Wordpress has different options for organizing posts. One of them is Categories. The categories can only be assigned to posts, not to pages in Wordpress. But sometime you might want to categorize the pages as well. Here are a few cases.

1. To display related posts on a page.
2. To display pages and categories in navigation menu in mixed order. Wordpress provides the two different functions to display a list of Pages and Categories. But it doesn’t give the option to setup a navigation menu mixed with pages and categories, like the example given below. In such a case you can map pages to categories and use them as category pages. Obviously it will need some changes in the template.
   • Page 1
   • Page 2
   • Category 1
   • Page 3
   • Category 2
3. To display pages on the category pages with the posts.

How to map Categories to pages

Add following lines of code in the function.php of your theme directory. If you don’t have a function.php in the theme directory then you can add it using any text editor. You can also download the plugin which I have made from http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/map-categories-to-pages/.

function add_category_box_on_page(){
//add meta box
add_meta_box('categorydiv', __('Categories'), 'post_categories_meta_box', 'page', 'side', 'low');
}

add_action('admin_menu', 'add_category_box_on_page');

It will show the category selection box on the right side on “Edit Page” page.

Template changes

You will also have to edit the page template to use categories. You can use standard category code on your page template. Take a look at http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_the_category and http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/the_category.

Here is a small piece of code to build a page of posts. This example uses the styles from Wordpress default theme.

<?php
global $post;
$categories = get_the_category($post->ID);
$showposts = -1; // -1 shows all posts
$do_not_show_stickies = 1; // 0 to show stickies
$args=array(
   'category__in' => $categories,
   'showposts' => $showposts,
   'caller_get_posts' => $do_not_show_stickies
   );
$my_query = new WP_Query($args);

?>

	<?php if( $my_query->have_posts() ) : ?>

		<?php while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); ?>
			<?php
			//necessary to show the tags
			global $wp_query;
			$wp_query->in_the_loop = true;
			?>
			<div <?php post_class() ?> id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
				<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
				<small><?php the_time('F jS, Y') ?> <!-- by <?php the_author() ?> --></small>

				<div class="entry">
					<?php the_content('Read the rest of this entry »'); ?>
				</div>

				<p class="postmetadata"><?php the_tags('Tags: ', ', ', '
'); ?> Posted in <?php the_category(', ') ?> | <?php edit_post_link('Edit', '', ' | '); ?>  <?php comments_popup_link('No Comments »', '1 Comment »', '% Comments »'); ?></p>
			</div>

		<?php endwhile; ?>

	<?php else : ?>

		<h2 class="center">Not Found</h2>
		<p class="center">Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.</p>

	<?php endif; ?>

Displaying pages on Category pages

When Wordpress fetches the posts from database, the default post type is ‘post’. So even when you have mapped a page to a category, it won’t display the page on that category page. The post type needs to be changed explicitly on the category page. To change the post type, add following code in function.php.

//call a function just before the query runs to fetch posts
add_action('pre_get_posts','change_post_type');

function change_post_type($var) {
	if(is_category()) {
    	    	$var->query_vars['post_type'] = 'any';
            	//it will change the value to 'any' from the default value of ;post';
            	//can be any, attachment,  page, post, or revision.
            	//'any' retrieves any type except revisions.
	}
}

I would like to share a few posts which I think are useful.

• Tip : Do more with Format Painter
• You can be a victim of phishing by blindly following a link in an email
• Access dictionary quickly from Apple applications on Mac
• Obscene comments on your blog can put you behind the bars
• Use Computer in Eco-friendly manner
• Useful keyboard shortcuts for Finder
• Tip to quickly close dashboard widget

Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year and Merry Christmas ‘09.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year '09

This year was full of changes and very busy for me. I was too occupied with many projects. I couldn’t even blog after June 3rd.

I will try to blog regularly in the year 2010. I am also planning to include more topics.

Once again Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Blogging.

Clicked pictures with incorrect date and time? It become really hard to organize photos with wrong date and time.

Most of the picture editing software doesn’t allow to change photo capture date but iPhoto gives a convenient way to update this information.

Change date and time of only one picture

Select the picture and change the date & time from Information Panel in the bottom-left corner of iPhoto window. If the Information Panel is not already open click on button in the bottom-left corner.

Information Panel - iPhoto

Change date and time of multiple pictures

Select the pictures and go to Photos menu -> Adjust Date and Time. Here you can enter the new date & time for all the images. iPhoto preserves the original photos and create a new copy for the edited files so select “Modify original files” option to update original files.

Adjust Date and time - iPhoto

Orkut is well integrated with gmail chat. Now you may also notice “Online friends” tab in the left-bottom corner of orkut.

Orkut: Online friends tab

Click on the tab to expend and see the online gmail contacts.

Orkut: Online friends list

Gmail automatically sign into chat when you logon to Gmail.

To avoid this sign out chat before you sign out the Gmail. It won’t automatically sign into chat next time you open Gmail.

Stop Gmail to sign into chat automatically

Surprised!!!

According to Unit Convert widget in Mac OS X’s dashboard US$1 is equal to INR 1.419.

Unit Converter : Conversion of USD to INR

And one British Pound is equal to INR 22.649.

Unit Converter : Conversion of British Pound to INR

That is not all, INR 1 is equal to INR 0.222.

Unit Converter : Conversion of INR to INR

This isn’t only on one Mac. I have tried it on three other Mac’s on different locations in Delhi, India and the results were similar. The exchange rates are provided by Yahoo Finance.

Unit Converter : Exchange rates provided by Yahoo Finance

Think what would be the impact on the economy if these exchange rates were correct…

Apple recently launched iPod Shuffle with a new feature VoiceOver. It also has a big change, no control buttons except the Shuffle, Play in order and Off. The functionality is quite limited if not use with the default headphone. When you switch on the shuffle with anything plugged into headphone jack it starts playing but there is no way to navigate between the songs and playlists.

iPod Shuffle 3rd Gen Controls

I have iPod Nano and iPhone. Sometimes I use them with external speakers using 3.5-mm stereo jack. But iPod Shuffle 3rd Generation can’t be used with other speakers because of lack of control panel. There is same compatibility problem with 3rd party headphones.

iPod Shuffle 3rd Gen

Format Painter is a very good tool in MS office to copy and paste style. If you click only once on the Format Painter icon to copy the style, the Format Painter goes away after one application.

Double click on the format painter icon and you can use it on different part of the the document until you click on the format painter icon again or press ESC.