WooCommerce: products-of-category loop bizarre problems

Question

I have a php/wp script written which in theory should print a div with a category name, description, and all of its products inside. The code looks like this:

<?php

$args2 = array( 'taxonomy'  =>   'product_cat', 'parent' => 9 );
$sub_cats = get_categories( $args2 );

foreach( $sub_cats as $sub_category ) { ?>

    <div class="treatments-description col-md-9" id="<?php echo $sub_category->term_id;?>">

        <h2 class="section-heading">
            <span class="line-behind-text"><?php echo $sub_category->name;?></span>
        </h2>

        <p class="section-text">
            OPIS: <?php echo category_description(); ?> //this part does not work too, not sure why
        </p>

        <h3 class="section-heading"><p class="line-behind-text">Dostępne zabiegi</p></h3>

        <table class="treatments-table table products">

            <tr class="table-heading">
                <th class="name" id="<?php echo $sub_category->term_id;?>">Usługa</th>
                <th>Czas trwania</th>
                <th>Cena</th>
                <th></th>
            </tr> <?php

            $name = $sub_category->name;
            $args = array( 'post_type' => 'product', 
                           "product_cat" => $sub_category->term_id //PROBLEM HERE
                    );

             $loop = new WP_Query( $args );

             if ( $loop->have_posts() ) {

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

                     $product = new WC_Product(get_the_ID()); ?>

                     <tr>
                         <td class="name"><?php the_title(); ?><p class="small"><?php the_content(); ?></p></td>
                         <td><?php the_excerpt(); ?></td>
                         <td><?php echo $product->price; ?>zł</td>
                         <td><button class="button-product materialbutton">Rezerwuj</button> </td>
                    </tr> <?php

                 endwhile;
             } 
             else {

                 echo __( 'No products found' );
             } ?>

             <h1>THE END</h1> <?php
} //ALL UNCLOSED TAGS ARE GETTING CLOSED AFTERWARDS

Now in theory it should display a the divs like this:

Category a: 1a. Category description 1b. Category table
Category b: 2a. Category description 2b. Category table

But instead, the outcome looks like this:

So as you see not only does it not lay out the page correctly (the order is descrption1, description2, table1, table2, mind the location of <h1>THE END</h1>), it also doesn't seem to correctly match the products of category. The same result happens when Id put in the array

"product_cat" => 14 //proven category id, containing posts

I'm experienced in wp, but fairly new to woocommerce. If anyone could help me with these issues, It would be gladly appreciated.

actually just a point you have a lot of open questions with no reponses / accepted answers? — David, May 08 '16 at 14:37

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 08 '16 at 14:36

Hard to tell from your images but i'm nearly 100% you are not closing the table tags correctly and what you are describing is exactly what would happen in this case.

Problem is you open a table tag on one iteration point (foreach) and then add 2 rows, ok so far, on the next iteration point, you add a h2 tag inside the open table tag and so on.

The browser will attempt to fix these for you by closing the tags but it will not re-arrange your html for you, so the h tags are visible above the table in the rendered view.

See below: The table is only opened if there are posts. If you want one opened when no posts, you will need to close the table before declaring "no posts found" etc

<?php

$args2 = array( 'taxonomy'  =>   'product_cat', 'parent' => 9 );
$sub_cats = get_categories( $args2 );

foreach( $sub_cats as $sub_category ) { ?>

    <div class="treatments-description col-md-9" id="<?php echo $sub_category->term_id;?>">

        <h2 class="section-heading">
            <span class="line-behind-text"><?php echo $sub_category->name;?></span>
        </h2>

        <p class="section-text">
            OPIS: <?php echo category_description(); ?> //this part does not work too, not sure why
        </p>

        <h3 class="section-heading"><p class="line-behind-text">Dostepne zabiegi</p></h3>
        <?php

            $name = $sub_category->name;
            $args = array( 'post_type' => 'product', 
                           "product_cat" => $sub_category->term_id //PROBLEM HERE
                    );

             $loop = new WP_Query( $args );

             if ( $loop->have_posts() ) {
                //only include the table if we have posts???

                    echo '<table class="treatments-table table products">';

                    echo '<tr class="table-heading">
                        <th class="name" id="<?php echo $sub_category->term_id;?>">Usluga</th>
                        <th>Czas trwania</th>
                        <th>Cena</th>
                        <th></th>
                        </tr>';



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

                     $product = new WC_Product(get_the_ID()); ?>

                     <tr>
                         <td class="name"><?php the_title(); ?><p class="small"><?php the_content(); ?></p></td>
                         <td><?php the_excerpt(); ?></td>
                         <td><?php echo $product->price; ?>zl</td>
                         <td><button class="button-product materialbutton">Rezerwuj</button> </td>
                    </tr> <?php

                 endwhile;

                echo '</table>'; 


             } 
             else {

                 echo __( 'No products found' );
             } ?>

             <h1>THE END</h1> <?php
} //ALL UNCLOSED TAGS ARE GETTING CLOSED AFTERWARDS -- must close tags in the loop, otherwise multiple open tags!!

Your code works, for everything exept displaying the products. It gives me "no products found" even if it displays the category info correctly — aln447, May 09 '16 at 11:33
The issue appears the same even if I give the args a static "product_cat" => 13, where 13 is a cat containing products, according to wp-admin at least — aln447, May 09 '16 at 11:41
FIXED! The problem was that product_cat takes the name not the id, so using ` $args = array( 'post_type' => 'product', "product_cat" => $sub_category->name //PROBLEM HERE );` Worked just fine — aln447, May 09 '16 at 11:44

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

For your first problem, I am pretty sure that you need to replace category_description(); by $sub_category->description; (in the code below is $sub_cat->description;)
For you second problem, I can't test it and i am not completely sure, but you need something more (see in here)…
You need also closing your table with </table> (near the end) and also </div> (at the end)

<?php

    $args2 = array( 'taxonomy'  =>   'product_cat', 'parent' => 9 );
    $sub_cats = get_categories( $args2 );

    foreach( $sub_cats as $sub_cat ) { ?>
        $sub_cat_name = $sub_cat->name;
        $sub_cat_description = $sub_cat->description; // <= Here (1)
        $sub_cat_id = $sub_cat->term_id;

    <div class="treatments-description col-md-9" id="<?php echo $sub_category->term_id;?>">

        <h2 class="section-heading">
            <span class="line-behind-text"><?php echo $sub_cat_name; ?></span>
        </h2>

        <p class="section-text">
            OPIS: <?php echo $sub_cat_description; ?>
        </p>

        <h3 class="section-heading"><p class="line-behind-text">Dostępne zabiegi</p></h3>

        <table class="treatments-table table products">

            <tr class="table-heading">
                <th class="name" id="<?php echo $sub_cat_id; ?>">Usługa</th>
                <th>Czas trwania</th>
                <th>Cena</th>
                <th></th>
            </tr>
        <?php

            global $post; // Here (2)
            $terms = get_the_terms( $post->ID, 'product_cat' );
            foreach ($terms as $term) {
                $product_cat_id = $term->term_id;
                // $product_cat_name = $term->name;
                break;
            }
            $args = array( 
                'post_type' => 'product', 
                'product_cat' => $product_cat_id'
            );

            $loop = new WP_Query( $args );

            if ( $loop->have_posts() ) {

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

                    $product = new WC_Product(get_the_ID()); ?>

            <tr>
                <td class="name"><?php the_title(); ?><p class="small"><?php the_content(); ?></p></td>
                <td><?php the_excerpt(); ?></td>
                <td><?php echo $product->price; ?>zł</td>
                <td><button class="button-product materialbutton">Rezerwuj</button> </td>
            </tr>
            <?php 
                endwhile; ?>
        </table>
        <?php 
            } 
            else {
                echo __( 'No products found' );
            } ?>

         <h1>THE END</h1> 
         <?php
         } 
         ?>
     </div>

WooCommerce: products-of-category loop bizarre problems

2 Answers2