Woocommerce How To Call Function From Another Archive

WooCommerce: Calling Functions From Another Archive (Like a Pro!)

So, you’re diving deeper into customizing your WooCommerce store! Awesome! You’ve probably reached a point where you need to share functionality between different parts of your WooCommerce theme. Perhaps you have a function that displays a product’s special features on the single product page, and you want to reuse it in your category archives too.

This article will guide you through how to call a function from one WooCommerce archive template file in another. We’ll break it down step-by-step, even if you’re just starting out with PHP and WordPress. Don’t worry, it’s simpler than it sounds!

Why Call Functions Between Archives?

Think of it like this: Imagine you’re building a house. You wouldn’t want to rebuild the same basic brick wall for every room! Instead, you’d want to have a standard wall design and reuse it as needed. The same applies to your WooCommerce templates. Reusing functions helps you:

Keep your code DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself): This means less code to maintain and debug.
Maintain Consistency: Ensures that the same functionality looks and behaves the same throughout your store.
Improve Readability: Makes your code easier to understand and modify.

Our Example: Displaying Product Badges

Let’s say you’ve created a function that displays a custom badge (like “Limited Edition” or “New Arrival”) on a product based on certain criteria. You currently use it on your `single-product.php` template. Now, you want to show these badges on your product category archive pages (e.g., the page showing all products in the “Shoes” category).

Step 1: Define Your Function (ideally in `functions.php`)

The best place to define reusable functions in WooCommerce is generally within your theme’s `functions.php` file (or a custom plugin). *Never directly edit the core WooCommerce files, as your changes will be overwritten during updates!*.

Here’s an example of a simple product badge function:

/**
Displays a custom product badge based on specific criteria.
* @param int $product_id The ID of the product.
*/
function display_custom_product_badge( $product_id ) {
$product = wc_get_product( $product_id );

if ( ! $product ) {

return; // Product not found, exit the function.

}

// Example: Check if the product is a new arrival (created within the last 7 days).

$date_created = strtotime( $product->get_date_created() );

$days_ago = ( time() – $date_created ) / (60 * 60 * 24); // Calculate days since creation

if ( $days_ago <= 7 ) {

echo ‘New Arrival!‘;

}

// Add more conditions and badges as needed.

}

Explanation:

`function display_custom_product_badge( $product_id )`: This defines our function. It takes the product ID as an argument.
`wc_get_product( $product_id )`: WooCommerce’s built-in function to retrieve a `WC_Product` object based on its ID.
`if ( ! $product ) { return; }`: Checks if the product exists. If not, the function stops.
The rest of the code: This is where you’ll add your logic to determine which badge to display based on product properties (like creation date, stock levels, etc.). In our example, we check if the product was created within the last 7 days.
`echo ‘New Arrival!‘;`: Outputs the HTML for the badge. Feel free to customize the badge’s HTML and CSS.

Step 2: Find the Target Archive Template

Now, you need to identify which template file is responsible for displaying the archive page where you want to show the badge. Common candidates include:

`archive-product.php`: This is the main template for product archives.
`taxonomy-product_cat.php`: This template is specifically for product category archives (e.g., the “Shoes” category page).
Your theme’s loop template: Some themes use a custom loop template (often within the `template-parts` directory) to display products in archives. Look for a file like `content-product.php` or `product.php`.

You can usually figure out which template is being used by enabling WordPress’s debug mode and the “WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY” option. This will often show you the template being loaded. You might also need to consult your theme’s documentation.

Step 3: Call the Function From the Archive Template

Once you’ve identified the correct template, you need to add a PHP code snippet that calls your `display_custom_product_badge()` function. The exact location will depend on where you want the badge to appear, but it will generally be inside the loop that displays each product.

Example (Assuming you’re in a loop displaying product thumbnails):

get_id(); // Get the product ID

// Call our custom function

display_custom_product_badge( $product_id );

Explanation:

`global $product;`: This line is *crucial*. Within the WooCommerce product loop, the `$product` variable is usually a global variable containing a `WC_Product` object representing the current product. You need to declare it as global before using it.
`$product_id = $product->get_id();`: This line retrieves the ID of the current product. We need the ID to pass it to our function.
`display_custom_product_badge( $product_id );`: This is the line that actually *calls* your function, passing in the product ID. The function will then execute and output the badge (if the conditions are met).

Important Considerations:

Placement: Experiment with different locations within the template file to find the best placement for your badge. Try placing it before or after the product title, or near the price.
CSS Styling: Make sure you add appropriate CSS styles to your `style.css` file (or a custom CSS file) to style the badge. This will control its appearance (colors, fonts, positioning, etc.). For example:

.product-badge {

background-color: #f00;

color: #fff;

padding: 5px 10px;

border-radius: 5px;

font-size: 0.8em;

text-transform: uppercase;

display: inline-block; /* Important for positioning */

}

.product-badge.new-arrival {

background-color: #007bff; /* Example: Different color for “New Arrival” */

}

Step 4: Testing and Troubleshooting

After making these changes, refresh your archive page. You should see your custom badges appearing on the products that meet your criteria. If you don’t, here are some things to check:

Is your function defined correctly in `functions.php`? Check for syntax errors.
Are you using the correct template file? Double-check that you’re editing the template responsible for displaying the archive.
Is the `$product` variable available in your template? Make sure you’re inside the WooCommerce product loop and have declared `$product` as a global variable.
Is the product ID being passed correctly to your function? Use `var_dump( $product_id );` to check the value of the `$product_id` variable.
Check your browser’s developer console for any JavaScript or PHP errors.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can effectively call functions from one WooCommerce archive template in another, making your code more efficient, maintainable, and consistent. Remember to always test thoroughly and use child themes or custom plugins to avoid losing your changes during theme updates. Happy coding!