WooCommerce custom product loop shortcode with optional tax queries issue

Question

In WooCommerce, I have created a the following shortcode which works great:

add_shortcode ('andersen_product_slider', 'andersen_product_slider_loop' );
/**
* Create WooCommerce Featured Image Loop Slider
*/
function andersen_product_slider_loop($atts, $content = null) {

    extract( shortcode_atts( array(
        'title'    => 'Featured Products',
        'link'     => 'Explore',
        'linkurl'  => 'http://localhost:8888/andersenbeauty',
        'featured' => 'IN',
        'category' => '',
        'brand'    => '',
    ), $atts) );
        
    $categories  = explode(',' , $atts['category']);
    $brand  = explode(',' , $atts['brand']);
    
    ob_start();

    // Setup your custom query
    $meta_query  = WC()->query->get_meta_query();
    $tax_query   = WC()->query->get_tax_query();
       
    $args = array( 
        'post_type' => 'product',
        'post_status' => 'publish',
        'posts_per_page' => -1,
        'product_cat' => $category,
        'orderby' => 'date',
        'order' => 'DESC',
        'meta_query' => $meta_query,
        'tax_query' => array(
            'relation' => 'AND',
             array(
                 'taxonomy' => 'brand',
                 'field' => 'slug',
                 'terms' => $brand,
             ),
             array(
                 'taxonomy' => 'product_visibility',
                 'field'    => 'name',
                 'terms'    => 'featured',
                 'operator' => $featured,
            ),
        ),
    );

// ... / ...

However it breaks when the shortcode does not contain a product category term(s) or a product brand term(s).

How can I edit this to show all categories and all brands if its not referenced within the shortcode?

So using:

[andersen_product_slider title="Latest Products" link="Explore" linkurl="#" featured="IN" category="moisturiser" brand="brandone"]

works fine as expected.

But this:

[andersen_product_slider title="Latest Products" link="Explore" linkurl="#" featured="IN"]

breaks and doesn't display anything…

Any help?

Answer 1

I have removed unnecessary 'featured' => 'IN' shortcode argument, and some other things. Also product category terms are now queried as a "tax query" instead (the right way in WordPress for taxonomy query in a WP_Query ) .

Try the following that should solve your issue:

// Create WooCommerce Featured Image Loop Slider
add_shortcode ('andersen_product_slider', 'andersen_product_slider_loop' );
function andersen_product_slider_loop($atts, $content = null) {
    // Extract shortcode attributes
    extract( shortcode_atts( array(
        'title'    => __('Featured Products'),
        'link'     => __('Explore'),
        'linkurl'  => home_url(), // <= Changed
        'category' => '',
        'brand'    => '',
    ), $atts, 'andersen_product_slider' ) );

    // Get WooCommerce meta query and tax query arguments (optional)
    $meta_query  = WC()->query->get_meta_query();
    $tax_query   = WC()->query->get_tax_query();
    
    $tax_query['relation'] = 'AND';
    $tax_query[] = array(
        'taxonomy' => 'product_visibility',
        'field'    => 'name',
        'terms'    => 'featured',
    );
    
    // Category terms
    if ( ! empty($category) ) {
        $tax_query[] = array(
            'taxonomy' => 'product_cat',
            'field' => 'slug',
            'terms' => explode(',', $category),
        );
    }
    
    // Brand terms
    if ( ! empty($brand) ) {
        $tax_query[] = array(
            'taxonomy' => 'brand', // Or "pa_brand" for WooCommerce brand taxonomy
            'field' => 'slug',
            'terms' => explode(',', $brand),
        );
    }
    
    // The WP_Query
    $loop = new WP_Query( array( 
        'post_type'      => 'product',
        'post_status'    => 'publish',
        'posts_per_page' => -1,
        'orderby'        => 'date',
        'order'          => 'DESC',
        'meta_query'     => $meta_query,
        'tax_query'      => $tax_query,
    ) );    

    ob_start(); // Start buffering (to be use only for printed or echoed content)
    
    // … HERE the rest of your code …
    
    return ob_get_clean(); // return buffered content 
}

It should better work with:

[andersen_product_slider title="Latest Products" linkurl="#" category="moisturiser" brand="brandone"]

or also with (no brand or/and no category) :

[andersen_product_slider title="Latest Products" linkurl="#"]