Output x twice then y, then x twice

Question

Excuse the title, couldn't really summarise the issue succinctly...

This is what I need to do...

I have a load of entries from various channels (E). And a series of tweets (T) (which are stored in another channel).

I need to output as follows

(E) (E) (T) (E) (E) (T)...

(also, if T doesn't exist output E).

So every third item that is outputted needs to come from the twitter channel.

I'm using stash but can't for the life of me figure out how to output the content like this.

Any thoughts/suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks Dave

Follow on question Paginate two stash lists in one

Answer 1

This builds on CreateSean's answer, since you're using Stash. You'll need a math plugin and in this example I'm using Math from Caddis.

{!--set main multi-channel entry list--}
{exp:stash:set_list
    name="one" 
    parse_tags="yes"
}
    {exp:channel:entries
        channel="ONE_CHANNEL|ANOTHER_CHANNEL|ETC"
        dynamic="no"
    } 
        {stash:entry_id}{entry_id}{/stash:entry_id}
        {stash:title}{title}{/stash:title}
    {/exp:channel:entries}
{/exp:stash:set_list}

{!--set tweet list--}
{exp:stash:set_list
    name="two" 
    parse_tags="yes"
    parse_depth="2" {!--run 2x to parse the math plugin--}
}
    {exp:channel:entries
        channel="TWEET_CHANNEL"
        dynamic="no"
    } 
        {stash:entry_id}{entry_id}{/stash:entry_id}
        {stash:title}{title}{/stash:title}
        {!--set a number to match every third count where the tweet should be output--}
        {stash:two_count}{exp:math formula="{count} * 3"}{/stash:two_count}
    {/exp:channel:entries}
{/exp:stash:set_list}

{!--output multi-channel list and tweet list--}
{exp:stash:get_list
    name="one" 
    prefix="st1"
}
    {!--output tweet on every third loop--}
    {if st1:count % 3 == 0}

        {exp:stash:get_list:nested
            name="two" 
            limit="1"
            match="#{st1:count}#" 
            against="two_count"
            prefix="st2"
        }
            {!--if no results, output main channel entry--}
            {if st2:no_results}
                <li>{st1:entry_id} : {st1:title}</li>
            {/if}
            {!--tweet--}
            <li>{st2:entry_id} : {st2:title}</li>
            {!--3rd main--}
            <li>{st1:entry_id} : {st1:title}</li>
        {/exp:stash:get_list:nested}

    {!--otherwise output main channel entry--}
    {if:else}
        <li>{st1:entry_id} : {st1:title}</li>
    {/if}
{/exp:stash:get_list}

Answer 2

I would use conditionals and the modulus operator like this:

{exp:channel:entries channel="foo" limit=100"}

 {if count % 3 == 0}

    insert tweet here

 {if:else}

    insert entries here

 {/if}

{/exp:channel:entries}