Get the Image
Get the Image is a plugin that grabs images for you. It was designed to make the process of things such as adding thumbnails, feature images, and/or other images to your blog much easier, but it's so much more than that. It is an image-based representation of your WordPress posts.
What the plugin does
This plugin was made to easily get an image related to a post. This is the default method order in which the plugin attempts to grab an image.
- Meta key (custom field).
- Post thumbnail (WP featured image).
- Image attachment.
- Image embedded in the post content.
- Default/fallback image.
Usage
The basic function call for the plugin is like so:
<?php get_the_image(); ?>
This is the only function you should use from the plugin. It expects to be called within the WordPress posts loop unless you pass it a post ID directly (post_id
argument).
To do more with the image script, you'll need to use what's called function-style parameters. The following is a basic example of using function-style parameters.
<?php get_the_image( array( 'meta_key' => 'thumbnail', 'size' => 'thumbnail' ) ); ?>
Parameters
The get_the_image()
function accepts a single parameter of $args
, which is an array of parameters for deciding how to load an image. The following is the list of all the default arguments.
$defaults = array(
/* Post the image is associated with. */
'post_id' => get_the_ID(),
/* Method order (see methods below). */
'order' => array( 'meta_key', 'featured', 'attachment', 'scan', 'scan_raw', 'callback', 'default' ),
/* Methods of getting an image (in order). */
'meta_key' => array( 'Thumbnail', 'thumbnail' ), // array|string
'featured' => true,
'attachment' => true,
'scan' => false,
'scan_raw' => false, // Note: don't use the array format option with this.
'callback' => null,
'default' => false,
/* Split image from post content (by default, only used with the 'scan_raw' option). */
'split_content' => false,
/* Attachment-specific arguments. */
'size' => has_image_size( 'post-thumbnail' ) ? 'post-thumbnail' : 'thumbnail',
/* Format/display of image. */
'link_to_post' => true,
'image_class' => false,
'width' => false,
'height' => false,
'before' => '',
'after' => '',
/* Minimum allowed sizes. */
'min_width' => 0,
'min_height' => 0,
/* Captions. */
'caption' => false, // Default WP [caption] requires a width.
/* Saving the image. */
'meta_key_save' => false, // Save as metadata (string).
'thumbnail_id_save' => false, // Set 'featured image'.
'cache' => true, // Cache the image.
/* Return/echo image. */
'format' => 'img',
'echo' => true,
/* Deprecated arguments. */
'custom_key' => null, // @deprecated 0.6.0 Use 'meta_key'.
'default_size' => null, // @deprecated 0.5.0 Use 'size'.
'the_post_thumbnail' => null, // @deprecated 1.0.0 Use 'featured'.
'image_scan' => null, // @deprecated 1.0.0 Use 'scan' or 'scan_raw'.
'default_image' => null, // @deprecated 1.0.0 Use 'default'.
'order_of_image' => null, // @deprecated 1.0.0 No replacement.
);
post_id
- The ID of the post to get the image for. This defaults to the current post in the loop.order
- Order of methods used to grab images. Defaults toarray( 'meta_key', 'featured', 'attachment', 'scan', 'scan_raw', 'callback', 'default' )
.meta_key
- This parameter refers to post meta keys (custom fields) that you use. Remember, meta keys are case-sensitive (defaults areThumbnail
andthumbnail
). By default, this is an array of meta keys, but it can also be a string for a single meta key.featured
- This refers to thethe_post_thumbnail()
WordPress function. By having this set totrue
, you may select an image from the featured image meta box while on the edit post screen.attachment
- The script will look for images attached to the post (set totrue
by default).scan
- If set totrue
, the script will search within your post for an image that's been added.scan_raw
- If set totrue
, the script will search within your post for an image and pull the raw HTML for that image.callback
- A custom callback function that will be called if set. It's only called if no images are found by any other options of the plugin. However, it will be run before thedefault
is set. The$args
array is passed to the callback function as the only parameter.default
- Will take the input of an image URL and use it if no other images are found (no default set).split_content
- Whether to split the raw HTML of the found image from the post content. Default isfalse
. This method is only used with thescan_raw
method.size
- This refers to the size of an attached image. You can choose betweenthumbnail
,medium
,large
,full
, or any custom image size you have available (the default isthumbnail
orpost-thumbnail
if theme has set a thumbnail size).link_to_post
- Whether the image shown should be linked to the post (set totrue
by default).image_class
- You can give an additional class to the image for use in your CSS.width
- Set the width of the image on output.height
- Set the height of the image on output.before
- HTML to place before the output of the image.after
- HTML to place after the output of the image.min_width
- Minimum width of the image to get. This won't work with thescan*
methods. Defaults to0
.min_height
- Minimum height of the image to get. This won't work with thescan*
methods. Defaults to0
.caption
- Whether to display the image caption if it exists. Defaults tofalse
.meta_key_save
- A meta key to save the image URL as. This is useful if you're not using custom fields but want to cut back on database queries by having the script automatically set the custom field for you. By default, this is set tofalse
.thumbnail_id_save
- Whether to save the attachment ID as the post thumbnail (featured image) ID if no featured image is set for the post. By default, this is set tofalse
cache
- Whether to use the WordPress Cache API (integrates with caching plugins) to serve the post images. By default, this is set totrue
.format
- What format to return the image in. If set toarray
the return value of the function will be an array of<img>
attributes. All other values will return the<img>
element.echo
- If set totrue
, the image is shown on the page. If set tofalse
, the image will be returned to use in your own function. (Set totrue
by default.)
Some usage examples
Example 1
Let's suppose that you want to add thumbnails to your category archive pages. What you'll need to do is open your category.php
file and add this code within the Loop:
<?php get_the_image(); ?>
By default, that will look for an image with the custom field key Thumbnail
and thumbnail
. If that image doesn't exist, it will check if a post image has been set. If that image doesn't exist, it will search for any images attached to your post.
Example 2
Let's suppose you want a full-sized image and maybe you want to grab it by a custom field key of Feature
. Depending on your theme, this will need to go within the Loop in whatever file is calling the featured article.
<?php get_the_image( array( 'meta_key' => 'Feature', 'size' => 'full' ) ); ?>
If no feature image exists by custom field, it will look for images attached to your post.
Example 3
If you want to have a sort of fallback image, then you can set an image for the script to default to if no other images are found.
<?php get_the_image( array( 'default_image' => 'http://mysite.com/wp-content/uploads/example.jpg' ) ); ?>
Example 4
You can even make the script scan for images that have been added to your post with this:
<?php get_the_image( array( 'scan' => true ) ); ?>
Example 5
Saving an image to the Thumbnail
custom field automatically.
<?php get_the_image( array( 'meta_key_save' => 'Thumbnail' ) ); ?>
A real-world example
This is an example Loop, which may differ slightly from your theme, but the concept is the same. The call to get the image can go anywhere between the opening and closing lines.
<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
<div id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class(); ?>>
<?php get_the_image( array( 'meta_key' => 'feature_img', 'size' => 'medium', 'width' => '200', 'height' => '200', 'image_class' => 'feature' ) ); ?>
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<div class="entry-summary">
<?the_excerpt(); ?>
</div>
</div>
<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
Protect yourself from errors in the future
Sometimes, we stop using plugins, but we forget to remove the function calls to the plugin in our theme files. When deactivated, this causes errors. To protect yourself from these errors, you can call the image script like this:
<?php if ( function_exists( 'get_the_image' ) ) {
get_the_image();
} ?>
Basically, this just checks to see if the plugin is activated and has loaded the appropriate function.
Styling your images
The plugin will help you style your images by giving you some CSS classes to work with. It will turn your custom field keys and default size into CSS classes. You can also choose to input your own class.
By default, you can add this to your CSS:
img.thumbnail { }
Let's suppose you've used this code:
<?php get_the_image( array( 'meta_key' => array( 'Donkey Kong', 'mario' ), 'size' => 'full' ) ); ?>
This will give you these CSS classes to work with:
img.full { }
img.donkey-kong { }
img.mario { }
You can also input a custom CSS class like so:
<?php get_the_image( array( 'image_class' => 'custom-image' ) ); ?>
You will still have the size
and meta_key
classes plus your additional class:
img.custom-image { }
img.thumbnail { }
Changelog
Version 1.0.1
- Changed priority of
split_content
filter to make sure images are split from the content.
Version 1.0.0
General Changes:
the_post_thumbnail
argument deprecated in favor offeatured
.image_scan
argument deprecated in favor ofscan
orscan_raw
.default_image
argument deprecated in favor ofdefault
.order_of_image
argument removed with no replacement.
Enhancements:
- Re-coded how the image script works by encapsulating the functionality into a single class rather than multiple functions. This makes it much easier to reuse code and paves the way for more improvements in the future.
- New
scan_raw
argument for pulling an image (straight HTML) directly from the post content. - New
split_content
argument for removing an image from the post content if one is found. Used only in conjunction with thescan_raw
argument. - New
order
argument for changing the order in which the script looks for images. - Better support and handling for sub-attachments (e.g., featured images for audio/video attachments).
- Support for Schema.org microdata.
itemprop="image"
attribute added to image outputs where possible. - New image orientation class if the width and height are available. Class can be
landscape
orportrait
. - Default image size is
post-thumbnail
if the theme has set this size. Otherwise,thumbnail
is the default size. - Supports the ability to get embedded images via WordPress' image embeds (Instagram, Flickr, etc.) via the
scan*
methods. - New filter hook:
get_the_image_post_content
. Used when checking the post content. - Added
min_width
andmin_height
arguments (doesn't work withscan*
methods).
Version 0.9.0
Enhancements:
- Caption support. FTW!
- Multiple image classes now allowed via the
image_class
argument. - Use current theme's
post-thumbnail
as default image size if set viaset_post_thumbnail_size()
.
Bug fixes:
- Use the WordPress-saved attachment alt text for the image.
- Only add
$out['src']
if$out['url']
is set when returning as an array. - Allow
https
when returning as an array. - Use the correct variable (
$attachment_id
) when getting an image via attachment.
Version 0.8.1
- Use correct
$attachment_id
variable instead of$id
. - Pass full
$image
array to theget_the_image_meta_key_save()
function so that it saves correctly. - Only use
before
andafter
arguments if an image is found. - General code formatting updated.
Version 0.8
- Inline docs updates.
- Added the
before
argument to output HTML before the image. - Added the
after
argument to output HTML after the image. - Added the
thumbnail_id_save
argument to allow the attached image to be saved as the thumbnail/featured image. - Get the post ID via
get_the_ID()
rather than the global$post
object. - Fixed debug notice with
$image_html
. - Moved the
*_fetch_post_thumbnail_html
hooks into the main function and only fire them if displaying to the screen. - Simplified the
meta_key
logic. - Completely rewrote the
attachment
logic. - Sanitize classes with
sanitize_html_class()
.
Version 0.7
- Deprecated and replaced functions that lacked the
get_the_image_
prefix. - New cache delete functions that delete when a post or post meta is updated.
- Fixed notice when
image_scan
was used.
Version 0.6.2
- Updated the cache to save by post ID instead of a single object.
- Minor code adjustments.
Version 0.6.1
- Updated inline documentation of the code.
- Smarter
meta_key
logic, which allows a single meta key or an array of keys to be used. - Set
custom_key
anddefault_size
tonull
by default since they're deprecated.
Version 0.6
- Deprecated
custom_key
in favor ofmeta_key
. - Added the
meta_key_save
argument to allow users to save the image as a meta key/value pair. - Added a
callback
argument to allow developers to create a custom callback function. - Added a
cache
argument, which allows users to turn off caching.
Version 0.5
- Added support for persistent-caching plugins.
- Switched the
default_size
argument tosize
to be more in line with the WordPress post thumbnail arguments, butdefault_size
will still work. - Now using
wp_kses_hair()
to extract image attributes when using thearray
value forformat
. - Image
alt
text will now use the attachment description if one has been given rather than the post title. - Updated the
readme.html
instructions for using the plugin.
Version 0.4
- Dropped support for older versions of WordPress. Now only compatible with 2.9+.
- Added support for
the_post_thumbnail()
, which is WordPress 2.9's new image functionality. - New function:
image_by_the_post_thumbnail()
. - Documented more of the code, so the inline PHP doc is updated.
- Cleaned up some of the old legacy code that's no longer needed.
Version 0.3.3
- General code cleanup
- Added the
get_the_image
filter hook.
Version 0.3.2
- General code cleanup.
- More efficient and logical code.
- Beefed up the inline documentation so developers can better understand the code.
- Added a GPL license.txt file.
Version 0.3.1
- Fixed the default image and image scan features.
Version 0.3
- Changed methods of calling the image script.
- Added more parameters.
Support
I run a WordPress community called Theme Hybrid, which is where I fully support all of my WordPress projects, including plugins. You can sign up for an account to get plugin support for a small yearly fee.
I know. I know. You might not want to pay for support, but just consider it a donation to the project. To continue making cool, GPL-licensed plugins and having the time to support them, I must pay the bills.
Copyright and License
Get the Image is licensed under the GNU GPL, version 2 or later.
2008 – 2014 © Justin Tadlock.