Listing Child Pages in a Certain Order?

Question

I'm trying to show child-pages in a certain order, in a list.

This is my code to output the pages as a list:

$parent = $wp_query->post->ID;
wp_list_pages("title_li=&child_of=$parent&echo=1&sort_column=post_title" );

Now I want to show the first four of the pages in a particular order:

---

1. Summary
2. Info
3. Groups
4. Entries
5. Other Page
6. Another Page

---

In other words, Summary, Info, Groups, Entries should be shown in that order (providing they exist), and other pages below. How would I achieve that? I've noticed there are parameters to include and exclude pages using wp_list_pages. These parameters take page ID numbers as variables, so I perhaps the pseudo-code is:

---

1. make a array of the IDs of child pages which include Summary, Info, Groups, Entries in their titles, and order these correctly
2. make a array of the IDs of child pages which don't include the 4 pages
3. join these arrays together
4. print out the html of the array of page IDs

---

Answer 1

Based on your comments here is another option , using wp_list_pages and without having to work with arrays and pulling content manually, I'm leaving out a bunch of the options, just the bare essentials.

<ul>
<?php
  $priority_pages = '5,1,3,7';
  wp_list_pages(array('include' => $priority_pages);
  wp_list_pages(array('exclude' => $priority_pages);
?>
</ul>

since, wp_list_pages, just gives you the <li> elements, you can use this function a couple of times to pull all the pages you need. So now you can only get the pages you want out the top, and then pull in the rest. You can use all the rest of the options to sort and filter the tree like normal (Note, I like using arrays instead of the string, code looks cleaner IMO).

Read the codex page for wp_list_pages for more options

To get a list of ID's with what you want.

<?php
  $my_wp_query = new WP_Query();
  $all_wp_pages = $my_wp_query->query(array('post_type' => 'page'));

  $parent = $wp_query->$post-ID;
  $children = $get_page_children($parent, $all_wp_pages);
?>

What we have now is an array in $children with the information we need. What I would at this point is loop through $children looking for the filed post_title to equal what you want, and store that ID. With these store as an array, you would be able to use those with the include, exclude functions of wp_list_pages

So not 100% complete, but it will get you started

<?php
  $priority_pages_a = array();
  foreach($children as $child) {
    if(strpos($child->post_title,"Summary") {
      $priority_pages_a[0] = $child->ID;
    } elseif (strpos($child->post_title,"Info") {
      $priority_pages_a[1] = $child->ID;
    }
  }

  $priority_pages = implode(",",$priority_pages_a);

?>

What we've done is created an array that puts the ID into the array order that you want. Then implodes that into a comma separated string, for which you can use the wp_list_pages to get the ones you want / need.

The get_page_children doesn't touch the database, but the get all pages does :/ so it's a wash.

I haven't tested this code altogether, but it should work.

Also note there is a get_page_by_title, so if your titles are exactly 'Summary' then you can use it to get the ID, but in your question you said contains, so I went with this route instead.

Answer 2

The wp_list_pages() function accepts an argument for 'sort_column', this defaults to menu_order then post_title. If you quick_edit the pages, you can set the order for each page.

Answer 3

If this is for a menu, I would suggest you you look at the new Nav Menu system in Wordpress 3.0. You can create a menu from any group of pages, posts, or even external links.

You can get to it in the admin section at Appearance → Menus

• Here is the codex page about the SubPanel
• Here is the codex function reference

Answer 4

You could have 2 separate menus, as you already mention yourself.

Use the list_pages twice. Once including your fixed pages and using the menu order as a parameter. And once using exclude as a parameter, excluding the items you use in your first menu. Just make sure to get them in one UL.

Alternatively, you could decide to make a list_pages for each separate page of the first four pages. Not sure if this is considered a neat or clean solution, though.