README

This WordPress plugin introduces a number of shortcodes for listing related posts based on post hierarchy.

Requirements

PHP 5.6 or greater and Composer.

Installation

Install using Composer:

$ composer require ssnepenthe/hestia

Usage

Once the plugin has been activated you will have access to the following shortcodes:

ancestors

Lists all post ancestors of the current post.

Accepts the following attributes:

• id: ID of the post for which you would like to display ancestors. Defaults to the return value of get_the_ID().
• order: one of ASC or DESC. Sets the sort order of found posts. Defaults to ASC.
• thumbnails: true or false. Whether or not to include featured images in post list. Defaults to false.

Example: [ancestors order="DESC" thumbnails="true"]

attachments

Lists all media that has been directly attached to the current post.

Accepts the following attributes:

• id: ID of the post for which you would like to display attachments. Defaults to the return value of get_the_ID().
• link: one of PAGE or FILE. Sets whether to link to the attachment page or the actual attachment file. Defaults to PAGE.
• max: integer between 1 and 100. Sets the maximum number of attachments to display. Defaults to 20.
• order: one of ASC or DESC. Sets the sort order of found posts. Defaults to ASC.
• thumbnails: true or false. Whether or not to include thumbnails in list. Defaults to false.

Example: [attachments link="FILE" max="50" order="DESC" thumbnails="true"]

children

Lists all child posts of the current post.

Accepts the following attributes:

• id: ID of the post for which you would like to display children. Defaults to the return value of get_the_ID().
• max: integer between 1 and 100. Sets the maximum number of children to display. Defaults to 20.
• order: one of ASC or DESC. Sets the sort order of found posts. Defaults to ASC.
• thumbnails: true or false. Whether or not to include featured images in post list. Defaults to false.

Example: [children max="35" order="DESC" thumbnails="true"]

siblings

Lists sibling posts of the current post.

Accepts the following attributes:

• id: ID of the post for which you would like to display siblings. Defaults to the return value of get_the_ID().
• max: integer between 1 and 100. Sets the maximum number of siblings to display. Defaults to 20.
• order: one of ASC or DESC. Sets the sort order of found posts. Defaults to ASC.
• thumbnails: true or false. Whether or not to include featured images in post list. Defaults to false.

Example: [siblings max="65" order="DESC" thumbnails="true"]

sitemap

Lists the most recent posts of each public post type.

Accepts the following attributes:

• max: integer between 1 and 100. Sets the maximum number of posts to display per post type. Defaults to 20.
• order: one of ASC or DESC. Sets the sort order of found posts. Defaults to ASC.
• thumbnails: true or false. Whether or not to include featured images in post list. Defaults to false.

Example: [sitemap max="100" order="DESC" thumbnails="true"]

Custom Output

Shortcode output can be overridden within a theme or child theme. To do so, create the following PHP files either in your theme root or in a templates subdirectory:

hestia-ancestors.php
hestia-attachments.php
hestia-children.php
hestia-siblings.php
hestia-sitemap.php

These templates do not work the same as a standard WordPress loop - They are rendered using the Plates template system with an array of WP_Post objects.

View the existing plugin templates to get an idea of what data will be available in a given file.

A Note About Custom Templates And Post Meta

By default, all queries are performed WITHOUT updating the meta cache unless thumbnails are enabled. It is done this way to minimize the number of database queries performed.

However - if you need to create a custom shortcode template that does access post meta, the result will be an extra database query PER POST!

This is obviously not desirable, so the following filters are provided to force a meta cache update:

hestia_ancestors_preload_meta
hestia_attachments_preload_meta
hestia_children_preload_meta
hestia_siblings_preload_meta
hestia_sitemap_preload_meta

Return true to any of these and all post meta will be loaded in a single query up front rather than a query per post.

Caching

No caching is done by this plugin.

For the most part, these shortcodes run very basic queries and you should not notice any performance impact.

The possible exception is the sitemap shortcode which runs AT LEAST two queries per public post type.

If you have a large number of post types I do not recommend using the sitemap shortcode without a solid caching strategy in place.