How to list child pages with thumbnails in a Wordpress theme
So we had an idea of people earning money by making tutorials for our textures site. All those tutorials needed to be listed automatic when they are approved on a tutorials page. The only problem was that we couldn’t find any plugin that could list child pages with thumbnails in WordPress like we wanted. So we wrote our own code that you can copy and use on your sites.
Contents
List child pages
The easiest way to do this is with functions (the correct way will be with plugins). In function.php of our theme we’ve added code to make the output we wanted.
1. Get all child pages
global $post;
$child_pages_query_args = array(
'post_type' => 'page',
'post_parent' => $post->ID,
'orderby' => 'date DESC'
);
$child_pages = new WP_Query( $child_pages_query_args );
2. Loop through child pages
while ( $child_pages->have_posts() ) : $child_pages->the_post();
the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail'); //lists thumbnails
the_title(); // shows titles
the_permalink(); //link to the current page
wp_reset_postdata(); //remember to reset data
NB! Remember to set thumbnails in the page’s “Set featured image” window!
3. Style the list
We’ve styled the list right in the function, but you can use it with CSS as well. Here is how our function looks like:
function my_function() {
global $post;
$child_pages_query_args = array(
'post_type' => 'page',
'post_parent' => $post->ID,
'orderby' => 'date DESC'
);
$child_pages = new WP_Query( $child_pages_query_args );
if ( $child_pages->have_posts() ) :
?>
<ul class="child_page_row">
<?php
while ( $child_pages->have_posts() ) : $child_pages->the_post();
?>
<li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
<?php if(has_post_thumbnail()): ?>
<div class="child_page_thumb">
<?php the_post_thumbnail(array(240, 240)); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="child_page_name">
<?php the_title(); ?>
</div>
<?php if(has_post_custom_meta('Desc')) : ?>
<div class="child_page_desc">
<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'Desc', true); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="child_page_author">
<a href="<?php echo get_author_posts_url( get_the_author_meta( 'ID' ) ); ?>">@ <?php the_author(); ?></a>
</div>
</a></li>
<?php
endwhile;
?>
</ul>
<?php
endif;
wp_reset_postdata();
<?php
}
4. Make a shortcode
Easiest way to call the function from the parent page is to make a shortcode:
add_shortcode('show_child_pages', 'my_function');
Then the parent page would have just one line of code that will list all it’s child pages like you want:
[show_child_pages]
And the result: Tutorials
Show parent
In some cases we would like to list the parent along with child pages. In this case we need to add the parent page to our list.
1. Move repeatable code
In our example we will be showing the top-level page along with all its child pages styled with the same CSS. We won’t be duplicating any code specially for the parent page, but move the repeatable chunk into its own function list_page:
function list_page() {
?>
<li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
<?php if(has_post_thumbnail()): ?>
<div class="child_page_thumb">
<?php the_post_thumbnail(array(240, 240)); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="child_page_name">
<?php the_title(); ?>
</div>
<?php if(has_post_custom_meta('Desc')) : ?>
<div class="child_page_desc">
<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'Desc', true); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="child_page_author">
<a href="<?php echo get_author_posts_url( get_the_author_meta( 'ID' ) ); ?>">@ <?php the_author(); ?></a>
</div>
</a></li>
<?php
}
Now, we will call this function from the loop as before:
while ( $child_pages->have_posts() ) : $child_pages->the_post(); list_page(); endwhile;
2. Add the top-level page
To add a top-level page or parent page we will need to get it first:
$parent_page = get_page($post->ID);
Now, call our new function list_page().
That’s it!
Here is the new version of the code with a parent page:
function my_function() {
global $post;
$child_pages_query_args = array(
'post_type' => 'page',
'post_parent' => $post->ID,
'orderby' => 'date DESC'
);
$child_pages = new WP_Query( $child_pages_query_args );
if ( $child_pages->have_posts() ) :
?>
<ul class="child_page_row">
<?php
$parent_page = get_page($post->ID);
list_page();
while ( $child_pages->have_posts() ) : $child_pages->the_post();
list_page();
endwhile;
?>
</ul>
<?php
endif;
wp_reset_postdata();
}
function list_page() {
?>
<li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
<?php if(has_post_thumbnail()): ?>
<div class="child_page_thumb">
<?php the_post_thumbnail(array(240, 240)); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="child_page_name">
<?php the_title(); ?>
</div>
<?php if(has_post_custom_meta('Desc')) : ?>
<div class="child_page_desc">
<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'Desc', true); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="child_page_author">
<a href="<?php echo get_author_posts_url( get_the_author_meta( 'ID' ) ); ?>">@ <?php the_author(); ?></a>
</div>
</a></li>
<?php
}
List grandchild pages
In order to list grandchild pages we need to use a recursive function where we get children for one level at a time. Another approach is a bit easier. We are going to use a WordPress function get_pages to get all children and grandchildren at once.
- Modify the
argsof the query and usechild_ofparameter:$child_pages_query_args = array( 'post_type' => 'page', 'child_of' => $post->ID, 'orderby' => 'date DESC' ); $child_pages = get_pages( $child_pages_query_args );
- Change the list_page function to get the post:
function list_page($page) { ?> <li><a href="<?php echo get_permalink($page->ID); ?>"> <?php if(has_post_thumbnail($page->ID)): ?> <div class="child_page_thumb"> <?php echo get_the_post_thumbnail($page->ID, array(240, 240)); ?> </div> <?php endif; ?> <div class="child_page_name"> <?php echo get_the_title($page->ID); ?> </div> </a></li> <?php } - Traverse all the pages and send them to the list_page function to print the result:
foreach($child_pages as $page) { list_page($page); }
Here is the latest version of the code with parent page and all children and grandchildren:
function my_function() {
global $post;
$child_pages_query_args = array(
'post_type' => 'page',
'child_of' => $post->ID,
'orderby' => 'date DESC'
);
$child_pages = get_pages( $child_pages_query_args );
if ( $child_pages) :
?>
<ul class="child_page_row">
<?php
$parent_page = get_page($post->ID);
list_page($parent_page);
foreach($child_pages as $page) {
list_page($page);
}
?>
</ul>
<?php
endif;
wp_reset_postdata();
}
function list_page($page) {
?>
<li><a href="<?php echo get_permalink($page->ID); ?>">
<?php if(has_post_thumbnail($page->ID)): ?>
<div class="child_page_thumb">
<?php echo get_the_post_thumbnail($page->ID, array(240, 240)); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="child_page_name">
<?php echo get_the_title($page->ID); ?>
</div>
</a></li>
<?php
}
add_shortcode('show_child_pages_custom', 'my_function');
Related posts:
Senior Software Engineer developing all kinds of stuff.
Comments
Leave a Reply
*
Is it possible to list the parent site of these childs to in the list?
Hi,
yes, I have updated the post. Please, see section 2.
Hi,
I have followed the tutorial above and everything is working fine but my output is displayed at the top of the page instead of been displayed after the content where i have added the shortcode.
A cause to this problem is using echo to output the code from the shortcode. If you need to wrap the output in some content, you need to return a string containing the output in order for it to appear in the correct spot.
Let me know if you struggle with it and I’ll update the post.
Great work – What if you wanted to list the grandchild pages as well?
Hello, you may use the function get_pages. I have updated the post with a code example, see section 3.
How to display only child pages of the first level. I tried to insert in the function value $depth=1, but it’s not working
Hello,
not sure I understand the problem. The first section of the article “List child pages” shows how to list only child pages of the first level. Where did you try to insert depth? Which code example?
I tried pasting code taken from here, but get a 500 error. The latest version of the code is displayed correctly, but with child pages of all levels
What is the structure of your child pages?
Example:
parent
-child
-child
—-child
—-child
-child
I need to leave only the first level
When you visit one of the 2 child pages – what URL do you see? I’m using this code on my tutorials page with the same structure as yours and it works.
First level children: https://sftextures.com/tutorials
Second level children: https://sftextures.com/tutorials/graphic-design-tutorials/
Could you send your code from functions.php to my mail. I tried to insert the function code on different sites, but everywhere the result is HTTP ERROR 500. Sorry for bothering
Hello. List child pages code doesn’t work. I always have HTTP ERROR 500.
I just have copy/paste your code. I can’t find where is the problem 🙁 Please could you help me ?
sorry for previous post. Then the code which give me ERROR 500.
global $post;
$child_pages_query_args = array(
'post_type' => 'page',
'post_parent' => $post->ID,
'orderby' => 'date DESC'
);
$child_pages = new WP_Query( $child_pages_query_args );
while ( $child_pages->have_posts() ) : $child_pages->the_post();
the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail'); //lists thumbnails
the_title(); // shows titles
the_permalink(); //link to the current page
wp_reset_postdata(); //remember to reset data
function my_function() {
global $post;
$child_pages_query_args = array(
'post_type' => 'page',
'post_parent' => $post->ID,
'orderby' => 'date DESC'
);
$child_pages = new WP_Query( $child_pages_query_args );
if ( $child_pages->have_posts() ) :
?>
have_posts() ) : $child_pages->the_post();
?>
<a href="">
ID, 'Desc', true); ?>
<a href="">@
<?php
endif;
wp_reset_postdata();
<?php
}
add_shortcode('show_child_pages', 'my_function');
Hello,
the reason it doesn’t work for you is that you have copied and pasted all the code from my post. You shouldn’t do it as parts 1.1-1.4 are just explanations. Please remove 1.1 and 1.2 and use only part 1.3 and 1.4 in your PHP file – it will at least fix the 500 error.