WordPress Frontend AJAX Pagination

Tutorial

Step 1: Create a custom page in WordPress, if you do not know what a custom WordPress page is, read on this link: http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy

Step 2: Add this code into your custom page (Explanations are on the codes)

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<?php get_header(); ?>

<div class="col-md-12 content">
<div class = "inner-box content no-right-margin darkviolet">
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
// This is required for AJAX to work on our page
var ajaxurl = '<?php echo admin_url('admin-ajax.php'); ?>';

function cvf_load_all_posts(page){
// Start the transition
$(".cvf_pag_loading").fadeIn().css('background','#ccc');

// Data to receive from our server
// the value in 'action' is the key that will be identified by the 'wp_ajax_' hook
var data = {
page: page,
action: "demo-pagination-load-posts"
};

// Send the data
$.post(ajaxurl, data, function(response) {
// If successful Append the data into our html container
$(".cvf_universal_container").html(response);
// End the transition
$(".cvf_pag_loading").css({'background':'none', 'transition':'all 1s ease-out'});
});
}

// Load page 1 as the default
cvf_load_all_posts(1);

// Handle the clicks
$('.cvf_universal_container .cvf-universal-pagination li.active').live('click',function(){
var page = $(this).attr('p');
cvf_load_all_posts(page);

});

});
</script>
<div class = "cvf_pag_loading">
<div class = "cvf_universal_container">
<div class="cvf-universal-content"></div>
</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

We might have different page structures so feel free to edit the code.

Step 3: Add this block of code into your functions.php (Explanations are on the codes)

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// Receive the Request post that came from AJAX
add_action( 'wp_ajax_demo-pagination-load-posts', 'cvf_demo_pagination_load_posts' );
// We allow non-logged in users to access our pagination
add_action( 'wp_ajax_nopriv_demo-pagination-load-posts', 'cvf_demo_pagination_load_posts' );
function cvf_demo_pagination_load_posts() {

global $wpdb;
// Set default variables
$msg = '';

if(isset($_POST['page'])){
// Sanitize the received page
$page = sanitize_text_field($_POST['page']);
$cur_page = $page;
$page -= 1;
// Set the number of results to display
$per_page = 5;
$previous_btn = true;
$next_btn = true;
$first_btn = true;
$last_btn = true;
$start = $page * $per_page;

// Set the table where we will be querying data
$table_name = $wpdb->prefix . "posts";

// Query the necessary posts
$all_blog_posts = $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare("
SELECT * FROM " . $table_name . " WHERE post_type = 'post' AND post_status = 'publish' ORDER BY post_date DESC LIMIT %d, %d", $start, $per_page ) );

// At the same time, count the number of queried posts
$count = $wpdb->get_var($wpdb->prepare("
SELECT COUNT(ID) FROM " . $table_name . " WHERE post_type = 'post' AND post_status = 'publish'", array() ) );

/**
* Use WP_Query:
*
$all_blog_posts = new WP_Query(
array(
'post_type' => 'post',
'post_status '    => 'publish',
'orderby' => 'post_date',
'order' => 'DESC',
'posts_per_page' => $per_page,
'offset'    => $start
)
);

$count = new WP_Query(
array(
'post_type' => 'post',
'post_status '    => 'publish',
'posts_per_page' => -1
)
);
*/

// Loop into all the posts
foreach($all_blog_posts as $key => $post):

// Set the desired output into a variable
$msg .= '
<div class = "col-md-12">
<h2><a href="' . get_permalink($post->ID) . '">' . $post->post_title . '</a></h2>
<p>' . $post->post_excerpt . '</p>
</div>';

endforeach;

// Optional, wrap the output into a container
$msg = "<div class='cvf-universal-content'>" . $msg . "</div><br class = 'clear' />";

// This is where the magic happens
$no_of_paginations = ceil($count / $per_page);

if ($cur_page >= 7) {
$start_loop = $cur_page - 3;
if ($no_of_paginations > $cur_page + 3)
$end_loop = $cur_page + 3;
else if ($cur_page <= $no_of_paginations && $cur_page > $no_of_paginations - 6) {
$start_loop = $no_of_paginations - 6;
$end_loop = $no_of_paginations;
} else {
$end_loop = $no_of_paginations;
}
} else {
$start_loop = 1;
if ($no_of_paginations > 7)
$end_loop = 7;
else
$end_loop = $no_of_paginations;
}

// Pagination Buttons logic
$pag_container .= "
<div class='cvf-universal-pagination'>
<ul>";

if ($first_btn && $cur_page > 1) {
$pag_container .= "<li p='1' class='active'>First</li>";
} else if ($first_btn) {
$pag_container .= "<li p='1' class='inactive'>First</li>";
}

if ($previous_btn && $cur_page > 1) {
$pre = $cur_page - 1;
$pag_container .= "<li p='$pre' class='active'>Previous</li>";
} else if ($previous_btn) {
$pag_container .= "<li class='inactive'>Previous</li>";
}
for ($i = $start_loop; $i <= $end_loop; $i++) {

if ($cur_page == $i)
$pag_container .= "<li p='$i' class = 'selected' >{$i}</li>";
else
$pag_container .= "<li p='$i' class='active'>{$i}</li>";
}

if ($next_btn && $cur_page < $no_of_paginations) {
$nex = $cur_page + 1;
$pag_container .= "<li p='$nex' class='active'>Next</li>";
} else if ($next_btn) {
$pag_container .= "<li class='inactive'>Next</li>";
}

if ($last_btn && $cur_page < $no_of_paginations) {
$pag_container .= "<li p='$no_of_paginations' class='active'>Last</li>";
} else if ($last_btn) {
$pag_container .= "<li p='$no_of_paginations' class='inactive'>Last</li>";
}

$pag_container = $pag_container . "
</ul>
</div>";

// We echo the final output
echo
'<div class = "cvf-pagination-content">' . $msg . '</div>' .
'<div class = "cvf-pagination-nav">' . $pag_container . '</div>';

}
// Always exit to avoid further execution
exit();
}

You can add some styling to your pagination by appending this block of CSS code into your style.css

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.cvf_pag_loading {padding: 20px;}
.cvf-universal-pagination ul {margin: 0; padding: 0;}
.cvf-universal-pagination ul li {display: inline; margin: 3px; padding: 4px 8px; background: #FFF; color: black; }
.cvf-universal-pagination ul li.active:hover {cursor: pointer; background: #1E8CBE; color: white; }
.cvf-universal-pagination ul li.inactive {background: #7E7E7E;}
.cvf-universal-pagination ul li.selected {background: #1E8CBE; color: white;}

Now you can start using this as your base AJAX Pagination structure to implement more sophisticated logics.

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