How to show year/month archive including months with no posts

2 comments

1. The code below will loop through everywhere year and check to see if each month has posts. If so, it will add a link to the month. If not, it will just print the month without a link. You will need to edit the actual link as I am not sure about your websites’ permalink structure.

   //Grab the earliest year available
       $yearliest_year = $wpdb->get_results(
   
           "SELECT YEAR(post_date) AS year 
            FROM $wpdb->posts 
            WHERE post_status = 'publish' 
            AND post_type = 'post'
            ORDER BY post_date 
            ASC LIMIT 1
   
       ");
   
   
       //If there are any posts
       if($yearliest_year){
   
           //This year
           $this_year = date('Y');
   
           //Setup months
           $months = array(1 => "January", 2 => "February", 3 => "March" , 4 => "April", 5 => "May", 6 => "June", 7 => "July", 8 => "August", 9 => "September", 10 => "October", 11 => "November", 12 => "December");
   
           $current_year = $yearliest_year[0]->year;
   
   
           //Loop through every year and check each monnth of each year for posts
           while($current_year <= $this_year){
   
               echo "<h3>" . $current_year . "</h3>";
   
               echo "<ul>";
   
               foreach($months as $month_num => $month){
   
   
                   //Checks to see if a month a has posts
                   if($search_month = $wpdb->query(
   
                           "SELECT MONTHNAME(post_date) as month 
   
                               FROM $wpdb->posts  
                               WHERE MONTHNAME(post_date) = '$month'
                               AND YEAR(post_date) = $current_year 
                               AND post_type = 'post'
                               AND post_status = 'publish'
                               LIMIT 1 
   
                   ")){
   
                       //Month has post -> link it
                       echo "<li>
   
                               <a href='" . get_bloginfo('url') . "/" . $current_year . "/" . $month_num . "/'><span class='archive-month'>" . $month . "</span></a>
   
                             </li>";
   
   
                   }else{
   
                       //Month does not have post -> just print it
   
                       echo "<li>
   
                               <span class='archive-month'>" . $month . "</span>
   
                             </li>";
                   }
   
   
   
               }
   
               echo "</ul>";
   
               $current_year++;
   
   
           }
   
       }else{
   
           echo "No Posts Found.";
   
       }
   

2. One solution would be to add the missing months. You have check if all the months of a existent year is present. If not, you add that month with post_count zero.

   <?php
           $year_prev = null;
           $months = $wpdb->get_results(   "SELECT DISTINCT MONTH( post_date ) AS month ,
                                           YEAR( post_date ) AS year,
                                           COUNT( id ) as post_count FROM $wpdb->posts
                                           WHERE post_status = 'publish' and post_date <= now( )
                                           and post_type = 'post'
                                           GROUP BY month , year
                                           ORDER BY post_date DESC");
   
           function month_exist($month, $year, $objects){
               foreach($objects as $object){
                   if( ($object->month == $month) && ($object->year == $year) )
                   return true;
               }
               return false;
           }
   
           $all_month = range(1,12);
           $new_array = $months;
           $i = 0;
           foreach($months as $month){
               $year_current = $month->year;
               if( $year_current != $year_prev ){
                   foreach( $all_month as $current_month ){
                       if( !month_exist($current_month, $month->year, $months)){
                           $value = new StdClass();
                           $value->month = $current_month;
                           $value->year = $month->year;
                           $value->post_count = 0;
                           array_splice($new_array, $i*12+($current_month-1), 0, array($value));
                       }
                   }
                   $i++;
               }
               $year_prev = $month->year;
           }
   
           $months = $new_array;
           $year_prev = null;
           foreach($months as $month) :
               $year_current = $month->year;
               if ($year_current != $year_prev){
                   if ($year_prev != null){?>
                   </ul>
                   <?php } ?>
               <h3><?php echo $month->year; ?></h3>
               <ul class="archive-list">
               <?php } ?>
               <li>
                   <a href="<?php bloginfo('url') ?>/<?php echo $month->year; ?>/<?php echo date("m", mktime(0, 0, 0, $month->month, 1, $month->year)) ?>">
                       <span class="archive-month"><?php echo date("F", mktime(0, 0, 0, $month->month, 1, $month->year)) ?></span>
                   </a>
               </li>
           <?php $year_prev = $year_current;
           endforeach; ?>
           </ul>
   

Comments are closed.