Using WordPress Archive Widget to Display Customized Archives

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Using WordPress Archive Widget to Display Customized Archives

December 8, 2016
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In WordPress you can easily display archives, on a monthly or yearly basis, as a single link using the default archive widget. However to get a customized display, you need to rewrite the code. In this article, we will explain how to display lists of archives on a monthly basis under a yearly heading.

You need to add the following PHP code to functions.php file of your active theme. The code snippet below generates a list of monthly achives with separated by yearly headings.

function pt_year_wise_monthly_archive(){
	global $wpdb;
	$year_prev    = '';
	$year_current = '';

	$where = apply_filters( 'getarchives_where', "WHERE post_type = 'post' AND post_status = 'publish' AND post_date <= now()" );
	$join = apply_filters( 'getarchives_join', '' );
	$months = $wpdb->get_results( "SELECT YEAR(post_date) AS year, MONTH(post_date) AS numMonth, DATE_FORMAT(post_date, '%M') AS month, count(ID) as post_count FROM $wpdb->posts $join $where GROUP BY YEAR(post_date), MONTH(post_date) ORDER BY post_date DESC" );
	$html = '';
	foreach($months as $month) :
		$year_current = $month->year;
		if ($year_current != $year_prev){
			if ($year_prev != null){
				$html .= '</ul>';
			}
		$html .= '<h3>'.$month->year.'</h3>';
		$html .= '<ul class="arc-list">';
	  }
		$html .= '<li>';
			$html .= '<a href="'.get_bloginfo('url').'/'.$month->year.'/'.date("m", strtotime($month->month)).'">';
				$html .= '<span class="arc-month">'.$month->month.'</span>';
				$html .= '<span class="arc-count">'.$month->post_count.'</span>';
			$html .= '</a>';
		$html .= '</li>';
	$year_prev = $year_current;
	endforeach;
	$html .= '</ul>';
	$html .= '<style>
	.arc-list a	{ display:block;}
	.arc-list li	{  list-style:none; }
	</style>';
echo $html;
}

function pt_year_wise_monthly_archive(){

global $wpdb;

$year_prev = '';

$year_current = '';

$where = apply_filters( 'getarchives_where', "WHERE post_type = 'post' AND post_status = 'publish' AND post_date <= now()" );

$join = apply_filters( 'getarchives_join', '' );

$months = $wpdb->get_results( "SELECT YEAR(post_date) AS year, MONTH(post_date) AS numMonth, DATE_FORMAT(post_date, '%M') AS month, count(ID) as post_count FROM $wpdb->posts $join $where GROUP BY YEAR(post_date), MONTH(post_date) ORDER BY post_date DESC" );

$html = '';

foreach($months as $month) :

$year_current = $month->year;

if ($year_current != $year_prev){

if ($year_prev != null){

$html .= '</ul>';

}

$html .= '<h3>'.$month->year.'</h3>';

$html .= '<ul class="arc-list">';

}

$html .= '<li>';

$html .= '<a href="'.get_bloginfo('url').'/'.$month->year.'/'.date("m", strtotime($month->month)).'">';

$html .= '<span class="arc-month">'.$month->month.'</span>';

$html .= '<span class="arc-count">'.$month->post_count.'</span>';

$html .= '</a>';

$html .= '</li>';

$year_prev = $year_current;

endforeach;

$html .= '</ul>';

$html .= '<style>

.arc-list a { display:block;}

.arc-list li { list-style:none; }

</style>';

echo $html;

}

Place the callback function pt_year_wise_monthly_archive() in you template file where you want to display the archive listing widget e.g sidebar.php. The function will output html of archive listing as explained.

You are done!

User Comments

2 thoughts on “Using WordPress Archive Widget to Display Customized Archives”

Alex says:

March 16, 2018 at 4:26 am

For a novice, to where does one add the custom PHP code?

PressTigers says:

March 28, 2018 at 4:45 pm

Hello Alex,

Please add the above code snippet in your theme’s functions.php file and use the callback pt_year_wise_monthly_archive() where you want to display the customize archive widget.

Thanks for reaching us out. Let us know if you need any other assistance from us.

Regards,
Abdullah | WP Plugin Developer
Email: support@presstigers.com