Denver Web Design & Denver SEO - The Katz Web Design Blog

Usually, WordPress is a very simple system to code for, so I was surprised when all I wanted to do was get a random post from a category. There were a couple plugins, but I didn’t want to use them; it’s generally accepted that the fastest way to work with an optimized application like WordPress is to use it’s built-in functions.

I also wanted to have the testimonials as a category in WP, rather than as a separate plugin. This code will work for any type of category, not just a testimonial.

Here’s how I created a random post item in my sidebar:

1. Create a Testimonials Category

   I created a category for testimonials. In this example, the category ID is 3

2. Create the Query

   $test_cat = 3; // Define the category ID for testimonials
$query = "SELECT ID, object_id, term_taxonomy_id FROM $wpdb->posts as p, $wpdb->term_relationships AS t WHERE p.post_status = ‘publish’ && t.term_taxonomy_id = $test_cat && (p.ID = t.object_id) ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 0,1";
$test_id = $wpdb->get_var($query); // $test_id is now the id of the single post


   Let’s break down what is going on in the code above:

   1. Define the category ID for testimonials ($test_cat)
   2. Create a query that gets the ID for the post and the category (SELECT ID, object_id, term_taxonomy_id FROM $wpdb->posts as p, $wpdb->term_relationships AS t)
   3. Make sure that it’s published and not a draft (WHERE p.post_status = 'publish')
   4. Match up the posts to the defined category (t.term_taxonomy_id = $test_cat && (p.ID = t.object_id))
   5. Request one random result (ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 0,1)

3. Display the testimonial

   <?php query_posts('p='.$test_id); // Call up the random post ?>
<li class="widget">
<h2>Testimonials</h2>
<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<h3><?php the_title() ?></h3>
<p><?php the_excerpt() ?></p>
<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
</li>


With the simple code above, you can add testimonials to your WordPress website as a basic category, and have a random testimonial displayed in your sidebar.

To take it one step further, you can create a Testimonials template page, and have it as a static page on your website by simply having query_posts('cat='.$test_cat).