How to Call Product Categories in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
WooCommerce is a powerful e-commerce platform, but navigating its features can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially for beginners. One common question revolves around accessing and displaying product categories. This guide will walk you through several methods of calling product categories in WooCommerce, from simple display techniques to more advanced customizations using PHP.
Understanding WooCommerce Categories
Before diving into the code, let’s clarify what we mean by “calling” product categories. Essentially, it involves retrieving and displaying category information on your WooCommerce store. This could include:
- Displaying a list of categories: This is often seen on the shop page or in a sidebar widget.
- Showing products within a specific category: This is the core functionality of any e-commerce site – navigating to a category page to see the relevant products.
- Using category names in product descriptions or titles: For example, displaying “New Arrivals” or Discover insights on How To Prevent Orders Being Added By Url Woocommerce “Women’s Clothing” within product information.
- Filtering products based on category: Allowing customers to refine their search based on categories.
- Category widgets: WooCommerce provides widgets specifically designed for displaying categories. Go to Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress admin panel, find the “Product Categories” widget, and drag it to your sidebar or other widget areas. You can customize the display options (hierarchical display, number of categories shown, etc.) within the widget settings.
- Shop page: WooCommerce automatically displays product categories on your shop page. You can adjust the layout and display using themes and plugins.
- Category pages: When you create a new product category in WooCommerce, it automatically generates a dedicated page for that category, listing all associated products. This is the most fundamental way to organize and showcase your products. Simply navigate to Products > Categories to manage and create categories.
Method 1: Using WooCommerce’s Built-in Features (Easiest)
The simplest way to display product categories is leveraging WooCommerce’s built-in functionalities. No coding is required!
Method 2: Using WooCommerce Functions (Intermediate)
For more control, you can use WooCommerce’s built-in functions within your theme’s `functions.php` file or a custom plugin. This requires some basic PHP knowledge.
Let’s say you want to display a list of all product categories:
<?php $categories = get_terms( 'product_cat' ); // Get all product categories
if ( !empty( $categories ) && !is_wp_error( $categories ) ) {
echo ‘
- ‘;
- term_id, ‘product_cat’ ) . ‘”>’ . $category->name . ‘
foreach ( $categories as $category ) {
echo ‘
‘;
}
echo ‘
‘;
}
?>
This code snippet:
1. `get_terms( ‘product_cat’ )`: Retrieves all terms assigned to the “product_cat” taxonomy (which is WooCommerce’s category taxonomy).
2. `foreach` loop: Iterates through each category.
3. `get_term_link()`: Generates the URL for each category.
4. `$category->name`: Displays the category name.
Real-life example: Imagine an online clothing store. This code could be used to display a list of all clothing categories (e.g., Men’s, Women’s, Children’s) in the sidebar.
Method 3: Using WooCommerce Discover insights on How To Choose Woocommerce Theme Shortcodes (Easy)
WooCommerce offers shortcodes for simplified category display. These can be added directly to any page or post content using the visual editor or text editor.
- `[product_categories]`: This displays a list of all product categories. You can customize the output using attributes like `number`, `columns`, `orderby`, and `order`.
Example: `[product_categories number=”5″ columns=”2″ orderby=”name” order=”asc”]` This will display the first 5 categories in 2 columns, ordered alphabetically ascending.
Choosing the Right Method
The best method depends on your skill level and desired functionality:
- Beginners: Start with WooCommerce’s built-in widgets and category pages.
- Intermediate users: Use WooCommerce functions for more customization and control.
- Advanced users: Explore shortcodes and potentially develop custom plugins for complex requirements.
Remember to always back up your website before making any code changes. If you’re unsure about modifying your `functions.php` file, consider creating a child theme to avoid potential issues. This guide provides a solid foundation for effectively managing and displaying product categories in your WooCommerce store.
