How can I display a list of categories and all their posts in WordPress?

Question

I am working on a custom WordPress theme.

I am trying to show a list of categories (as headers) for a custom post type, and under the heading of each category I would like to specify message headers and one custom field. I am using a types plugin. I know a little php and have some WordPress experience, but not enough to get it right.

Example:

Custom message type: menu item

Custom field for this message type: Product price

Category: Sandwich Fillings

Category: Soups

Desired Result:

Sandwich fill

Cheese - £ #. ##

Vem - £ #. ##

Tuna - £ #. ##

...

Soups

Tomato

Chicken

Vegetable

The idea will be to add new categories on the fly (for example, one day they can start selling melts), and for WP - iterate over categories as new ones are added, preserving from availability to hard code in new categories per page as you add.

Here is what I still have:

<?php $args = array( 'post_type' => 'menu-item', 'orderby' => 'name', 'parent' => 0 ); $categories = get_categories( $args ); foreach ( $categories as $category ) { $posts = get_posts($args); $item_price = types_render_field( "item-price" ); echo '<h2>' . $category->name . '</h2>'; ?> <ul><?php foreach($posts as $post) { ?> <li><?php the_title(); ?>, <?php echo $item_price; ?></li> <?php } } ?> 

What I get is:

Sandwiches

Tomato,

Swiss cheese,

French Brie,

French Brie,

...

Soups

Tomato, £ 2.60

Swiss cheese, £ 2.60

French Brie, £ 2.60

French Brie, £ 2.60

Any help would be appreciated!

UPDATE

That helped:

 <?php $args = array( 'post_type' => 'menu-item' ); $categories = get_categories( $args ); $posts = get_posts($args); foreach ( $categories as $category ) { echo '<h2>' . $category->name . '</h2>'; ?> <div class="menu-items-container"> <?php foreach($posts as $post) { ?> <?php $item_price = types_render_field( "item-price" ); ?> <?php if (in_category($category)) { ?> <p><?php the_title(); ?>, <?php echo $item_price; ?></p> <?php } ?> <?php } ?> </div> <?php } ?> 

And it gives me the results that I was looking for. I came across this correction through experiments and a fluke, so I know that this may not be the best practice - advice or suggestions for improvement are welcome!

Answer 1

Something like this might be better since it does not cover all the posts for each category:

 <?php $args = array( 'post_type' => 'menu-item' ); $categories = get_categories( $args ); foreach ( $categories as $category ) { echo '<h2>' . $category->name . '</h2>'; $args['category'] = $category->term_id; $posts = get_posts($args); ?> <div class="menu-items-container"> <?php foreach($posts as $post) { ?> <?php $item_price = types_render_field( "item-price" ); ?> <p><?php the_title(); ?>, <?php echo $item_price; ?></p> <?php } ?> </div> <?php } ?>