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I have a Matrix field (parent) in a channel set to have exactly 4 rows. The rows feature a Playa drop-down. These will serve as promotional tiles in the page templates to cross-promote other pages in the site

In the templates I must always display 4 tiles so need to write a fallback so if only 3 are selected then 1 extra random tile is shown, if only 2 are selected then 2 extra random tiles are shown, etc.

I've got this working fine using the Search parameter, eg:

{parent search:child="not IS_EMPTY"}
    DO THIS
{/parent}

However, the problem I'm experiencing is what to do if no options are selected (i.e. all Playa fields/rows are empty). Ideally would be able to do an {if no_results} conditional but can't access from within the {parent} loop and because using search cannot access via a {if parent:total_rows==0} conditional.

Any thoughts?

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2 Answers 2

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2

You can use the search:col_name= parameter in combination with :total_rows:

{if '{parent:total_rows search:child="not IS_EMPTY"}' == 0}
    ...
{/if}

Hope that helps!

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  • Thanks Brandon - sadly is returning the following error: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '}' in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/np/system/expressionengine/libraries/Functions.php(680) : eval()'d code on line 61
    – Cole Henley
    Feb 18, 2013 at 21:47
  • You should be putting that outside your Matrix tag pair (unlike normal no_results tags). There's no syntax errors that I can tell – it's working for me! Maybe the error is coming from another part of your template?
    – Brandon Kelly
    Feb 18, 2013 at 22:05
  • Hmmm, if I comment out template is fine (thought wouldn't surprise me). Code sample is outside the Matrix loop) {if '{cross_promotion:total_rows search:destination="not IS_EMPTY"}' == 0}DO THIS{/if}
    – Cole Henley
    Feb 18, 2013 at 22:08
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Thanks Brandon for the relpy. I couldn't get this to work in Matrix without returning a PHP error but was able to achieve the desired effect by using the native ExpressionEngine query module, eg

{exp:query sql="SELECT * FROM exp_matrix_data WHERE col_id_7 != '' && entry_id = '{entry_id}'"}
  {if no_results}
    {embed='embeds/footer-tiles' total_rows='0'}
  {/if}
{/exp:query}

If trying something similar you might need to run in an embedded template so as not to cause a conflicted {no_results} result!

Hope this helps somebody else!

Cole

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