Breadcrumb Incrementing Number for meta position content - php

Question

I'm new to PHP, still learning, so please excuse and kindly tell me what would be the appropriate fix. I used the breadcrumb script from here answered by Pieter Goosen. I want the breadcrumbs to work with google and schema, the part that isn't working is the <meta itemprop="position" content="number" /> tag. The content="number" needs to be set for each crumb, in order (1,2,3...). On line 8 I added $i = 1;, then changed $link_after = '<meta itemprop="position" content="' . $i++ . '" /></li>';. But $i++ is not printing a new sequential number, it is just repeating itself as if there was no other $i++. My guess is to apply the rule globally and to search for $i++ used, as it's probably being applied closed within the rule, but wouldn't know how to do this.
Code:
function get_hansel_and_gretel_breadcrumbs()
{
// Set variables for later use
$here_text = __( 'You are currently here!' );
$home_link = home_url('/');
$home_text = __( 'Home' );
$link_before = '<span typeof="v:Breadcrumb">';
$i = 1;
$link_after = '<meta itemprop="position" content="' . $i++ . '" /></span>'
$link_attr = ' rel="v:url" property="v:title"';
$link = $link_before . '<a' . $link_attr . ' href="%1$s">%2$s</a>' . $link_after;
$delimiter = ' » '; // Delimiter between crumbs
$before = '<span class="current">'; // Tag before the current crumb
$after = '</span>'; // Tag after the current crumb
$page_addon = ''; // Adds the page number if the query is paged
$breadcrumb_trail = '';
$category_links = '';
/**
* Set our own $wp_the_query variable. Do not use the global variable version due to
* reliability
*/
$wp_the_query = $GLOBALS['wp_the_query'];
$queried_object = $wp_the_query->get_queried_object();
// Handle single post requests which includes single pages, posts and attatchments
if ( is_singular() )
{
/**
* Set our own $post variable. Do not use the global variable version due to
* reliability. We will set $post_object variable to $GLOBALS['wp_the_query']
*/
$post_object = sanitize_post( $queried_object );
// Set variables
$title = apply_filters( 'the_title', $post_object->post_title );
$parent = $post_object->post_parent;
$post_type = $post_object->post_type;
$post_id = $post_object->ID;
$post_link = $before . $title . $after;
$parent_string = '';
$post_type_link = '';
if ( 'post' === $post_type )
{
// Get the post categories
$categories = get_the_category( $post_id );
if ( $categories ) {
// Lets grab the first category
$category = $categories[0];
$category_links = get_category_parents( $category, true, $delimiter );
$category_links = str_replace( '<a', $link_before . '<a' . $link_attr, $category_links );
$category_links = str_replace( '</a>', '</a>' . $link_after, $category_links );
}
}
if ( !in_array( $post_type, ['post', 'page', 'attachment'] ) )
{
$post_type_object = get_post_type_object( $post_type );
$archive_link = esc_url( get_post_type_archive_link( $post_type ) );
$post_type_link = sprintf( $link, $archive_link, $post_type_object->labels->singular_name );
}
// Get post parents if $parent !== 0
if ( 0 !== $parent )
{
$parent_links = [];
while ( $parent ) {
$post_parent = get_post( $parent );
$parent_links[] = sprintf( $link, esc_url( get_permalink( $post_parent->ID ) ), get_the_title( $post_parent->ID ) );
$parent = $post_parent->post_parent;
}
$parent_links = array_reverse( $parent_links );
$parent_string = implode( $delimiter, $parent_links );
}
// Lets build the breadcrumb trail
if ( $parent_string ) {
$breadcrumb_trail = $parent_string . $delimiter . $post_link;
} else {
$breadcrumb_trail = $post_link;
}
if ( $post_type_link )
$breadcrumb_trail = $post_type_link . $delimiter . $breadcrumb_trail;
if ( $category_links )
$breadcrumb_trail = $category_links . $breadcrumb_trail;
}
// Handle archives which includes category-, tag-, taxonomy-, date-, custom post type archives and author archives
if( is_archive() )
{
if ( is_category()
|| is_tag()
|| is_tax()
) {
// Set the variables for this section
$term_object = get_term( $queried_object );
$taxonomy = $term_object->taxonomy;
$term_id = $term_object->term_id;
$term_name = $term_object->name;
$term_parent = $term_object->parent;
$taxonomy_object = get_taxonomy( $taxonomy );
$current_term_link = $before->labels->singular_name . '<li class="curr-cat" itemprop="itemListElement" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ListItem"><span itemprop="name">' . $term_name . '</span><meta itemprop="position" content="' . $i++ . '" /></li>';
$parent_term_string = '';
if ( 0 !== $term_parent )
{
// Get all the current term ancestors
$parent_term_links = [];
while ( $term_parent ) {
$term = get_term( $term_parent, $taxonomy );
$parent_term_links[] = sprintf( $link, esc_url( get_term_link( $term ) ), $term->name );
$term_parent = $term->parent;
}
$parent_term_links = array_reverse( $parent_term_links );
$parent_term_string = implode( $delimiter, $parent_term_links );
}
if ( $parent_term_string ) {
$breadcrumb_trail = $parent_term_string . $delimiter . $current_term_link;
} else {
$breadcrumb_trail = $current_term_link;
}
} elseif ( is_author() ) {
$breadcrumb_trail = __( 'Author archive for ') . $before . $queried_object->data->display_name . $after;
} elseif ( is_date() ) {
// Set default variables
$year = $wp_the_query->query_vars['year'];
$monthnum = $wp_the_query->query_vars['monthnum'];
$day = $wp_the_query->query_vars['day'];
// Get the month name if $monthnum has a value
if ( $monthnum ) {
$date_time = DateTime::createFromFormat( '!m', $monthnum );
$month_name = $date_time->format( 'F' );
}
if ( is_year() ) {
$breadcrumb_trail = $before . $year . $after;
} elseif( is_month() ) {
$year_link = sprintf( $link, esc_url( get_year_link( $year ) ), $year );
$breadcrumb_trail = $year_link . $delimiter . $before . $month_name . $after;
} elseif( is_day() ) {
$year_link = sprintf( $link, esc_url( get_year_link( $year ) ), $year );
$month_link = sprintf( $link, esc_url( get_month_link( $year, $monthnum ) ), $month_name );
$breadcrumb_trail = $year_link . $delimiter . $month_link . $delimiter . $before . $day . $after;
}
} elseif ( is_post_type_archive() ) {
$post_type = $wp_the_query->query_vars['post_type'];
$post_type_object = get_post_type_object( $post_type );
$breadcrumb_trail = $before . $post_type_object->labels->singular_name . $after;
}
}
// Handle the search page
if ( is_search() ) {
$breadcrumb_trail = __( 'Search query for: ' ) . $before . get_search_query() . $after;
}
// Handle 404's
if ( is_404() ) {
$breadcrumb_trail = $before . __( 'Error 404' ) . $after;
}
// Handle paged pages
if ( is_paged() ) {
$current_page = get_query_var( 'paged' ) ? get_query_var( 'paged' ) : get_query_var( 'page' );
$page_addon = $before . sprintf( __( ' ( Page %s )' ), number_format_i18n( $current_page ) ) . $after;
}
$breadcrumb_output_link = '';
$breadcrumb_output_link .= '<div class="breadcrumb">';
if ( is_home()
|| is_front_page()
) {
// Do not show breadcrumbs on page one of home and frontpage
if ( is_paged() ) {
$breadcrumb_output_link .= $here_text . $delimiter;
$breadcrumb_output_link .= '' . $home_text . '';
$breadcrumb_output_link .= $page_addon;
}
} else {
$breadcrumb_output_link .= $here_text . $delimiter;
$breadcrumb_output_link .= '' . $home_text . '';
$breadcrumb_output_link .= $delimiter;
$breadcrumb_output_link .= $breadcrumb_trail;
$breadcrumb_output_link .= $page_addon;
}
$breadcrumb_output_link .= '</div><!-- .breadcrumbs -->';
return $breadcrumb_output_link;
}