Genesis Snippets

Genesis comes with a handy function called genesis_custom_loop(). It’s an easy way for you to create a new loop without having to write all the code to create a new loop with WP_Query manually. Here’s how you can use it in your theme.

/** Replace the standard loop with our custom loop */
remove_action( 'genesis_loop', 'genesis_do_loop' );
add_action( 'genesis_loop', 'child_do_custom_loop' );

function child_do_custom_loop() {

	global $paged; // current paginated page
	global $query_args; // grab the current wp_query() args
	$args = array(
		'category__not_in' => 42, // exclude posts from this category
		'paged'            => $paged, // respect pagination
	);

	genesis_custom_loop( wp_parse_args($query_args, $args) );

}

The above will spit out a loop that excludes posts from category ID 42 and displays posts from the current paginated page (i.e. /page/2 and so on). The wp_parse_args() function combines the $args array with the current $query_args for that page. The $args array should accept all WP_Query parameters.

Replace with a non-Genesis loop

If you need to completely customize the loop, if you are displaying events or a ecommerce shop page for example, you don’t need to use the genesis_custom_loop() function at all. Just write your own to replace it.

/** Code for custom loop */
function my_custom_loop() {
	// code for a completely custom loop
}

/** Replace the standard loop with our custom loop */
remove_action( 'genesis_loop', 'genesis_do_loop' );
add_action( 'genesis_loop', 'my_custom_loop' );

You can stick this code in functions.php to affect all the loops in your site, or put it in a template file like date.php or author.php to limit it with the template hierarchy. If you do stick it in a template file, remember to end it with genesis().