Struggling to get this working as desired.

I am using the code based on http://www.hongkiat....ithout-plugins/

Modified slightly to display posts in random order, and from a custom post type.

 

<?php  
    $orig_post = $post;  
    global $post;  
    $tags = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);  
      
    if ($tags) {  
    $tag_ids = array();  
    foreach($tags as $individual_tag) $tag_ids[] = $individual_tag->term_id;  
    $args=array(  
    'tag__in' => $tag_ids,  
    'post__not_in' => array($post->ID), 
    'post_type' => 'events', 
    'posts_per_page'=>4,
    'orderby' => 'rand'
    );  
      
    $my_query = new wp_query( $args );  
  
    while( $my_query->have_posts() ) {  
    $my_query->the_post();  
    ?>  
      
    <div class="relatedthumb">  
        <a rel="external" href="<? the_permalink()?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail(array(150,100)); ?><br />  
        <?php the_title(); ?>  
        </a>  
    </div>  
      
    <? }  
    }  
    $post = $orig_post;  
    wp_reset_query();  
    ?> 

Now, that is kind of working. It is displaying 4 posts from the post
type 'events', and, when refreshed, it displays in a random order.
However, I was expecting it to display 4 random posts from the entire
post type (10+ posts). All the posts have the same tag, but it seems to
only display the first 4.

 

Any ideas anybody?

orderby orders the retrieved result, not the query itself. order is used to order the query. That said, using RAND() in a SQL statement is slow. It might be best for you to retrieve the entire list, and use a count to limit the amount you use.

 

Such as:

<?php  
    $orig_post = $post;  
    global $post;  
    $tags = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);  
      
    if ($tags) {  
    $tag_ids = array();  
    foreach($tags as $individual_tag) $tag_ids[] = $individual_tag->term_id;  
    $args=array(  
    'tag__in' => $tag_ids,  
    'post__not_in' => array($post->ID), 
    'post_type' => 'events',
    'posts_per_page' => -1,
    'orderby' => 'rand'
    );  
      
    $my_query = new wp_query( $args );  
    
    $i = 0;
    while( $my_query->have_posts() && $i <4 ) {  
    $my_query->the_post();
    $i++;
    ?>  
      
    <div class="relatedthumb">  
        <a rel="external" href="<? the_permalink()?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail(array(150,100)); ?><br />  
        <?php the_title(); ?>  
        </a>  
    </div>  
      
    <? }  
    }  
    $post = $orig_post;  
    wp_reset_query();  
    ?>

There may well be better ways around this, however.

 

orderby orders the retrieved result, not the query itself. order is used to order the query. That said, using RAND() in a SQL statement is slow. It might be best for you to retrieve the entire list, and use a count to limit the amount you use.

 

Such as:

<?php  
    $orig_post = $post;  
    global $post;  
    $tags = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);  
      
    if ($tags) {  
    $tag_ids = array();  
    foreach($tags as $individual_tag) $tag_ids[] = $individual_tag->term_id;  
    $args=array(  
    'tag__in' => $tag_ids,  
    'post__not_in' => array($post->ID), 
    'post_type' => 'events',
    'posts_per_page' => -1,
    'orderby' => 'rand'
    );  
      
    $my_query = new wp_query( $args );  
    
    $i = 0;
    while( $my_query->have_posts() && $i <4 ) {  
    $my_query->the_post();
    $i++;
    ?>  
      
    <div class="relatedthumb">  
        <a rel="external" href="<? the_permalink()?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail(array(150,100)); ?><br />  
        <?php the_title(); ?>  
        </a>  
    </div>  
      
    <? }  
    }  
    $post = $orig_post;  
    wp_reset_query();  
    ?>

There may well be better ways around this, however.

Hi Andy, that just returns the same as my original code?

Have now tried about 20 different code snippets, and every one is
only showing the latest 4 posts in that post type. Yes it randomises the
order, but it wont show older posts....

 

Any ideas?

To add, it works with normal posts fine, it will pull in 4 completely random posts, but with CPT's it only pulls in the most recent 4...

FIXED! My original code now works. There was a conflict between that and a plugin I was using, http://wordpress.org/plugins/post-types-order/.

 

Thanks anyway Andy.