Featured Posts Section on Wordpress won't show up - php

Question

Trying to create a Featured Posts Section on my site and there are three files involved:
header file
footer file
functions file
index file
I want to make selecting a featured post is just by checking a checkbox in edit screen (posts page) AND be able to retrieve these featured articles on the front page.
So far with my current code it is showing up a checkbox only on the posts page edit screen however it won't save and on the front page nothing is appearing except the posts loop.
here's my functions.php file:
/**
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* 1.0 - Define constants.
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
define( 'THEMEROOT', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() );
define( 'IMAGES', THEMEROOT. '/images' );
define( 'SCRIPTS', THEMEROOT. '/js' );
/** */
/***********************************************************************************************/
/* 2.0 - Add Theme Support for Post Thumbnails */
/***********************************************************************************************/
if (function_exists('add_theme_support')) {
add_theme_support('post-thumbnails');
set_post_thumbnail_size(300, 200);
}
/***********************************************************************************************/
/* 3.0 - Add Theme Support for Post Thumbnails */
/***********************************************************************************************/
function register_post_assets(){
add_meta_box('featured-post', __('Featured Post'), 'add_featured_meta_box', 'post', 'advanced', 'high');
}
add_action('admin_init', 'register_post_assets', 1);
function add_featured_meta_box($post){
$featured = get_post_meta($post->ID, '_featured-post', true);
echo "<label for='_featured-post'>".__('Feature this post?', 'foobar')."</label>";
echo "<input type='checkbox' name='_featured-post' id='featured-post' value='1' ".checked(1, $featured)." />";
}
function save_featured_meta($post_id){
// Do validation here for post_type, nonces, autosave, etc...
if (isset($_REQUEST['featured-post']))
update_post_meta(esc_attr($post_id, '_featured-post', esc_attr($_REQUEST['featured-post'])));
// I like using _ before my custom fields, so they are only editable within my form rather than the normal custom fields UI
}
add_action('save_post', 'save_featured_meta');
?>
Here's my code on the index.php file:
<?php get_header(); ?>
<?php while(have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<h1><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" class="gray">
<?php the_title(); ?>
</a></h1>
<p class="details">By <?php the_author(); ?> / On <?php echo get_the_date('F j, Y'); ?> / In <?php the_category(', '); ?></p>
<?php if (has_post_thumbnail()) : ?>
<figure> <?php the_post_thumbnail('', array('class' => 'opacity-hover box-layer img-responsive')); ?> </figure>
<p class="excerpt"> <?php the_excerpt(); ?> </p>
<div class="btn-margin"> CONTINUE READING >>> </div>
</li>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<h1>Featured Posts</h1>
<?php
$args = array(
'posts_per_page' => 5,
'meta_key' => '_featured-post',
'meta_value' => 1
);
$featured = new WP_Query($args);
if ($featured->have_posts()): while($featured->have_posts()): $featured->the_post();
the_title();
the_content();
endwhile; else:
endif;
?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>
Any idea what's causing the problem or if I am missing something? I just want to have a featured posts section on my blog atleast similar to this image:
http://goo.gl/E5tbMv
Any help?

Answer 1

function add_featured_meta_box($post){
$featured = get_post_meta($post->ID, '_featured-post', true);
echo "<label for='_featured-post'>".__('Feature this post?', 'foobar')."</label>";
echo "<input type='checkbox' name='featured-post' id='featured-post' value='1' ".checked(1, $featured)." />";
}
function save_featured_meta($post_id){
// Do validation here for post_type, nonces, autosave, etc...
if (isset($_REQUEST['featured-post']))
update_post_meta(esc_attr($post_id), '_featured-post', esc_attr($_REQUEST['featured-post']));
// I like using _ before my custom fields, so they are only editable within my form rather than the normal custom fields UI
}
add_action('save_post', 'save_featured_meta');
Try with that code, I corrected the nameattribute and the update_post_meta function. Sorry but I currently don't have a Wordpress install to try it.
You seem to use the id featured-post twice, too. You should change the id of the înput field.