Categories without submit button

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Well one of the reason for the early launch of this blog is what you are looking for right now, the plugin that displays your categories without that anoying submit button, so it’s more that fair that this plugin be the first post in this blog.

How this work

It works exactly in the same way that wp_dropdown_categories() function. I only have added the “onchange” argument to the original function to make possible the use of the onchange() event, and the obligatory form because the original function doesn’t include it.

Values accepted by “onchange”:

Instalation and configuration

  1. Download altrugon_dropdown_categories.zip
  2. Unzip the file
  3. Place the folder altrugon_dropdown_categories in your directory wp-content/plugins
  4. Activate the plugin
  5. Paste this line in your code: <?php altrugon_dropdown_categories(’onchange_submit=1′); ?>
  6. Enjoy

Versions

  • v1.2: Add an empty option. This is necessary when you don’t have a submit button.
  • v1.1: Fix the validation XHTML issue. I have enclosed the select box inside a div which also has a class.

Well, that’s all. If you have any question or suggestion don’t hasitate to contact me.

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Entry posted on March 20th, 2007 at 20:33 under Wordpress.
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24 Responses to “Categories without submit button”

  1. Mike
    April 2nd, 2007 at 21:19

    I get the following error when I use your plug in:

    Fatal error: Call to undefined function: get_categories() in /home/republic/public_html/wp-content/plugins/altrugon_dropdown_categories.php on line 48

  2. lolly
    April 2nd, 2007 at 23:56

    Where in my code do I place that line? I assumed I just put it in the sidebar where I want the categories to show up, but that produced an error that didn’t let any of my content load. Plugin is installed and activated. Is there somewhere else I’m supposed to put that line?
    Thank you!

  3. Alberto Trujillo
    April 3rd, 2007 at 09:24

    Mike which version of WordPress are you using. This plugin only works with WordPress 2.1.

    Try to download the plugin again; I uploaded the plugin yesterday because I found some mistakes. Make sure you clean your cache when you reinstall the plugin.

  4. Alberto Trujillo
    April 3rd, 2007 at 09:26

    Lolly you can paste the line in your sidebar replacing the code that was showing your categories. It should works fine, but could you give me more information about the error, or could you show me the piece of code where you pasted the new function?.

  5. Mindy
    April 22nd, 2007 at 02:40

    Great plugin!

    Thanks so much for sharing this with us..

    Lolly – Make sure you copy the line in your side bar from the read me file. Sometimes if you just copy and paste the line from here you get extra characters in it which may cause an error.

  6. UncleSam
    April 24th, 2007 at 02:22

    I have wp 2.1.3 installed, found a solution almost like I was looking for, wp_dropdown_categories(), previous code was called from widgets.php (I am using widgets) and lokked like this:
    <code>

    </code>
    I replaced it with:
    <code>

    </code>
    (I previously activated the plugin of course)

    Nothing worked, the site returned an error. Maybe this is due to the widgets plugin that I am using?

  7. Alberto Trujillo
    April 24th, 2007 at 18:59

    UncleSam I can’t see your code at all, however I’m using widgets with this theme and it works fine for me. What I did was to go to the php file that holds the category widget and over there I put the piece of code that you need to call the plugin.

    I hope this will help you.

  8. Paul
    April 25th, 2007 at 11:24

    Am hoping to get your plugin working for my site. I’ve got it installed/activated. I placed the text from the readme in my sidebar template, but I get “Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘=’ in” and no other sidebar information when I save the template.

  9. Paul
    April 25th, 2007 at 11:31

    Ahhhhh of course it was my fault. It works perfectly now that I removed my earlier attempt at a javascript drop-down. (Silly me)

    Just one question now. Is there an option to sort the drop-down list alphabetically?

  10. Alberto Trujillo
    April 25th, 2007 at 20:13

    Paul is totally possible because the plugin accepts the same parameters that the wp_dropdown_categories() function. There is a link on top of this post that will send you to the description function page in the wordpress site if you want to check which parameters you can use.

  11. Paul
    April 26th, 2007 at 10:45

    Works great, thanks!!

  12. Paul
    May 2nd, 2007 at 21:08

    Ok, I’ve been using it a couple days now and it’s great. I have the working drop-down and everything is sorted the way I want. The only thing I can’t figure out is that if I’m on my blog main page and click the drop down, I can’t choose the top category (Adventure).

    Instead I have to select any other category, and then choose the first one.

    Is there any way to add a dummy option to the top of the list?

    Like:

    subjectss

    Thanks,
    -Paul

  13. Paul
    May 2nd, 2007 at 21:09

    option value='' subjects /option

    Whoops.

  14. Alberto Trujillo
    May 2nd, 2007 at 22:30

    To be honest with you Paul, the dummy option is already added. You and I are using the same version of the plugin, but I have to tell you that although is working here I have seen that in other recent blog where I have added it is giving me the same problem than you (I think is with WP 2.1.3)

    As soon I have a chance to take a look I will let you know what is happening.

    ps: if you know html, try to open the plugin file and check that the empty option is over there.

  15. Paul
    May 3rd, 2007 at 15:43

    I’ve got ‘hide_empty’ => 1 in the plugin file default array. Thanks for the help!
    -PL

  16. Dao By Design
    August 29th, 2007 at 07:16

    Awesome. Thanks for this plugin!

  17. rodrigo
    September 27th, 2007 at 04:00

    any plans to get this working w/ wordpress 2.2? I’m getting this error just like the first guy:

    Fatal error: Call to undefined function: get_categories()

    what is the equivalent to this command in wordpress 2.2?

  18. KIm
    October 5th, 2007 at 23:30

    Hi, I love your plug-in, it works great!
    but i have a little problem, how can i make a empty default select ? the very first selection on my drop list is a category, because of that user can never select that category.
    On your page, you have the default selection set to an empty category.
    Can anyone teach me how to do it? Thank you

  19. Alberto Trujillo
    October 10th, 2007 at 23:10

    Sorry guys,

    Apparently you were downloading the old version. Please try again and check if your previous bugs are gone.

  20. gscot81
    December 5th, 2007 at 10:05

    I followed the directions on this, up to the last line: “PASTE into your Code”…… WHERE?????

    I tried putting it at the top of the executable Code, refreshed… nothing…

    Any ideas?

  21. Alberto Trujillo
    December 5th, 2007 at 20:28

    - Go to presentation > theme editor and open the file named sidebar.php – Look for the piece of code similar to this one “wp_list_categories()”
    - Comment that code, don’t delete it just in case.
    - Paste the new code right there in a way that fit with the rest of the file.

    That’s all that you need to do; I can’t give you more details because your sidebar.php file could be different to mine.

    Good luck

  22. Immiskima
    June 3rd, 2009 at 18:15

    Sweet blog. I never know what I am going to come across next. I think you should do more posting as you have some pretty intelligent stuff to say.

    I’ll be watching you.

  23. Yesenia Jiminez
    June 11th, 2010 at 08:08

    Nice blog. Can’t wait to start my own blog.

  24. Belva Reutlinger
    June 13th, 2010 at 23:46

    Another Great wordpress post, I will bookmark this post in my Mixx account. Have a good evening.

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