Adding External Variable to An Array

I think I could potentially do something like the following:

$args[‘category’] = get_post_meta($post_id, ‘category’, ‘true’);

Just wondering how to get around the last post showing up in the main content area.

Is there a reason for storing the category ID in a custom field?

$categories = get_the_category( $post_id );

foreach( $categories as $category ) {
    $cat_ids[] = $category->cat_ID;
}

$args = array(
    'numberposts' => 5,
    'category__in' => $cat_ids
);

$myposts = get_posts( $args );

Each time I do this it displays all of my posts and then the last post is displayed as content in the main section of my site.

What exactly is happening?

I’m trying to show the 5 most recent posts for a category that is related to a certain post. (I’m using WP-Property so if you understand that then: I’m trying to display the 5 most recent posts related to a property type called neighbhorhood)

so $categories = get_the_category( $post_id ); will not work in this case because 1) this is a custom post type that can’t be subjected to categories and 2) trying to make this as user-friendly as possible without adding too much custom code.

What exactly is happening is that all the original content is replaced with the actual post that is the last post in the 5 most recent posts in my sidebar.

Wait…this might work:

$cat_id = get_post_meta($post_id, 'category', 'true');
foreach( $cat_id as $category ) {
    if $cat_id = $category->slug;
$args = array( 'numberposts' => 5,'category' => $category-> slug);
else //do something to loop through again
}
endforeach;

Basically input the category slug in a custom field, grab the value, compare against all of the category slugs, if it matches set the cateogy slug in the $args array, and then run the $myposts = get_posts($args); function…

I think that would work…just not sure how to get out of the if statement when the category doesn’t match.

Your last bit of code is a bit wonky. What you probably want it is this:

$cat_name = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'category', 'true' );
$cat_id = ( ! empty( $cat_name ) ) ? get_cat_ID( $cat_name ) : false;

if ( $cat_id ) {
    $myposts = get_posts( array( 'numberposts' => 5, 'category__in' => $cat_id ) );

    /* Anything else when the category exists */
} else {
    /* Anything when the category doesn't exist */
}

Then you can set the custom field to your category name.

Categories can be used with custom post types if they’re enabled when the post type is registered and I would think categories would be more user friendly than custom fields. Using a custom field is fine though. I’m not sure what’s happening with regard to the last post as I don’t know how you’re implementing things or what exactly is messing up. If you have an example link that might be helpful.

Big Bagel,

Tried your code above:

<?php if ( get_post_meta($post->ID, 'category', true) ) : ?>
                 	<?php
					$cat_name = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'category', 'true' );
                    $cat_id = ( ! empty( $cat_name ) ) ? get_cat_ID( $cat_name ) : false;

                    if ( $cat_id ) {
                        $myposts = get_posts( array( 'numberposts' => 5, 'category__in' => $cat_id ) );
                    	echo 'sucks2';
                        /* Anything else when the category exists */
                    } else {
                        /* Anything when the category doesn't exist */
						echo 'sucks';
                    }
					?>
                <?php endif;?>

Result is echoing sucks…anything I’m doing wrong? Custom Field category is set to the name of the category and not the slug.

Is $post_id set to anything? I assumed it was a variable you had set to the ID of your post earlier in the code. Try this instead:

<?php
$cat_name = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'category', 'true' );
$cat_id = ( ! empty( $cat_name ) ) ? get_cat_ID( $cat_name ) : false;

if ( $cat_id ) {
    $myposts = get_posts( array( 'numberposts' => 5, 'category__in' => $cat_id ) );
    echo 'sucks2';
    /* Anything else when the category exists */
} else {
    echo 'sucks';
    /* Anything else when the category doesn't exist */
}
?>

You don’t really need the outer if-statement as the code accounts for get_post_meta() returning nothing.