[Bill KParticipant]

hi guys,

You helped a while back with recent posts customization and adding an excerpt. Now I’m simply trying to limit the excerpt length and add a differentiated “…READ MORE” button (or hyperlink).

http://canopytoursnw.com (home page has two Recent Posts section for you to see)

Here’s the current code (added the last little bit trying to get the Read More working):

<?php

// =============================================================================
// FUNCTIONS.PHP
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Overwrite or add your own custom functions to X in this file.
// =============================================================================

// =============================================================================
// TABLE OF CONTENTS
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
//   01. Enqueue Parent Stylesheet
//   02. Additional Functions
// =============================================================================

// Enqueue Parent Stylesheet
// =============================================================================

add_filter( 'x_enqueue_parent_stylesheet', '__return_true' );

// Additional Functions
// =============================================================================

// =============================================================================
// Custom Excerpt Length - Call: echo excerpt($length);
// =============================================================================

function excerpt($limit) {
   $excerpt = explode(' ', get_the_excerpt(), $limit);
   if (count($excerpt)>=$limit) {
      array_pop($excerpt);
      $excerpt = implode(" ",$excerpt).'.';
   } else {
      $excerpt = implode(" ",$excerpt);
   } 
   // $excerpt = preg_replace('<code>\[[^\]]*\]</code>','',$excerpt);
   return $excerpt;
}

// =============================================================================
// Add Excerpt to Recent Posts -> [x_recent_posts]
// =============================================================================

function x_shortcode_recent_posts_excerpt( $atts ) {
  extract( shortcode_atts( array(
    'id'          => '',
    'class'       => '',
    'style'       => '',
    'type'        => 'post',
    'count'       => '',
    'category'    => '',
    'offset'      => '',
    'orientation' => '',
    'no_image'    => '',
    'fade'        => ''
  ), $atts, 'x_recent_posts' ) );

  $allowed_post_types = apply_filters( 'cs_recent_posts_post_types', array( 'post' => 'post' ) );
  $type = ( isset( $allowed_post_types[$type] ) ) ? $allowed_post_types[$type] : 'post';

  $id            = ( $id          != ''          ) ? 'id="' . esc_attr( $id ) . '"' : '';
  $class         = ( $class       != ''          ) ? 'x-recent-posts cf ' . esc_attr( $class ) : 'x-recent-posts cf';
  $style         = ( $style       != ''          ) ? 'style="' . $style . '"' : '';
  $count         = ( $count       != ''          ) ? $count : 3;
  $category      = ( $category    != ''          ) ? $category : '';
  $category_type = ( $type        == 'post'      ) ? 'category_name' : 'portfolio-category';
  $offset        = ( $offset      != ''          ) ? $offset : 0;
  $orientation   = ( $orientation != ''          ) ? ' ' . $orientation : ' horizontal';
  $no_image      = ( $no_image    == 'true'      ) ? $no_image : '';
  $fade          = ( $fade        == 'true'      ) ? $fade : 'false';

  $js_params = array(
    'fade' => ( $fade == 'true' )
  );

  $data = cs_generate_data_attributes( 'recent_posts', $js_params );

  $output = "<div {$id} class=\"{$class}{$orientation}\" {$style} {$data} data-fade=\"{$fade}\" >";

    $q = new WP_Query( array(
      'orderby'             => 'date',
      'post_type'           => "{$type}",
      'posts_per_page'      => "{$count}",
      'offset'              => "{$offset}",
      "{$category_type}"    => "{$category}",
      'ignore_sticky_posts' => true
    ) );

    if ( $q->have_posts() ) : while ( $q->have_posts() ) : $q->the_post();

      if ( $no_image == 'true' ) {
        $image_output       = '';
        $image_output_class = 'no-image';
      } else {
        $image              = wp_get_attachment_image_src( get_post_thumbnail_id(), 'entry-cropped' );
        $bg_image           = ( $image[0] != '' ) ? ' style="background-image: url(' . $image[0] . ');"' : '';
        $image_output       = '<div class="x-recent-posts-img"' . $bg_image . '></div>';
        $image_output_class = 'with-image';
      }

      $output .= '<a class="x-recent-post' . $count . ' ' . $image_output_class . '" href="' . get_permalink( get_the_ID() ) . '" title="' . esc_attr( sprintf( __( 'Permalink to: "%s"', csl18n() ), the_title_attribute( 'echo=0' ) ) ) . '">'
                 . '<article id="post-' . get_the_ID() . '" class="' . implode( ' ', get_post_class() ) . '">'
                   . '<div class="entry-wrap">'
                     . $image_output
                     . '<div class="x-recent-posts-content">'
                       . '<h3 class="h-recent-posts">' . get_the_title() . '</h3>'
                       . '<span class="x-recent-posts-date">' . get_the_date() . '</span>'
                       . do_shortcode('[x_gap size="10px"]')
                       . '<span class="x-recent-posts-excerpt">' .  strip_tags(excerpt(25))  . '</span>'
                     . '</div>'
                   . '</div>'
                 . '</article>'
               . '</a>';

    endwhile; endif; wp_reset_postdata();

  $output .= '</div>';

  return $output;
}

add_action('wp_head', 'update_x_recent_posts_to_v2');

function update_x_recent_posts_to_v2() {
  remove_shortcode( 'x_recent_posts' );
  add_shortcode( 'x_recent_posts', 'x_shortcode_recent_posts_excerpt' );
}

function new_excerpt_more($more) {
global $post;
return '<a class="moretag" href="'. get_permalink($post->ID) . '"> ...Read More </a>';
}
add_filter('excerpt_more', 'new_excerpt_more', 20 ); 

Any guidance appreciated, as usual.
Bill

[Rue NelModerator]

Hello Bill,

Thanks for writing in! To change the excerpt length and add a read more button, simply find and update this line:

. '<span class="x-recent-posts-excerpt">' .  strip_tags(excerpt(25))  . '</span>'

and change it to:

. '<span class="x-recent-posts-excerpt">' .  strip_tags(excerpt(50))  . '</span>'
. '<span class="read-more">Read more ...</span>'

Feel free to change the excerpt number when it is needed. Hope this helps.

[Author]

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