code for including “excerpts” in headlines

<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
is what is normally used for excerpts, but that may not be applicable to the mini-loop solution there. You may also want to see what I’ve done in my latest MilkXT theme.

You should be able to do that by calling “post_excerpt” in addition to “post_title”. The exact code for doing that isn’t beyond my ken, but I’d suggest repeating that whole mySQL function immediately following the first one and just replacing post_title with post_excerpt.

i hate to sound stupid…
but to php i am.
where would i place
either of these tags to make them work, in accordance with the code i am using?

Put the code in the Sidebar template file if you want it in your sidebar. Here you go:

<h2 class="coltitle">Latest News</h2>
<?php
$today = current_time('mysql', 1);

if ( $recentposts = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT ID, post_title, post_excerpt FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE post_status = 'publish' AND post_date_gmt < '$today' ORDER BY post_date DESC LIMIT 5")):
?>
<ul>
<?php
foreach ($recentposts as $post) {
if ($post->post_title == '')
$post->post_title = sprintf(__('Post #%s'), $post->ID);
echo "<li><a href='?p=$post->ID'>";
the_title();
echo "</a>";
the_excerpt();
echo "</li>";
}
?>
</ul>
<?php endif; ?>

it didnt work, gave me MySql errors.

heres the code i am using: ( link at bottom probaby wont be written out due to the way this forum handle code)

‘<td>
<?php define(‘WP_USE_THEMES’, false);
require(‘./wordpress/wp-blog-header.php’);
?>
<div id=”content” class=”narrowcolumn”>

<h2>Lastest Posts:</h2>

<?php
# Here starts Mini Loop trick: You can use this code, but _at your own risk_
# If you want to improve this code, you’re welcome ??
$how_many=7; //How many posts do you want to show ?>

<ul align=’left’>
<?
$news=$wpdb->get_results(“SELECT ID,post_title FROM $wpdb->posts
WHERE post_status = \”publish\” ORDER BY ID DESC LIMIT “.$how_many);
foreach($news as $np){
printf (“<li align=’left’>%s“, $np->ID,$np->post_title,$np->post_title);
}?>

</div>
</td>’

This should do what you’re after:

<?php
$how_many=5;
require_once("wp-config.php");
?>

<ol id="whats-new">
<?
$news=$wpdb->get_results("SELECT ID, post_title, post_excerpt FROM $wpdb->posts
WHERE post_status='publish' ORDER BY ID DESC LIMIT $how_many");
foreach($news as $np){
printf ("<li><a href="index.php?p=%s">%s</a>%s
</li>", $np->ID,$np->post_title,$np->post_excerpt);
}?>
</ol>

Note it displays an excerpt if a post actually has an excerpt, as in text entered in the excerpt field. It does not extract and excerpt from the post’s content, like the_excerpt() would. Here’s a version based more on WordPress’ own functionality:

<?php
$how_many=5;
require_once("wp-config.php");
?>

<ol id="whats-new">
<?php $news = new WP_Query("showposts=$how_many");
while($news->have_posts()) : $news->the_post();
?>
<li><a href="index.php?p=<?php the_ID(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
</li>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</ol>

both gave this error

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING in /usr/local/apache2/vhosts/osga/feedtest.php on line 44

And line 44 in feedtest.php is?

I’ve just run the code bits on my test site, and both worked without error except I noticed <a href="index.php?p=%s"> was missing the slashes before each " in the first one I posted (it’s not needed in the second). Still, that wouldn’t cause a T_STRING error.

BIG THANKS!
apparently the first time i tried it, it was “user error”
one or two more fixes and i’ll be stylin!

Hmm…no idea why that would have given you mySQL errors. I tested it here – https://www.tom-hanna.net/testblog/ – before I posted it and all I did was copy and paste.