '">' . $title . '</a> | ' . $name . '</h3>';
else if ( !empty( $name ) && !empty( $url ) )
    $output = '<h3 class="cite"><a href="' . $url . '">' . $name .  '</a></h3>';
else if ( !empty( $title ) && !empty( $url ) )
    $output = '<h3 class="cite"><a href="' . $url . '">' . $title . '</a></h3>';
else if ( !empty( $title ) && !empty( $name ) )
    $output = '<h3 class="cite">' . $title . ' | ' . $name . '</h3>';
else if ( !empty( $title ) )
    $output = '<h3 class="cite">' . $title . '</h3>';
else if ( !empty( $name ) )
    $output = '<h3 class="cite">' . $name . '</h3>';
else if ( !empty( $url ) )
    $output = '<h3 class="cite"><a href="' . $url . '">' . $snippet . '</a></h3>';
else
    $output = '';

echo $output;

?>
</div>

Let me know if it doesn't!