Show Random WooCommerce Products from a Category

A custom WooCommerce extension script, called via a shortcode, to show a list of random products from a category. This script was actually created for a client who uses the Avada theme. The Avada theme overrides most of the

with their own library so it makes certain parameters unavailable.

This script can be added to the theme's function.php file.

The Shortcode Function

Shortcode Example:

We want to display 4x products from the category "20" in 4x columns.

<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">[woocommerce-custom-category id="20" display="4" columns="4"]</pre>

First we would need to create a new shortcode hook that in return referance a callback function called: "woocommerce_custom_category_shortcode".

add_shortcode('woocommerce-custom-category', 'woocommerce_custom_category_shortcode')

Now we can create the function called.: "woocommerce_custom_category_shortcode".

/**
* Display a column list of random products from a selected category.
* @param category_id = Declare your category ID.
* @param display = Number of posts to display.
* @param columns = Define the number of columns to display.
*/
public function woocommerce_custom_category_shortcode( $atts ) {
	
	//We collect the post object that contains all the posts gathered by Wordpress.
	global $post;

		//Declare default values for our shortcode.
	$shortcode_att = shortcode_atts( array(
		'category_id' => '',
		'display' => '4',
		'columns' => '4',
	), $atts );

	//extract the attributes and place them in variables.:
	$display = $shortcode_att['display'];
	$category_ids = explode(',', $shortcode_att['category_id'] );
	$columns = $shortcode_att['columns'];
   

	$args = array(
					'post_type' => 	'product', // WooCommerce Post Type
					'tax_query' => 	array(
												array(
													'taxonomy' => 'product_cat', // WooCommerce Taxonomy
													'field' => 'id', // Focus on ID field.
													'terms' => $category_ids, //We add the Category ID to the DB arguments array
													'operator'=> 'IN' //Or 'AND' or 'NOT IN'
											)),
				'posts_per_page' => $display,// Number of products to display
				'ignore_sticky_posts' => 1,
				'orderby' => 'rand',// Randomize the selection.
		);

    // Get the results from the database and return it as a object.
		$query_result = new WP_Query($args);

		if ( $query_result->have_posts() ) { ?>

		<?php ob_start(); ?>
			<div class="woocommerce columns-<?php echo $columns; ?>">
				<ul class="products clearfix products-<?php echo $display; ?>">
				<!-- loop start -->
				<?php while( $query_result->have_posts() ) : $query_result->the_post(); ?>
					<?php $product = new WC_Product( $post->ID ); ?>
					<?php // Get the the current's post categories and only filter the child-categories for the class values.
						$cargs = array( 'parent' => 0 );
						$cat_terms = wp_get_post_terms( $post->ID, 'product_cat', $cargs );
						$recorded_terms = '';
						foreach ($cat_terms as $cat_term ) {	
							$recorded_terms .= ' product_cat-'. $cat_term->slug;
						}
					?>

					<!-- product image -->
					<li class="post-<?php echo get_the_ID(); ?> product type-product <?php echo get_post_status( $post->ID ); ?> <?php echo ( has_post_thumbnail( $post->ID ) ) ? 'has-post-thumbnail' : ''; ?> <?php echo 'product-type-' . wc_get_product()->product_type; ?><?php echo $recorded_terms; ?>"> 
						<a class="product-images" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
							<!-- <span class="featured-image"><?php //the_post_thumbnail('medium'); ?></span> -->
							<span class="featured-image"><?php echo woocommerce_get_product_thumbnail( $size = 'shop_catalog', $deprecated1 = 0, $deprecated2 = 0 ); ?></span>
						</a>
						<!-- product details -->
						<div class="product-details">
							<div class="product-details-container">
								<div class="productCatIcon" style="display: block;"></div>
								<div class="productTagIcon" style="display: block;"></div>
								<h3 class="product-title">
									<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
								</h3>
								<div class="clearfix">
									<span class="price">
										<span class="woocommerce-Price-amount amount">
											<?php if ( ! empty( $product->get_price() )) { ?>
											<?php echo $product->get_price_html(); ?>
										</span>
									</span>
									<?php } ?>
								</div>
							</div>
						</div>
						<!-- product button -->
						<div class="product-buttons">
							<div class="product-buttons-container clearfix">
								<a rel="nofollow" href="/?add-to-cart=<?php echo $post->ID; ?>" data-quantity="1" data-product_id="<?php echo $post->ID; ?>" data-product_sku="<?php echo $product->get_sku(); ?>" class="button product_type_<?php echo 'product-type-' . wc_get_product()->product_type; ?> add_to_cart_button ajax_add_to_cart">Add to basket</a>
								<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" class="show_details_button">Details</a>
							</div>
						</div>
					</li>
				<?php endwhile; ?>
				<!-- loop end -->
				</ul>
			</div> <!-- end columns -->
			<?php return ob_get_clean();  ?>
			<?php wp_reset_query(); ?>
		<?php } ?>
	<?php }