add filter by category (dropdown) to widget

README.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Recent Posts with Thumbnail
 ===========================
 
-This is a simple WordPress plugin that creates a recent posts widget that displays the post thumbnail and, optionally, the post title and date. You can select the number of posts to display and choose to hide or show the title and date.
+This is a simple WordPress plugin that creates a recent posts widget that displays the post thumbnail and, optionally, the post title and date. You can select the number of posts to display and choose to hide or show the title, date, and "read more" text. You may also restrict the posts displayed to a particular category.
 
 Very little styling has been applied so that the theme designer, developer or use can easily customize the appearance.
 
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ Finally, you can select the size of thumbnail to display. Valid values include "
 
 Changelog
 ------------
+
+* 0.7 Added ability to filter by category
 * 0.6 Added "read more" text option
 * 0.5 Fixed error causing widget not to save (hat tip [@blakewatson](https://twitter.com/blakewatson))
 * 0.4 Fixed syntax error (hat tip [@clintonwilmott](http://twitter.com/clintonwilmott))

readme.txt

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Stable tag: trunk
 License: GPLv2 or later
 License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
 
-Display a select number of recent posts with thumbnail and, optionally, post title and date via widget or shortcode.
+Display a select number of recent posts with thumbnail and, optionally, post title and date via widget or shortcode. Optionally restrict the posts displayed to a particular category.
 
 == Description ==
 
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ You can do that with the shortcode, too, like so: `<?php echo do_shortcode('[nea
 
 == Changelog ==
 
+= 0.6 =
+* Added ability to filter by category
+
 = 0.5 =
 * Added read more text option
 

recent-posts-with-thumbnail-widget.php

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 Plugin Name: Recent Posts with Thumbnails Widget
 Plugin URI: https://github.com/zoerooney/Recent-Posts-Thumbnail-Widget
 Description: Creates a widget that displays recent posts in a nice, easy to style layout.
-Version: 0.4
+Version: 0.6
 Author: Zoe Rooney
 Author URI: http://zoerooney.com
 License: GPL2
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ public function widget($args, $instance) {
 
       $title = apply_filters( 'widget_title', $instance['title'] );
       $number = $instance['number'];
+      $category = $instance['category'];
       $thumbsize = $instance['thumbsize'];
       $show_title = isset($instance['show_title']) ? $instance['show_title'] : true;
       $show_date = isset($instance['show_date']) ? $instance['show_date'] : true;
@@ -63,9 +64,14 @@ public function widget($args, $instance) {
             }
             echo $after_title; // widget title
 
-        $args = array (
+        $args = array(
           'posts_per_page' => $number,
         );
+
+        if ( isset( $category )) {
+          $args['cat'] = $category;
+        }
+
         $neatly_posts = new WP_Query($args);
         if( $neatly_posts->have_posts() ) {
           echo '<ul>';
@@ -96,6 +102,9 @@ public function form( $instance ) {
         if (isset( $instance[ 'number' ] ) ) {
           $number = $instance['number'];
         } else { $number = '5'; }
+        if (isset( $instance[ 'category' ] ) ) {
+          $category = $instance['category'];
+        } else { $category = null; }
         if (isset( $instance[ 'thumbsize' ] ) ) {
           $thumbsize = $instance['thumbsize'];
         } else { $thumbsize = 'thumbnail'; }
@@ -116,13 +125,34 @@ public function form( $instance ) {
 
     <p style="border-bottom:4px double #eee;padding: 0 0 10px;">
       <label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'number' ); ?>">Number of Posts Displayed</label>
-      <input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'number'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'number' ); ?>" value="<?php echo esc_attr($number); ?>" type="number" style="width:100%;" /><br>
+      <input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'number'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'number' ); ?>" value="<?php echo esc_attr($number); ?>" type="number" style="width:100%;" /><br><br>
+
+      <label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'category' ); ?>">Display Posts from Category</label>
+      <?php 
+
+
+      $field_id = $this->get_field_id( 'category');
+      $name = $this->get_field_name( 'category' );
+      $selected = esc_attr($category);
+      $args = array( 
+        'id' => $field_id,
+        'show_option_all' => 'All',
+        'name' => $name,
+        'selected' => $selected
+      );
+      wp_dropdown_categories($args); 
+
+      ?><br><br>
+
       <label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'thumbsize' ); ?>">Thumbnail Size</label>
       <input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'thumbsize'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'thumbsize' ); ?>" value="<?php echo esc_attr($thumbsize); ?>"  style="width:100%;" /><br><br>
+
       <label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'show_title' ); ?>">Show the post titles?
       <input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'show_title'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'show_title' ); ?>" <?php checked($instance['show_title'], true) ?>  type="checkbox" /></label><br><br>
+
       <label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'show_date' ); ?>">Show the post dates?
       <input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'show_date'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'show_date' ); ?>" <?php checked($instance['show_date'], true) ?>  type="checkbox" /></label><br><br>
+
       <label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'show_read_more' ); ?>">Show "read more" text for each post?
       <input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'show_read_more'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'show_read_more' ); ?>" <?php checked($instance['show_read_more'], true) ?>  type="checkbox" /></label>
     </p>
@@ -137,6 +167,7 @@ public function update( $new_instance, $old_instance ) {
 
         $instance['title'] = strip_tags($new_instance['title']);
         $instance['number'] = strip_tags($new_instance['number']);
+        $instance['category'] = strip_tags($new_instance['category']);
         $instance['thumbsize'] = strip_tags($new_instance['thumbsize']);
         $instance['show_title'] = $new_instance['show_title'] ? 1 : 0;
         $instance['show_date'] = $new_instance['show_date'] ? 1 : 0; 
@@ -161,6 +192,7 @@ function neatly_recent_posts_shortcode( $atts ) {
   extract( shortcode_atts( array(
     'title_text' => 'Recent Posts',
     'number_posts' => '3',
+    'category' => '',
     'hide_title' => 'false',
     'hide_date' => 'false',
     'hide_read_more' => 'false',
@@ -169,9 +201,16 @@ function neatly_recent_posts_shortcode( $atts ) {
 
   ob_start();
 
-  $neatly_loop = new WP_Query( array(
-    'posts_per_page' => $number_posts
-  ));
+  $args = array(
+    'posts_per_page' => $number,
+  );
+
+  if ( isset( $category )) {
+    $args['cat'] = $category;
+  }
+
+  $neatly_loop = new WP_Query($args);
+
   echo '<div class="neatly-recent neatly-recent-shortcode"><h3>' . $title_text . '</h3>';
    if ( $neatly_loop->have_posts() ) : ?>
     <ul>
@@ -195,7 +234,6 @@ function neatly_recent_posts_shortcode( $atts ) {
   ob_end_clean();
   return $content;
 } 
-
 add_shortcode( 'neatly_recent', 'neatly_recent_posts_shortcode' );
 
 ?>