I want to make selecting a featured post is just by checking a checkbox in edit screen AND be able to retrieve these featured articles from only specific category ?

in short what I'm looking for :

• set featured post

• loop throw featured posts in a specific category (not all posts)

Any help? and thanks in advance :)

I want to make selecting a featured post is just by checking a checkbox in edit screen AND be able to retrieve these featured articles from only specific category ?

in short what I'm looking for :

• set featured post

• loop throw featured posts in a specific category (not all posts)

Any help? and thanks in advance :)

• posts
• custom-field
• loop

2 Answers 2

You can do this by following these steps:

1. Add a custom meta box to your posts
2. Create a function to save the meta data using the save_post action
3. Add the 'meta_key' query argument to whatever query you are using.

Place this in your themes functions.php file:

function register_post_assets(){
    add_meta_box('featured-post', __('Featured Post'), 'add_featured_meta_box', 'post', 'advanced', 'high');
}
add_action('admin_init', 'register_post_assets', 1);

function add_featured_meta_box($post){
    $featured = get_post_meta($post->ID, '_featured-post', true);
    echo "<label for='_featured-post'>".__('Feature this post?', 'foobar')."</label>";
    echo "<input type='checkbox' name='_featured-post' id='featured-post' value='1' ".checked(1, $featured)." />";
}

function save_featured_meta($post_id){
    // Do validation here for post_type, nonces, autosave, etc...
    if (isset($_REQUEST['_featured-post']))
        update_post_meta(esc_attr($post_id, '_featured-post', esc_attr($_REQUEST['_featured-post']))); 
        // I like using _ before my custom fields, so they are only editable within my form rather than the normal custom fields UI
}
add_action('save_post', 'save_featured_meta');

Then in your template file use the following for the main loop:

    $args = array(
        'meta_key' => '_featured-post', // include underscore prefix in key name
        'meta_value' => 1
    );
    // The number of posts displayed would be determined under Settings->Reading
    query_posts($args);

    if(have_posts()): while(have_posts()): the_post();
        // Do your bidding here

    endwhile; else:

    endif;

FOR EXAMPLE PURPOSES ONLY: For custom loops (If running multiple loops on one page), you would use this:

    $args = array(
        'posts_per_page' => 5,
        'meta_key' => '_featured-post',
        'meta_value' => 1
    );

    $featured = new WP_Query($args);

    if ($featured->have_posts()): while($featured->have_posts()): $featured->the_post();
        the_title();
        the_content();
    endwhile; else:

    endif;

I tried to run this code and it helps me a lot for displaying my featured post on my homepage for my case study custom post type. Thanks a lot.

         <?php $args = array( 
                'post_type' => 'case_studies',
                'posts_per_page' => 1,
                'meta_key' => 'featured_post',
                'meta_value' => 1
            );

            $featured = new WP_Query($args);

            if ($featured->have_posts()): while($featured->have_posts()): $featured->the_post(); ?>
                <div class="c-image"><?php the_post_thumbnail('large'); ?></div>
                <div class="cstext">
                     <article>
                        <h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>  
                        <span class="sub-title"> USAF SOCONS </span>
                        <?php the_content(); ?>
                        <a href="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>" class="readmore">Learn More</a>
                    </article> 

                    <a href="/case-studies" class="btn-primary">View all Case Studies</a>

                </div> 

            <?php 
                endwhile; 
                    else: 'No Content Added';
            endif; ?>
    </div>
</div>