Load More Posts with AJAX. Step by Step Tutorial Without Plugins.
Load More Posts with AJAX. Step by Step Tutorial Without Plugins tutorial. It is something help you to execute this.
Step 1. Load more button #
You can skip this step if you want to load more posts on scroll.
We begin with the button HTML. Here is just one main rule – do not show the button if there are not enough posts. We will check it with $wp_query->max_num_pages.
<?php global $wp_query; // you can remove this line if everything works for you // don't display the button if there are not enough posts if ( $wp_query->max_num_pages > 1 ) echo '<div class="wp_loadmore">More posts</div>'; // you can use <a> as well ?>
To style the button the according way use CSS below.
.wp_loadmore{
background-color: #ddd;
border-radius: 2px;
display: block;
text-align: center;
font-size: 14px;
font-size: 0.875rem;
font-weight: 800;
letter-spacing:1px;
cursor:pointer;
text-transform: uppercase;
padding: 10px 0;
transition: background-color 0.2s ease-in-out, border-color 0.2s ease-in-out, color 0.3s ease-in-out;
}
.wp_loadmore:hover{
background-color: #767676;
color: #fff;
}
Step 2. Enqueue jQuery and myloadmore.js. Pass query parameters to the script. #
Well, that’s where the magic happens. This small piece of code allows you to pass the according parameters to the script that’s why the button can work on any page – tags, categories, custom post type archives, search etc. You can also use it for WooCommerce to load more products.
function wp_my_load_more_scripts() {
global $wp_query;
// In most cases it is already included on the page and this line can be removed
wp_enqueue_script('jquery');
// register our main script but do not enqueue it yet
wp_register_script( 'my_loadmore', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/myloadmore.js', array('jquery') );
// now the most interesting part
// we have to pass parameters to myloadmore.js script but we can get the parameters values only in PHP
// you can define variables directly in your HTML but I decided that the most proper way is wp_localize_script()
wp_localize_script( 'my_loadmore', 'wp_loadmore_params', array(
'ajaxurl' => site_url() . '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', // WordPress AJAX
'posts' => json_encode( $wp_query->query_vars ), // everything about your loop is here
'current_page' => get_query_var( 'paged' ) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1,
'max_page' => $wp_query->max_num_pages
) );
wp_enqueue_script( 'my_loadmore' );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wp_my_load_more_scripts' );
If you do not know, the above code is for your functions.php. And please note, my load more button is adapted for the main loop only. If you need it for a custom loop, you can.
You can also pass ajaxurl like this admin_url( ‘admin-ajax.php’ ).
Step 3. myloadmore.js – what is inside? #
It is a small JS file, actually you can place it anywhere you want, for simpleness I decided to place it just in a theme directory (line 9 of previous code).
I also think that I should give you a choice – a load more button or just load posts by scroll.
With the help of Load More button
jQuery(function($){ // use jQuery code inside this to avoid "$ is not defined" error
$('.wp_loadmore').click(function(){
var button = $(this),
data = {
'action': 'loadmore',
'query': wp_loadmore_params.posts, // that's how we get params from wp_localize_script() function
'page' : wp_loadmore_params.current_page
};
$.ajax({ // you can also use $.post here
url : wp_loadmore_params.ajaxurl, // AJAX handler
data : data,
type : 'POST',
beforeSend : function ( xhr ) {
button.text('Loading...'); // change the button text, you can also add a preloader image
},
success : function( data ){
if( data ) {
button.text( 'More posts' ).prev().before(data); // insert new posts
wp_loadmore_params.current_page++;
if ( wp_loadmore_params.current_page == wp_loadmore_params.max_page )
button.remove(); // if last page, remove the button
// you can also fire the "post-load" event here if you use a plugin that requires it
// $( document.body ).trigger( 'post-load' );
} else {
button.remove(); // if no data, remove the button as well
}
}
});
});
});
Step 4. wp_ajax_ #
This is the AJAX handler function. Insert it to your functions.php file.
function wp_loadmore_ajax_handler(){
// prepare our arguments for the query
$args = json_decode( stripslashes( $_POST['query'] ), true );
$args['paged'] = $_POST['page'] + 1; // we need next page to be loaded
$args['post_status'] = 'publish';
// it is always better to use WP_Query but not here
query_posts( $args );
if( have_posts() ) :
// run the loop
while( have_posts() ): the_post();
// look into your theme code how the posts are inserted, but you can use your own HTML of course
// do you remember? - my example is adapted for Twenty Seventeen theme
get_template_part( 'template-parts/post/content', get_post_format() );
// for the test purposes comment the line above and uncomment the below one
// the_title();
endwhile;
endif;
die; // here we exit the script and even no wp_reset_query() required!
}
add_action('wp_ajax_loadmore', 'wp_loadmore_ajax_handler'); // wp_ajax_{action}
add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_loadmore', 'wp_loadmore_ajax_handler'); // wp_ajax_nopriv_{action}
