[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #4617: Allow random post ordering

[WordPress Trac]

#4617: Allow random post ordering
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 Reporter:  Otto42       |       Owner:  anonymous  
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new        
 Priority:  normal       |   Milestone:  2.3 (trunk)
Component:  Template     |     Version:  2.2.1      
 Severity:  normal       |    Keywords:             
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 This change is to allow orderby=rand for all the post query functions.

 Changes needed:
 In wp-includes, query.php, add "rand" to the list of $allowed_keys.

 Modify this code
 {{{
 if ( 'menu_order' != $orderby )
 $orderby = 'post_' . $orderby;
 }}}

 into this:
 {{{
 if ( 'menu_order' != $orderby && 'rand' != $orderby)
 $orderby = 'post_' . $orderby;
 if ('rand' == $orderby)
 $orderby = 'RAND()';`
 }}}

 This will allow the mysql "ORDER BY RAND()" to be used in querying posts.
 There are lots of potential uses for pulling random posts, and current
 plugins to do it always have to directly query the database for them,
 meaning that they break whenever the database structure changes. Providing
 this sort of functionality directly makes more sense.

 Since this is a simple change that doesn't break anything and only adds
 minor functionality, I suggest getting it in quickly. Preferably trunk. I
 would submit a patch, but I can't right now and anyway it's a simple
 change.

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Ticket URL: <http://trac.wordpress.org/ticket/4617>
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