Title: Summarize Posts shortcode – coding issue
Last modified: August 21, 2016

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# Summarize Posts shortcode – coding issue

 *  Resolved [akadis2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/akadis2/)
 * (@akadis2)
 * [12 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/summarize-posts-shortcode-coding-issue/)
 * I can’t figure out how to properly code the summarize posts shortcode when it
   includes meta-values from an multi-select custom field.
 * This is my code:
 * [summarize-posts post_type=”resource” meta_key=”location” meta_value=[“National”]
   limit=”600″ order=”ASC” orderby=”post_title”]
    [+post_title+] [+post_excerpt+][/
   summarize-posts]
 * Since the value of the multi-select field is stored in brackets in the DB, using
   the brackets within the summarize-posts code, doesn’t work properly.
 * In addition, when more than two values are selected, how can I use the sumamrize-
   posts shortcode, to only display results from one of the values?
 * Thanks so much… I’ve been trying to figure this out for more than a month!
 * [http://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-content-type-manager/](http://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-content-type-manager/)

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

 *  Plugin Contributor [fireproofsocks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fireproofsocks/)
 * (@fireproofsocks)
 * [12 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/summarize-posts-shortcode-coding-issue/#post-3984527)
 * You need to use the PHP version of the query: the shortcode version is quite 
   limited in comparison, mostly due to the limitations, _whoops_ I mean FEATURES
   of the WordPress shortcode syntax.
 * I’m not sure what you mean by “display results from one of the values”, but I
   think you probably need to do a LIKE comparison — the shortcode only lets you
   do an EQUALS comparison. In php:
 *     ```
       <?php
       // in a theme file far, far away....
       $Q = new GetPostsQuery();
       $args = array();
       $args['post_type'] = 'resource';
       $args['location']['like'] = '"National"'; // <-- note the quotes here
   
       $results = $Q->get_posts($args);
       foreach ($results as $r) {
        // ... etc...
       }
       ?>
       ```
   
 * Because CCTM stores multi-values as JSON arrays, you have to compare against 
   the double-quotes to properly delimit your values, otherwise a term like “National”
   might also include results using a term like “National Parks”. Note too that 
   you can name your custom fields: you don’t need to use the meta_key/meta_value
   syntax.
 * There are lots of examples in the wiki.
 *  Thread Starter [akadis2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/akadis2/)
 * (@akadis2)
 * [12 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/summarize-posts-shortcode-coding-issue/#post-3984623)
 * Thanks for your super prompt reply. Yes, a comparison would work nicely.
 * My main question now, is where do I add this php code? The way I am using cctm
   is to add “resources” to the DB, then I created posts that I called “views” to
   display the resources based on the values stored for each custom field. Then 
   using a widget, I created a menu of all those “views”
 * For example, this is one of the “views”
    [http://civilrightsteaching.org/books-fiction/](http://civilrightsteaching.org/books-fiction/)
 * ANd on the right side, you can see the menu of all resources.
 *  Plugin Contributor [fireproofsocks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fireproofsocks/)
 * (@fireproofsocks)
 * [12 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/summarize-posts-shortcode-coding-issue/#post-3984646)
 * Now you’re seeing some of the limits of wordpress. Here’s how I get around them:
   I create a page (not a post) as my unit here because pages can have a dedicated
   theme file — copy the page.php file in your theme and give it a unique name in
   its comment block, e.g. “Template Name: My View”. Then you can select that template
   when you create a page. Put your PHP in there. That’s how you can connect a page
   to a specific file containing your specific php.
 *  Thread Starter [akadis2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/akadis2/)
 * (@akadis2)
 * [12 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/summarize-posts-shortcode-coding-issue/#post-3984702)
 * Thanks again… I’ve created my new template file page-myview.php and added the
   php code. Of course nothing happens, since I don’t know what to put after this:
 * $results = $Q->get_posts($args);
    foreach ($results as $r) {
 *  // I TRIED ADDING “print $post[‘post_title’];”
 * }
    ?>
 * The summarize-posts shortcode was so easy compared to this php coding 🙁
 *  Plugin Contributor [fireproofsocks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fireproofsocks/)
 * (@fireproofsocks)
 * [12 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/summarize-posts-shortcode-coding-issue/#post-3984704)
 * See the wiki: lots of examples there. [https://code.google.com/p/wordpress-custom-content-type-manager/wiki/get_posts_examples](https://code.google.com/p/wordpress-custom-content-type-manager/wiki/get_posts_examples)
 * You’re iterating over an array using the $r variable in your case: so you can’t
   print $post and expect anything to come out of it. Try print $r[‘ID’]; or print
   $r[‘post_name’]; or print_r($r); to get a full dump of every attribute available
   to you. Sorry, I can only offer some pointers here — some PHP knowledge is required
   and it’s not practical/efficient/sensible for me to repeat a PHP 101 course inside
   my docs.
 *  Thread Starter [akadis2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/akadis2/)
 * (@akadis2)
 * [12 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/summarize-posts-shortcode-coding-issue/#post-3984737)
 * Thanks so much for your help.
 * With some study and time I hope to solve this issue.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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 * 6 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [akadis2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/akadis2/)
 * Last activity: [12 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/summarize-posts-shortcode-coding-issue/#post-3984737)
 * Status: resolved