Kirki: Category dropdown default

[michelle-may]

Issue description:

I have a theme feature where the user can set four featured posts based on category, using the dropdown 'choices' => Kirki_Helper::get_terms( 'category' ). I am running a post query based on what is selected is in the dropdown. I don't want to set a default for this field as it's unknown and based on unique categories the user has in their blog.

The dropdowns initially all display a category, but the post query doesn't work until the user selects a different cat in the dropdown. If they want the initially displayed category, they have to first select a different category and then select the initial category again.

This feels like quite bad UX and it'd be nice to either have the option for a placeholder in the dropdown, e.g. 'Select a category'. Is this something that is possible or do I need to approach this in a different way?

Code to reproduce the issue (config + field(s))

$fields[] = array(
    'settings'    => 'feat_cat_1',
    'type'        => 'select',
    'label'       => __( 'Choose a category', 'brio-helper' ),
    'section'     => 'featured_cat_posts',
    'default'     => '',
    'choices'     => Kirki_Helper::get_terms( 'category' ),
);

function shortened for brevity

if (!function_exists('get_cat_post')) { 
    function get_cat_post($category) {

        $cat_query = new WP_Query( array(
            'post_type'             => 'post',
            'showposts'             => 1,
            'ignore_sticky_posts'   => true,
            'cat'                   => $category,
            )
        );

        while ( $cat_query->have_posts() ): $cat_query->the_post();

                <h3 class="widget-title"><span><?php echo get_cat_name($category); ?></span></h3>
                // some other stuff
        <?php
        endwhile; wp_reset_query();
    }
}

if (!function_exists('brio_featured_cat_post')) { 
    function brio_featured_cat_post() {

        $post_cat_1 = get_theme_mod('feat_cat_1');
        $post_cat_2 = get_theme_mod('feat_cat_2');
        $post_cat_3 = get_theme_mod('feat_cat_3');
        $post_cat_4 = get_theme_mod('feat_cat_4');

        ?>

        <div class="o-grid">

            <?php if($post_cat_1) { get_cat_post($post_cat_1); } ?>
            <?php if($post_cat_2) { get_cat_post($post_cat_2); } ?>
            <?php if($post_cat_3) { get_cat_post($post_cat_3); } ?>
            <?php if($post_cat_4) { get_cat_post($post_cat_4); } ?>

        </div>
    <?php
    }
    add_action('brio_content_before','brio_featured_cat_post',5);
}

[Alanimus]

I had a similar problem but for the default I just picked an arbitrary value from my values. If you don't know what any of the categories are going to be you could create a function to pick the first one from the list and return it.

so maybe you could do :

$defaults = array_keys(Kirki_Helper::get_terms( 'category' ));
$default = $defaults[0];

[aristath]

Adding as a feature request for a placeholder.

[AlxMedia]

Same issue here, with a featured category dropdown that ideally should have nothing selected so that it displays the latest posts from all categories if a specific category is not selected.

[aristath]

On output you can already do whatever you want...
You just need to check the value first before getting the posts.
Example:

$args = array(
    'posts_per_page'   => 5,
    'category'         => '',
    'orderby'          => 'date',
    'order'            => 'DESC',
    'post_status'      => 'publish',
);
$selected_category = get_theme_mod( 'my_category_setting' );
if ( $selected_category && null !== get_category( $selected_category ) ) {
    $args['category'] = $selected_category;
}
$posts_array = get_posts( $args );

The above example sets some default arguments.
Then we check if a category is set in the select. If there is a selection and the category exists, we change the category argument to the category selected.
Then, those arguments are passed-on to the get_posts function (or WP_Query or whatever you want to use) and we get the posts.

[aristath]

Fixed, will be included in v3.0.21.
select controls now have a placeholder argument you can use.
See example: https://github.com/aristath/kirki/blob/12c85c3fe0a49e830873f1e983d283c57852d217/example.php#L719-L736

[AlxMedia]

:+1: Great stuff.

[AlxMedia]

Is the placeholder option going to work with the dropdown for sidebars as well (the code that you gave me)?

[aristath]

the placeholder will work for all select controls, regardless of what options those controls contain. So yes, for the sidebars one as well - provided of course you add the placeholder argument.
If you want it empty by default, then set 'default' = > '' too 😉

[AlxMedia]

Sweet 👍

[AlxMedia]

When do you recon 3.0.21 will be out?

[aristath]

-5 minutes

[AlxMedia]

:D, brilliant. Working great with placeholder.