Title: Basic shortcodes doumentation
Last modified: August 21, 2016

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# Basic shortcodes doumentation

 *  Resolved [Bike](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bike/)
 * (@bike)
 * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-shortcodes-doumentation/)
 * Hi David,
 * Thanks for the great work. However, even though I read all info, I do not seem
   to be able to construct working shortcodes, every time I get some kind of ERROR:
   Invalid mla_gallery tax_query result.
 * The only thing that works is the basic: Gallery display
    [ mla_gallery attachment_category
   =mycategory ], but adding any kind of parameter seems to break it, I think I 
   tried dozens of variations and though the documentation is huge and extensive,
   it is not very clear (to me).
 * Would you mind giving a bit more practical examples of shortcodes?
    The above
   outputs gives me thumbnails that are upscaled (and therefore unsharp) and link
   to mostly non-existent pages.
 * What I want to do is quite basic, for example:
 * – Have a gallery with 5 images, from a certain category, with size= thumbnail(
   no not upscaled), link to item (not attachment page), shown in lightbox.
    – Same,
   but with a certain **tag**. – Same but with a certain tag **within** a certain
   category.
 * And if possible:
    – Have **random **images from within those sets, to avoid that
   if I put the same shortcode 3 times, I get the same output 3 times.
 * Would you mind giving me shortcodes that I can enter on the page editor that 
   would work for the scenarios above? Then I can (hopefully) figure out to add 
   other aspects.
 * Many thanks!
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/media-library-assistant/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/media-library-assistant/)

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

 *  Plugin Author [David Lingren](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dglingren/)
 * (@dglingren)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-shortcodes-doumentation/#post-4902158)
 * Thanks for the good words and for your question. I know it can be frustrating
   to get the details right when composing a shortcode.
 * Generally, the “invalid tax_query” message appears when some bit of punctuation
   is missing from the shortcode, or when the Visual Editor tries to “improve” the
   text you’re entering. It’s best to use the “Text” tab, not the “Visual” tab when
   entering your `[mla_gallery]` parameters. Also, put the entire shortcode on one
   line; don’t break it across multiple lines.
 * You cannot have a space between the opening bracket and `mla_gallery`; `[ mla_gallery`
   will not work. Each shortcode parameter must be entered without any embedded 
   spaces, i.e., `orderby=date` will work, but `orderby = date` will not. If you
   need spaces within a parameter value, surround the value with single or double
   quotes, e.g., `attachment_category="some category"`. If you need single or double
   quotes within the value, use the other type of quotes to surround the value, 
   e.g., `attachment_tag="can't fail"`.
 * With regard to “**_thumbnails that are upscaled (and therefore unsharp)_**“, 
   the thumbnails are generated by WordPress and are not altered by MLA. However,
   the browser also scales some images to fit the gallery columns to with width 
   of the browser window. You can try adding `size=large` or `size=full` to your
   shortcode and see how the results look.
 * I don’t know why you get a “**_link to mostly non-existent pages_**“. WordPress
   should be able to return a “media page” for any item in the library, although
   your theme may produce a different result. If you want the link to go straight
   to the image itself you can add `link=file` to your shortcode. Here is a more
   complete example that should give you a gallery of five random images that links
   to the image files:
 *     ```
       [mla_gallery attachment_category="mycategory" posts_per_page=5 orderby=rand link=file size=thumbnail]
       ```
   
 * Note that `size=thumbnail` is the default and you could leave it out. Lightbox
   display is not a built-in MLA feature. There are lots of lightbox plugins available
   and MLA will work with most of them, but the specifics are different depending
   which lightbox plugin you are using. Do you have a specific one in mind?
 * I hope that gets you started on adding parameters to your `[mla_gallery]` shortcodes.
   I can give you more specific help with the taxonomy examples when I return from
   my travels next week and have access to a system I can test with. I am leaving
   this topic unresolved for now, and I will update it when I have more to give 
   you. Please update the topic and let me know if the above suggestions are working
   for you. Thanks for your patience.
 *  Thread Starter [Bike](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bike/)
 * (@bike)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-shortcodes-doumentation/#post-4902179)
 * Thank you very much for your helpful and extensive reply, David, especially knowing
   you are travelling.
 * It seems that indeed the editor made some unwanted changes, the example you gave
   me works well.
 * The images now open up automatically in my theme’s lightbox, so that is good.
   I mentioned the non-existent pages, as they are probably a result of using BuddyPress
   and the RTMedia plugin (formerly known as BP-albums), and all the re-writes these
   plugins use don’t work with the regular WP attachment pages.
 * The only thing I need to figure out is to have the thumbnail sizes display at
   the actual thumbnail size.
    At the moment the above code gives me the thumbnail
   images that are 150px × 150px but scaled to 271px × 271px. That is why they are
   unsharp. So even though I specify thumbnail size, they are upscaled somehow?
 * Size=full does look better as the images are fullsize but downscaled (999px ×
   556px (scaled to 267px × 149px)), but that means that all fullsize images will
   be loaded, which defeats the purpose of having thumbnails (and portrait photos
   will look ugly when mixed with landscape-oriented photos).
 * Is there a way to ‘force’ the gallery to use/display the thumbnail size?
 * Many thanks in advance for your time,
    Best regards.
 *  Thread Starter [Bike](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bike/)
 * (@bike)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-shortcodes-doumentation/#post-4902180)
 * I just tried some different variations and it seems that adding mla_style=”none”
   will do the trick! I tried mla_style=”theme” as well, as I assumed that this 
   would use the theme settings, but it changed nothing.
 * Using mla_style=”none” though will display the thumbnails at their real size,
   so that is solved as well.
 * Thanks again and best regards.
 *  Plugin Author [David Lingren](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dglingren/)
 * (@dglingren)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-shortcodes-doumentation/#post-4902255)
 * Thanks for your update and the good news. I’m glad the `mla_style=none` parameter
   gave you the results you need.
 * As you discovered, `mla_style=theme` isn’t quite what you needed. That value 
   directs MLA to use one of the WordPress filters to give the theme an opportunity
   to override the MLA styles, but if you theme isn’t coded to use the filter MLA
   will go ahead any apply its own styles. The `mla_style=none` parameter gets MLA
   out of the way entirely and uses whatever styles are coded in your theme.
 * I am marking this topic resolved, but lease update it if you have any more problems
   or questions regarding this topic. Thanks for your interest in MLA.
 *  [JMay-Chang](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jmay-chang/)
 * (@jmay-chang)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-shortcodes-doumentation/#post-4902331)
 * Hi David,
 * Do you have a list of all the latest shortcodes in a table or something that 
   would be great for a quick reference.
 * Thanks
    Jody
 *  Plugin Author [David Lingren](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dglingren/)
 * (@dglingren)
 * [11 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-shortcodes-doumentation/#post-4902332)
 * Thanks for the question. There are only two shortcodes in the Media Library Assistant:
    - `[mla_gallery]`
    - `[mla_tag_cloud]`
 * You can find information on both of them and all the parameters they accept in
   the Settings/Media Library Assistant Documentation tab.
 *  [Flanzy Chodkowski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flanzy-chodkowski/)
 * (@flanzy-chodkowski)
 * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-shortcodes-doumentation/#post-4902333)
 * I have been going around in circles for days now about MLA – which sounded like
   the answer to my problem. The idea was to use a att tag and att cat. to dynamically
   search my media library and show gallery results on a page. I’ve been using [
   mla_gallery attachment_tag=”mytag”]
    I thought I could just enter it into the
   text field and it would work in the visual field – like in an html application.
   Is it possible to create a dynamic search of images (I have tagged and categorized
   all my wp library images) and I’m just doing something wrong? Or have I misunderstood
   the whole concept. Also – can someone produce a video about using this pluggin?
   I’m trying to do submenus for [http://www.dickchodkowski.com/blog](http://www.dickchodkowski.com/blog)
   but I only get a return for greeting cards, father’s day and I can’t figure out
   how I did it, but think it’s not dynamic. Thanks in advance for any help.
 *  Plugin Author [David Lingren](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dglingren/)
 * (@dglingren)
 * [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-shortcodes-doumentation/#post-4902334)
 * Thanks for posting your question. I regret that I don’t have the time or talent
   to do more tutorial-style documentation and videos.
 * There are lots of ways to make the link from a tag or category to an`[mla_gallery]`
   display depending on your needs. If you want to use a “tag cloud” you might want
   to start with this recent support topic:
 * [Simple Shortcodes](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/simple-shortcodes)
 * Here’s an older topic that covers a “dropdown list” approach:
 * [Filterable Portfolio with Media Library Assistant](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/filterable-portfolio-with-media-library-assistant)
 * This support topic uses a text-box to find items by searching their title and
   description:
 * [How to display PDF files](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/how-to-display-pdf-files)
 * Have a look at those topics and think about which approach would work for your
   site. I am happy to work with you on adapting any of the approaches to your needs,
   but it would be great if you started a new support topic with more information
   so I can focus on your needs. Thanks for you interest in the plugin.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

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 * Last reply from: [David Lingren](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dglingren/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/basic-shortcodes-doumentation/#post-4902334)
 * Status: resolved