Joomla how to make the link to category work

Question

I have the following code inside mytemplate/html/com_content/featured/default.php

<?php if (!empty($this->lead_items)) : ?>
    <div class="<?php echo $this->pageclass_sfx;?>">
<div class="block-head">
        <h2><?php echo $this->escape($this->params->get('page_heading')); ?></h2>
        <a href="<?php echo JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getCategoryRoute($this->item->catslug)); ?>" class="more">all news</a>
    </div><!-- .block-head -->
<?php foreach ($this->lead_items as &$item) : ?>
    <dl>
        <dt>
        <?php 
            $params = JComponentHelper::getParams( 'com_content' );
            $this->item = &$item;
            $images = json_decode($item->images);
        ?>  
        <?php  if (isset($images->image_intro) and !empty($images->image_intro)) : ?>
            <?php $imgfloat = (empty($images->float_intro)) ? $params->get('float_intro') : $images->float_intro; ?>
                    <a href="<?php echo JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getArticleRoute($this->item->slug, $this->item->catid)); ?>" class="img-intro-<?php echo htmlspecialchars($imgfloat); ?>">
                    <img <?php if ($images->image_intro_caption):
                    echo 'class="caption"'.' title="' .htmlspecialchars($images->image_intro_caption) .'"';
                endif; ?>
                src="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($images->image_intro); ?>" alt="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($images->image_intro_alt); ?>"/>
            </a>
        <?php endif; ?>
        </dt>
        <dd>
            <var class="date"><?php echo JHtml::_('date', $this->item->publish_up, JText::_('DATE_FORMAT_LC')); ?></var>
            <h3><a href="<?php echo JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getArticleRoute($this->item->slug, $this->item->catid)); ?>" class="<?php if($this->params->get('page_heading') == 'projects'){echo 'more';}; ?>"><?php echo $this->item->title; ?></a></h3>
            <?php echo $this->item->introtext; ?>
            <div class="news-link clearfix">
                <a href="<?php echo JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getArticleRoute($this->item->slug, $this->item->catid)); ?>" class="more"><?php  echo JText::sprintf('COM_CONTENT_READ_MORE_TITLE'); ?></a>
                <div class="line"></div>
            </div>
        </dd>
    <?php
        $leadingcount++;
    ?>
    </dl>
<?php endforeach; ?>

All works fine, except the link to category news. Here it is:

<a href="<?php echo JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getCategoryRoute($this->item->catslug)); ?>" class="more">all news</a>

How to make it work?

Thank you.

---

Thank you Lodder for your help. I used your code, just added break to it

<div class="block-head">
    <h2><?php echo $this->escape($this->params->get('page_heading')); ?></h2>
    <?php foreach ($this->lead_items as &$item) :
          $this->item = &$item;
          $title = $this->escape($this->item->category_title);
          echo '<a href="'.JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getCategoryRoute($this->item->catid, $this->item->catid)).'" class="more">all '.$title.'</a>';
          break;
     endforeach; ?>
</div><!-- .block-head -->

Answer 1

The only was I was able to do it was like this:

<div class="block-head">
    <h2><?php echo $this->escape($this->params->get('page_heading')); ?></h2>
    <?php foreach ($this->lead_items as &$item) :
              $this->item = &$item;
              echo '<a href="'.JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getCategoryRoute($this->item->catid, $this->item->catid)).'">all news</a>';
           endforeach; ?>
</div><!-- .block-head -->

It has to be includes inside the foreach statement and contain $this->item = &$item; before it.

Answer 2

Complete Solution

<div class="block-head">
    <h2><?php echo $this->escape($this->params->get('page_heading')); ?></h2>
    <?php foreach ($this->lead_items as &$item) :
          $this->item = &$item;
          $title = $this->escape($this->item->category_title);
          echo '<a href="'.JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getCategoryRoute($this->item->catid, $this->item->catid)).'" class="more">all '.$title.'</a>';
          break;
     endforeach; ?>
</div>
<?php foreach ($this->lead_items as &$item) : ?>
    <dl>
        <dt>
        <?php 
            $params = JComponentHelper::getParams( 'com_content' );
            $this->item = &$item;
            $images = json_decode($item->images);
        ?>  
        <?php  if (isset($images->image_intro) and !empty($images->image_intro)) : ?>
            <?php $imgfloat = (empty($images->float_intro)) ? $params->get('float_intro') : $images->float_intro; ?>
                    <a href="<?php echo JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getArticleRoute($this->item->slug, $this->item->catid)); ?>" class="img-intro-<?php echo htmlspecialchars($imgfloat); ?>">
                    <img <?php if ($images->image_intro_caption):
                    echo 'class="caption"'.' title="' .htmlspecialchars($images->image_intro_caption) .'"';
                endif; ?>
                src="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($images->image_intro); ?>" alt="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($images->image_intro_alt); ?>"/>
            </a>
        <?php endif; ?>
        </dt>
        <dd>
            <var class="date"><?php echo JHtml::_('date', $this->item->publish_up, JText::_('DATE_FORMAT_LC')); ?></var>
            <h3><a href="<?php echo JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getArticleRoute($this->item->slug, $this->item->catid)); ?>" class="<?php if($this->params->get('page_heading') == 'projects'){echo 'more';}; ?>"><?php echo $this->item->title; ?></a></h3>
            <?php echo $this->item->introtext; ?>
            <div class="news-link clearfix">
                <a href="<?php echo JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getArticleRoute($this->item->slug, $this->item->catid)); ?>" class="more"><?php  echo JText::sprintf('COM_CONTENT_READ_MORE_TITLE'); ?></a>
                <div class="line"></div>
            </div>
        </dd>
    <?php
        $leadingcount++;
    ?>
    </dl>
<?php endforeach; ?>