Random Posts on single pages

[michaelxxx]

Hi,

I had always added random posts at the end of my posts using a plugin like “Contextual Related Posts”.
But such a plugin unfortunately has a negative effect on the loading time.

So I’m looking for a clean way to simply output the shortcode [random_recent_posts count=“9”] on post pages. Is that possible?

I have found a few similar topics like this or this. But I´m not sure if these are the right codes?

I´m using X 7.1.2 with Ethos. Can you help me to find the right code for my child theme to include this on post pages?

Michael

[ruenel]

Hello Michael,

Thanks for writing in! The code given by @MLDarshana should work and display the random posts. I would recommend you do the following:

1.) In your child theme’s functions.php file, insert the given code with a little tweak:

function x_shortcode_recent_posts_random( $atts ) {
  extract( shortcode_atts( array(
    'id'           => '',
    'class'        => '',
    'style'        => '',
    'type'         => 'post',
    'count'        => '',
    'category'     => '',
    'offset'       => '',
    'orientation'  => '',
    // 'show_excerpt' => 'true',
    'no_sticky'    => '',
    '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';
  // $show_excerpt  = ( $show_excerpt == 'true' );
  $no_sticky     = ( $no_sticky    == 'true' );
  $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 );

  $posts = get_posts( array(
    'orderby'             => 'rand',
    'post_type'           => "{$type}",
    'posts_per_page'      => "{$count}",
    'offset'              => "{$offset}",
    "{$category_type}"    => "{$category}",
    'ignore_sticky_posts' => $no_sticky
  ) );

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

    foreach ($posts as $post) {

      if ( $no_image == 'true' ) {
        $image_output       = '';
        $image_output_class = 'no-image';
      } else {
        $image              = wp_get_attachment_image_src( get_post_thumbnail_id( $post->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( $post->ID ) . '" title="' . esc_attr( sprintf( csi18n('shortcodes.recent-posts-permalink'), the_title_attribute( array( 'echo' => false, 'post' => $post->ID ) ) ) ) . '">'
                 . '<article id="post-' . $post->ID . '" class="' . implode( ' ', get_post_class('', $post->ID) ) . '">'
                   . '<div class="entry-wrap">'
                     . $image_output
                     . '<div class="x-recent-posts-content">'
                       . '<h3 class="h-recent-posts">' . get_the_title( $post->ID ) . '</h3>'
                       . '<span class="x-recent-posts-date">' . get_the_date( '', $post->ID ) . '</span>'
                     . '</div>'
                   . '</div>'
                 . '</article>'
               . '</a>';

    }

  $output .= '</div>';

  return $output;
}

add_filter('wp_head', 'custom_recent_posts');

function custom_recent_posts() {
  add_shortcode( 'random_recent_posts', 'x_shortcode_recent_posts_random' );
}

2.) And then you also need this php code:

function x_add_random_posts ( $content ) {
  if ( is_single() ) {
    echo do_shortcode('[random_recent_posts count="4"]');
    echo do_shortcode('[random_recent_posts count="4" offset="4"]');
  }
}
add_action('x_before_the_content_end', 'x_add_random_posts');

Just to manage your expectations, please keep in mind that this is merely an example. You may need to customize this code more to achieve what you have in mind.

Please note that custom coding is outside the scope of our support. Issues that might arise from the use of custom code and further enhancements should be directed to a third party developer.

Best Regards.