Adding ajax load more button to my front page

Question

I'm using a pre made wordpress theme for my site. However, I wanted to make a custom front-page.php so I did, but now the problem is that I can't figure out how to add the ajax load more button to it. My theme already utilizes the ajax load more button, so I thought it would be simple to add. But I think I may be adding in the code at the wrong spot, or have my queries messed up?

Can anyone help me add this load more button?

my custom front-page.php

<?php 

    get_header(); 
    get_template_part ('inc/carousel'); 

    $the_query = new WP_Query( [ 
        'posts_per_page' => 13, 
        'paged' => get_query_var('paged', 1) 
    ] ); 

    if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) { ?> 
        <div id="ajax"> 
        <?php 
            $i = 0; 
            $j = 0; 
            while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) { 
                $the_query->the_post(); 

                if ( $i % 5 === 0 ) { // Large post: on the first iteration and every 7th post after... ?> 
                    <div class="row"> 
                        <article <?php post_class( 'col-sm-12 col-md-12' ); ?>> 
                            <div class="large-front-container"> 
                                <?php the_post_thumbnail('full', array('class' => 'large-front-thumbnail')); ?> 
                            </div> 
                            <div class="front-page-date"><?php echo str_replace('mins', 'minutes', human_time_diff( get_the_time('U'), current_time('timestamp') ) . ' ago'); ?></div>
                            <h2><a class="front-page-post-title" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2> 
                            <p class="front-page-post-excerpt"><?php echo get_the_excerpt(); ?></p> 
                            <div class="front-page-post-info"> 
                                <a class="moretext" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">Read more</a> 
                                <?php get_template_part( 'front-shop-the-post' ); ?> 
                                <?php get_template_part( 'share-buttons' ); ?> 
                                <div class="front-comments"><?php comments_popup_link ('0', '1', '%', 'comment-count', 'none'); ?></div> 
                            </div> 
                        </article> 
                    </div> 
                <?php } else { // Small posts ?> 
                    <?php if($j % 2 === 0) echo '<div class="row">'; ?> 
                        <article <?php post_class( 'col-sm-6 col-md-6' ); ?>> 
                            <?php the_post_thumbnail('full', array('class' => 'medium-front-thumbnail')); ?> 
                            <div class="front-page-date"><?php echo human_time_diff( get_the_time('U'), current_time('timestamp') ) . ' ago'; ?></div>
                            <h2><a class="front-page-post-title" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2> 
                            <p class="front-page-post-excerpt"><?php echo get_the_excerpt(); ?></p> 
                            <div class="front-page-post-info"> 
                                <a class="moretext" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">Read more</a>
                                <?php get_template_part( 'front-shop-the-post' ); ?>
                                <?php get_template_part( 'share-buttons' ); ?>
                                <div class="front-comments"><?php comments_popup_link ('0', '1', '%', 'comment-count', 'none'); ?></div> 
                            </div>
                        </article> 
                <?php $j++; if($j % 2 === 0) echo '</div>'; ?> 
        <?php 
        } 
        $i++; 
        }?> 
        </div> 
    <?php
    } 
    get_footer();

the post-nav.php code that I found inside my theme

<div class="row pagination-below"><div class="col-md-12">
    <?php 
    $pagination_type = novablog_getVariable('pagination_type') ? novablog_getVariable('pagination_type') : 'pagnum';
    if($pagination_type=='pagnum') :

        the_posts_pagination( array(
            'mid_size' => 3,
            'type' => 'list',
            'prev_text'          => theme_locals("prev"),
            'next_text'          => theme_locals("next")
        ) );
    endif;

    global $wp_query;
    if ( $wp_query->max_num_pages > 1 && $pagination_type=='paglink' ) : ?>
        <div class="paglink">
            <span class="pull-left"><?php previous_posts_link(theme_locals("newer")) ?></span>       
            <span class="pull-right"><?php next_posts_link(theme_locals("older")) ?></span>
        </div>
    <?php endif; ?>

    <?php
        if ( $wp_query->max_num_pages > 1 && $pagination_type=='loadmore' or $wp_query->max_num_pages > 1 && $pagination_type=='infinite' ) { 
            $all_num_pages = $wp_query -> max_num_pages;
            $next_page_url = novablog_next_page($all_num_pages);
    ?>
            <div class="ajax-pagination-container">
              <a href="<?php echo esc_url($next_page_url); ?>" id="ajax-load-more-posts-button"></a>
            </div>
    <?php } ?>
</div></div>

This is how the load more button appears on my local host

example of what I want my front page post layout to look like. 1 post on a row, 2 rows of 2 posts on a row, 1 post on a row, and so on. Then after every 15 posts the load more button appears.

This is what chrome developer looks like when I inspect the load more button

Answer 1

Add this to the front-page.php

<?php

get_header();
get_template_part ('inc/carousel');

?>


<script>
    var now=2; // when click start in page 2

    jQuery(document).on('click', '#load_more_btn', function () {

        jQuery.ajax({
            type: "POST",
            url: "<?php echo get_site_url(); ?>/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php",
            data: {
                action: 'my_load_more_function', // the name of the function in functions.php
                paged: now, // set the page to get the ajax request
                posts_per_page: 15  //number of post to get (use 1 for testing)
            },
            success: function (data) {

            if(data!=0){
                jQuery("#ajax").append(data);  // put the content into ajax container
                now=now+1; // add 1 to next page
            }else{
                jQuery("#load_more_btn").hide();
                jQuery("#content-load-more-btn").html("<h4>No more results</h4>");
            }
            },
            error: function (errorThrown) {
                alert(errorThrown); // only for debuggin
            }
        });
    });
</script>

<section id="ajax"><!-- i have to change div to section, maybe a extra div declare -->
<?php

$the_query = new WP_Query( [
    'posts_per_page' => 15, // i use 1 for testing
    'orderby'=>'title', // add order for prevent duplicity
    'order'=>'ASC',
    'paged' => get_query_var('paged', 1) //page number 1 on load
] );

if ($the_query->have_posts()) {

        $i = 0;
        $j = 0;
        while ($the_query->have_posts()) {
            $the_query->the_post();

            if ( $i % 5 === 0 ) { // Large post: on the first iteration and every 7th post after... ?>
                <div class="row">
                    <article <?php post_class( 'col-sm-12 col-md-12' ); ?>>
                        <div class="large-front-container">
                            <?php the_post_thumbnail('full', array('class' => 'large-front-thumbnail')); ?>
                        </div>
                        <div class="front-page-date"><?php echo str_replace('mins', 'minutes', human_time_diff( get_the_time('U'), current_time('timestamp') ) . ' ago'); ?></div>
                        <h2><a class="front-page-post-title" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
                        <p class="front-page-post-excerpt"><?php echo get_the_excerpt(); ?></p>
                        <div class="front-page-post-info">
                            <a class="moretext" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">Read more</a>
                            <?php get_template_part( 'front-shop-the-post' ); ?>
                            <?php get_template_part( 'share-buttons' ); ?>
                            <div class="front-comments"><?php comments_popup_link ('0', '1', '%', 'comment-count', 'none'); ?></div>
                        </div>
                    </article>
                </div>
            <?php } else { // Small posts ?>
                <?php if($j % 2 === 0){ echo '<div class="row">';} ?>
                <article <?php post_class( 'col-sm-6 col-md-6' ); ?>>
                    <?php the_post_thumbnail('full', array('class' => 'medium-front-thumbnail')); ?>
                    <div class="front-page-date"><?php echo human_time_diff( get_the_time('U'), current_time('timestamp') ) . ' ago'; ?></div>
                    <h2><a class="front-page-post-title" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
                    <p class="front-page-post-excerpt"><?php echo get_the_excerpt(); ?></p>
                    <div class="front-page-post-info">
                        <a class="moretext" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">Read more</a>
                        <?php get_template_part( 'front-shop-the-post' ); ?>
                        <?php get_template_part( 'share-buttons' ); ?>
                        <div class="front-comments"><?php comments_popup_link ('0', '1', '%', 'comment-count', 'none'); ?></div>
                    </div>
                </article>
                <?php $j++; if($j % 2 === 0){ echo '</div>';}?>
                <?php
            }
            $i++;
        }?>
    <?php
}?>
</section>
<div id="content-load-more-btn">
<button id="load_more_btn">Load More</button> <!-- button out of ajax container for load content and button displayed at the bottom -->
</div>
<?php
get_footer();

And then in the functions.php add this code below:

add_action('wp_ajax_my_load_more_function', 'my_load_more_function');
add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_my_load_more_function', 'my_load_more_function');

function my_load_more_function() {

    $query = new WP_Query( [
        'posts_per_page' => $_POST["posts_per_page"],
        'orderby'=>'title',
        'order'=>'ASC',
        'paged' => get_query_var('paged', $_POST["paged"])
    ] );


    if ($query->have_posts()) {

        $i = 0;
        $j = 0;

        while ($query->have_posts()) {
                $query->the_post();

            if ( $i % 5 === 0 ) { // Large post: on the first iteration and every 7th post after... ?>
                <div class="row">
                    <article <?php post_class( 'col-sm-12 col-md-12' ); ?>>
                        <div class="large-front-container">
                            <?php the_post_thumbnail('full', array('class' => 'large-front-thumbnail')); ?>
                        </div>
                        <div class="front-page-date"><?php echo str_replace('mins', 'minutes', human_time_diff( get_the_time('U'), current_time('timestamp') ) . ' ago'); ?></div>
                        <h2><a class="front-page-post-title" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
                        <p class="front-page-post-excerpt"><?php echo get_the_excerpt(); ?></p>
                        <div class="front-page-post-info">
                            <a class="moretext" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">Read more</a>
                            <?php get_template_part( 'front-shop-the-post' ); ?>
                            <?php get_template_part( 'share-buttons' ); ?>
                            <div class="front-comments"><?php comments_popup_link ('0', '1', '%', 'comment-count', 'none'); ?></div>
                        </div>
                    </article>
                </div>
            <?php } else { // Small posts ?>
                <?php if($j % 2 === 0) echo '<div class="row">'; ?>
                <article <?php post_class( 'col-sm-6 col-md-6' ); ?>>
                    <?php the_post_thumbnail('full', array('class' => 'medium-front-thumbnail')); ?>
                    <div class="front-page-date"><?php echo human_time_diff( get_the_time('U'), current_time('timestamp') ) . ' ago'; ?></div>
                    <h2><a class="front-page-post-title" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
                    <p class="front-page-post-excerpt"><?php echo get_the_excerpt(); ?></p>
                    <div class="front-page-post-info">
                        <a class="moretext" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">Read more</a>
                        <?php get_template_part( 'front-shop-the-post' ); ?>
                        <?php get_template_part( 'share-buttons' ); ?>
                        <div class="front-comments"><?php comments_popup_link ('0', '1', '%', 'comment-count', 'none'); ?></div>
                    </div>
                </article>
                <?php $j++; if($j % 2 === 0) echo '</div>'; ?>
                <?php
            }
            $i++;

        }
        wp_reset_query();
    }else{
        return 0;
    }

    exit;
}

I think your loop settings in front-page.php have issues to resolve, in the posts-per-page parameter, displays the posts-per-page + 1 results.

Let me know if this resolve your question.

Answer 2

You should probably just use an appropriate plugin to provide the functionality you're stuggling with.

This https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/easy-load-more/ claims to do exactly what you're looking for with "minimal" theme changes.