Why on earth is this piece of code not working?

    $my_query = new WP_Query('category_name=feature');
    while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post();
        echo 'test';
    endwhile;

I've tried with Feature and feature, no difference. I need to get post by category name.

Any help appreciated.

update

This is not working either: $my_query = new WP_Query('cat=3');

code

// index.php

<?php
    include_once('header.php');
?>

<div id="fp-slider-container" class="blue-gradient">
    <div class="main-content-container">
        <?php
        query_posts( 'cat=3&posts_per_page=5' );

        while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();
            echo 'test';
        endwhile;


        ?>
    </div>
</div>

<?php
    include_once('footer.php');
?>

Why on earth is this piece of code not working?

    $my_query = new WP_Query('category_name=feature');
    while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post();
        echo 'test';
    endwhile;

I've tried with Feature and feature, no difference. I need to get post by category name.

Any help appreciated.

update

This is not working either: $my_query = new WP_Query('cat=3');

code

// index.php

<?php
    include_once('header.php');
?>

<div id="fp-slider-container" class="blue-gradient">
    <div class="main-content-container">
        <?php
        query_posts( 'cat=3&posts_per_page=5' );

        while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();
            echo 'test';
        endwhile;


        ?>
    </div>
</div>

<?php
    include_once('footer.php');
?>

• wp-query

• I'll ask the obvious first: do you definitely have at least one post in that category? – Pippin Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 21:34
• he he, yes. I got 3 :) – Steven Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 21:35
• Can you provide the complete context that this query is being used in? – Pippin Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 21:46
• @Pippin here you go – Steven Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 22:01
• You do not want to use query_posts(). Does WP_Query return anything if you don't specify a category? – Pippin Commented Sep 7, 2012 at 22:26

3 Answers 3

A common pitfall is the fact that:

category_name takes the category SLUG NOT the name as attribute

This is often mistaken.

instead of hacking index.php why not use the pre_get_posts filter?

add_filter('pre_get_posts', 'filter_homepage_posts');
function filter_homepage_posts($query) {
    $limit_number_of_posts = 5;
    $featured_category_id = get_cat_id('Reviews'); // by cat name...
    if ($query->is_home) {
        $query->set('cat', $featured_category_id);
        $query->set('showposts', $limit_number_of_posts);
    }
  return $query;
}

copied from: http://www.seanbehan/intercepting-the-wordpress-loop

should also work like this since technically the query passes by reference

add_action('pre_get_posts', 'filter_homepage_posts');
function filter_homepage_posts( $query) {
    $limit_number_of_posts = 5;
    $featured_category = 'bacon-category'; // by cat slug...
    if ($query->is_home) {
        $query->set('category_name', $featured_category);
        $query->set('showposts', $limit_number_of_posts);
    }
  return $query;
}

As Hexodus mentioned, category_name actually requires a category slug.

If you're determined to use the actual category name as an input, then you can do something like this:

$args['category_id'] = get_cat_ID('Category Name');

or this:

$args['category_name'] = (get_category(get_cat_ID('Category Name'))) -> slug;

Documentation:

get_cat_ID: Codex, Developer Resources

get_category: Codex, Developer Resources

WP_Query: Codex, Developer Resources

get_posts: Codex, Developer Resources