wordpress nivo slider creating custom permalink option during post? - wordpress

Question

I am not using the nivo slider wordpress plugin, instead I am using regular nivo slider jquery and implemented it to work in wordpress, and currently my "read more" button is as follows:
<a href='".get_permalink()."'>Read More</a>
What I want to implement is something like a get_permalinkpage? So basically I want to be able to make the read more link to a wordpress page of my choosing instead of the post's permalink. But I do not know how to implement a custom option to the posts page that would allow the user to say "Choose from pages to link the nivo slider slide to: (then shows pages on website)" and then output that selection.
Any help? This is the last thing I need to implement for our website!

Answer 1

Right, I have your answer here as it's something I did myself recently. This is really a question about custom metaboxes. Here's some resources on it - I got sent a link on it from a mate who recommends this;
http://www.deluxeblogtips.com/meta-box/
And in the Bones theme the author recommends this one;
https://github.com/jaredatch/Custom-Metaboxes-and-Fields-for-WordPress
I will post some code here if you want to quickly get going with it. I would place the following code in a file in it's own and include it from your functions.php, ie;
require_once('includes/metabox-post.php');
Create an includes directory in your theme directory and create a file containing this code;
<?php
/* CUSTOM METABOX -----------------------------------------------------*/
//We create an array called $meta_box and set the array key to the relevant post type
$meta_box_post['post'] = array(
//This is the id applied to the meta box
'id' => 'post-format-meta',
//This is the title that appears on the meta box container
'title' => 'My Custom Metabox',
//This defines the part of the page where the edit screen section should be shown
'context' => 'normal',
//This sets the priority within the context where the boxes should show
'priority' => 'high',
//Here we define all the fields we want in the meta box
'fields' => array(
array(
'name' => 'Home Slider Link',
'desc' => 'You can create a custom link for the home slider image (ie to link to the shop). If left blank, it will by default link through to this post.',
'id' => 'home-slide-link',
'type' => 'text',
'default' => ''
)
)
);
add_action('admin_menu', 'meta_add_box_post');
//Add meta boxes to post types
function meta_add_box_post() {
global $meta_box_post;
foreach($meta_box_post as $post_type => $value) {
add_meta_box($value['id'], $value['title'], 'meta_format_box_post', $post_type, $value['context'], $value['priority']);
}
}
//Format meta boxes
function meta_format_box_post() {
global $meta_box_post, $post;
// Use nonce for verification
echo '<input type="hidden" name="plib_meta_box_nonce" value="', wp_create_nonce(basename(__FILE__)), '" />';
echo '<table class="form-table">';
foreach ($meta_box_post[$post->post_type]['fields'] as $field) {
// get current post meta data
$meta = get_post_meta($post->ID, $field['id'], true);
echo '<tr>'.
'<th style="width:20%"><label for="'. $field['id'] .'">'. $field['name']. '</label></th>'.
'<td>';
switch ($field['type']) {
case 'text':
echo '<input type="text" name="'. $field['id']. '" id="'. $field['id'] .'" value="'. ($meta ? $meta : $field['default']) . '" size="30" style="width:97%" />'. '<br />'. $field['desc'];
break;
case 'textarea':
echo '<textarea name="'. $field['id']. '" id="'. $field['id']. '" cols="60" rows="4" style="width:97%">'. ($meta ? $meta : $field['default']) . '</textarea>'. '<br />'. $field['desc'];
break;
case 'select':
echo '<select name="'. $field['id'] . '" id="'. $field['id'] . '">';
foreach ($field['options'] as $option) {
echo '<option '. ( $meta == $option ? ' selected="selected"' : '' ) . '>'. $option . '</option>';
}
echo '</select>';
break;
case 'radio':
foreach ($field['options'] as $option) {
echo '<input type="radio" name="' . $field['id'] . '" value="' . $option['value'] . '"' . ( $meta == $option['value'] ? ' checked="checked"' : '' ) . ' />' . $option['name'];
}
break;
case 'checkbox':
echo '<input type="checkbox" name="' . $field['id'] . '" id="' . $field['id'] . '"' . ( $meta ? ' checked="checked"' : '' ) . ' /<br /> '. $field['desc'];
break;
}
echo '<td>'.'</tr>';
}
echo '</table>';
}
// Save data from meta box
function meta_save_data_post($post_id) {
global $meta_box_post, $post;
//Verify nonce
if (!wp_verify_nonce($_POST['plib_meta_box_nonce'], basename(__FILE__))) {
return $post_id;
}
//Check autosave
if (defined('DOING_AUTOSAVE') && DOING_AUTOSAVE) {
return $post_id;
}
//Check permissions
if ('page' == $_POST['post_type']) {
if (!current_user_can('edit_page', $post_id)) {
return $post_id;
}
} elseif (!current_user_can('edit_post', $post_id)) {
return $post_id;
}
foreach ($meta_box_post[$post->post_type]['fields'] as $field) {
$old = get_post_meta($post_id, $field['id'], true);
$new = $_POST[$field['id']];
if ($new && $new != $old) {
update_post_meta($post_id, $field['id'], $new);
} elseif ('' == $new && $old) {
delete_post_meta($post_id, $field['id'], $old);
}
}
}
add_action('save_post', 'meta_save_data_post');
?>
The this will add a new custom metabox to your posts which you can type in an alternative url into. This custom option will have the id home-slide-link. To use that url you would include the following in your template loop whilst building up the list of Nivoslider images;
<?php
if ( get_post_meta($post->ID, 'home-slide-link', true) ) :
$slideLink = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'home-slide-link', true);
else :
$slideLink = get_permalink();
endif;
echo '<img src="image link in here" />';
?>
So if the post has a url set for the slider link then it uses that, if not it defaults to the permalink.
Hope this helps you a bit!

Answer 2

Here's my solution based on yours.
<div id="slider">
<?php
$captions = array();
$tmp = $wp_query;
$wp_query = new WP_Query('cat='.$category.'&posts_per_page=$n_slices' );
if($wp_query->have_posts()) :
while($wp_query->have_posts()) :
$wp_query->the_post();
$captions[] = '<p>'.get_the_title($post->ID).'</p><p>'.get_the_excerpt().'</p>';
$image = wp_get_attachment_image_src( get_post_thumbnail_id($post->ID), 'nivothumb');
$mykey_values = get_post_custom_values('home-slide-link');
?>
<a href="<?php echo $mykey_values[0] ?>">
<img src="<?php echo $image[0]; ?>" class="attachment-nivothumb wp-post-image" title="#caption<?php echo count($captions)-1; ?>" alt="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>" />
</a>
<?php
endwhile;
endif;
$wp_query = $tmp;
?>
</div><!-- close #slider -->
<?php
foreach($captions as $key => $caption) :
?>
<div id="caption<?php echo $key; ?>" class="nivo-html-caption">
<?php echo $caption;?>
</div>
<?php
endforeach;
?>