Simple query for Wordpress posts & excerpts - php

Question

I'm trying to make a little "latest news" section on my custom homepage in Wordpress, that outputs:
2 most recent news stories
Their titles
The excerpt
The link
I've tried taking the standard loop from the codex to see what I get first, but I get nothing. I am a bit confused, as I can't work out why it's not even outputting ANY posts, no content at all using just the basic loop:
<?php
// The Query
$the_query = new WP_Query( 'post_count=2' );
// The Loop
if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
echo '<ul>';
while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
$the_query->the_post();
echo '<li>' . get_the_title() . '</li>';
}
echo '</ul>';
} else {
// no posts found
echo 'No news is good news!';
}
/* Restore original Post Data */
wp_reset_postdata();
?>
This code presently shows the "no news is good news" message. There are two published posts.

Answer 1

Your code does render output on my side, so it is working. You have one problem though, post_count is a property and not a parameter of WP_Query. You should be using posts_per_page
What I do believe is happening why you don't get any output, is that you are using custom post types, and not normal posts, which in this case will render no output as you don't have any normal posts.
Just change this line
$the_query = new WP_Query( 'post_count=2' );
to
$the_query = new WP_Query( 'posts_per_page=2&post_type=NAME_OF_POST_TYPE' );

Answer 2

You're passing the variable $args into WP_Query but not actually defining it.
Try this:
$args = array(
'post_type' => 'post',
'posts_per_page' => 2,
'no_found_rows' => false,
);
$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
Then to output the content you need:
if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) :
echo '<ul>';
while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>
<li>
<h3><?php the_title(); ?></h3>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
</li>
<?php endwhile;
echo '</ul>';
else :
// no posts found
echo 'No news is good news!';
endif;
wp_reset_postdata();
You don't need to use this alternative syntax for the if statement but it's common to see it written this way.
I noticed since writing this answer you updated your question passing in 'post_count=2' to WP_Query. You need to use 'posts_per_page' instead. post_count is a property of the query object and not a parameter.

Answer 3

This should only return the last two posts published.
<?php
$args=array(
'post_type' => 'post',
'post_status' => 'publish',
'posts_per_page' => 2,
);
$my_query = null;
$my_query = new WP_Query($args);
if( $my_query->have_posts() )
{
echo '<ul>';
while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); ?>
<li>
<h1><?php the_title(); ?></h1>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
</li>
<?php endwhile;
echo '</ul>';
<?php
}
else
{
echo 'No news is good news!';
}
wp_reset_query(); // Restore global post data stomped by the_post().
?>
(The above is slightly changed from the post here)