Wordpress - display Media Library items based on category - php

Question

Just like the title says, I'm trying to display only the items in the Media Library that are under a particular category. Whether they're attached to anything or not.
Currently I can get all images, but I'm not sure how to narrow it down to certain categories.
Here's what I have so far:
<select name="event-dropdown" onchange="document.location.href=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value;">
<option value=""><?php echo esc_attr(__('Select Event')); ?></option>
<?php
$args = array(
'hide_empty' => 0,
);
$categories = get_categories($args);
foreach ($categories as $category) {
$option = '<option value="?cat='.get_cat_ID($category->cat_name).'">';
$option .= $category->cat_name;
$option .= ' ('.$category->category_count.')';
$option .= '</option>';
echo $option;
}
?>
</select>
<?php
$query_images_args = array(
'post_type' => 'attachment',
'post_mime_type' =>'image',
'post_status' => 'inherit',
'posts_per_page' => -1,
);
$query_images = new WP_Query($query_images_args);
if($_GET['cat']){
// not sure what to do here yet
}else{
// this part works fine
foreach ( $query_images->posts as $image) {
echo wp_get_attachment_image($image->ID);
}
}
?>
Can someone enlighten me on how/if this can be done. All I've been able to find is stuff relating to attached images or post images. I just want to pull them directly from the Library.
EDIT Tags would work too. It doesn't have to be category.

Answer 1

unless you're adding a custom meta tag to each image in your media library, your query won't work.
A possible solution
e.g. create a post, name it something relevant, tag all the categories you want this post to be associated with, now dump all the images you want to show into this post.
you can use this query to bump out the post & category terms you want to show, along with the images attached to the post(s).
<?php
$args = array (
'post_type' => 'post',
'tax_query' => array(
array(
'taxonomy' => 'category',
'field' => 'slug',
'terms' => 'your-cat-name-here'
)
)
);
$custom_query = new WP_Query( $args );
if ( $custom_query->have_posts() ):
while ( $custom_query->have_posts() ) :
$custom_query->the_post();
// Do stuff with the post content.
$attachments = get_posts( array(
'post_type' => 'attachment',
'posts_per_page' => -1,
'post_parent' => $post->ID,
'exclude' => get_post_thumbnail_id()
) );
if ( $attachments ) {
foreach ( $attachments as $attachment ) {
$class = "post-attachment mime-" . sanitize_title( $attachment->post_mime_type );
$thumbimg = wp_get_attachment_link( $attachment->ID, 'thumbnail-size', true );
$image_title = $attachment->post_title;
$caption = $attachment->post_excerpt;
$description = $image->post_content;
//print_r($attachment);
echo '<div class="thumbnail"><figure><img src="'.wp_get_attachment_url($attachment->ID).'" /></figure></div>';
}
//End
echo '</div>';
}
endwhile;
else:
// we can insert something if Nothing found.
echo "<h2>Sorry, but there's nothing here.</h2>";
endif;
wp_reset_query();
?>