# Post Types

## Introduction[​](#introduction "Direct link to Introduction")

Typically in WordPress when you're querying posts you get [`WP_Post`](https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Post) objects back. Timber have taken this a step further and return a `Timber/Post` object instead. This [has a ton of great helper methods and properties](https://timber.github.io/docs/reference/timber-post/) which makes it easier and more expressive to use.

```
use Timber\Post;



$post = new Post(1);

$posts = Timber::get_posts($wpQueryArray);
```

Lumberjack has its own Post object which makes it easier and more expressive to run queries.

```
use Rareloop\Lumberjack\Post;



$post = new Post(1);

$collection = Post::query($wpQueryArray);
```

This becomes especially powerful when you start registering **Custom Post Types**.

```
use App\PostTypes\Product;



$post = new Product(1);

$collection = Product::query($wpQueryArray);
```

In this example `$collection` contains `App\PostType\Product` objects. That allows you to add your own methods to a product and encapsulate logic in one place.

```
use App\PostTypes\Product;



$collection = Product::query($wpQueryArray);



foreach ($collection as $product) {

    echo $product->price();

}
```

```
namespace App\PostTypes;



use Rareloop\Lumberjack\Post;



class Product extends Post

{

    // ...



    public function price()

    {

        // Get the price from the ACF field for this product

        return get_field('price', $this->id);

    }

}
```

## Register Custom Post Types[​](#register-custom-post-types "Direct link to Register Custom Post Types")

First, create a new file in `app/PostTypes/`. We recommend using singular names. For this example, lets add a `Product.php` file there.

You can use this boilerplate to get you started:

```
namespace App\PostTypes;



use Rareloop\Lumberjack\Post;



class Product extends Post

{

    /**

     * Return the key used to register the post type with WordPress

     * First parameter of the `register_post_type` function:

     * https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/register_post_type

     *

     * @return string

     */

    public static function getPostType()

    {

        return 'products';

    }



    /**

     * Return the config to use to register the post type with WordPress

     * Second parameter of the `register_post_type` function:

     * https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/register_post_type

     *

     * @return array|null

     */

    protected static function getPostTypeConfig()

    {

        return [

            'labels' => [

                'name' => __('Products'),

                'singular_name' => __('Product'),

                'add_new_item' => __('Add New Product'),

            ],

            'public' => true,

        ];

    }

}
```

Lumberjack will handle the registering of the post type for you. In order to do that, it requires 2 methods (documented above):

* `getPostType()`
* `getPostTypeConfig()`

In order for Lumberjack to register your post type, you need to add the class name to the `config/posttypes.php` config file.

```
return [

    /**

     * List all the sub-classes of Rareloop\Lumberjack\Post in your app that you wish to

     * automatically register with WordPress as part of the bootstrap process.

     */

    'register' => [

        App\PostTypes\Product::class,

    ],

];
```

And that's it! You can now start using your new Custom Post Type.

info

**Tip**: Try and avoid using ACF's `get_field` outside of a Post Type class where possible. This will help make your application easy to change.

```
$product = new Product;



// Bad

echo get_field('price', $product->id);



// Good: The knowledge of how to get the price is encapsulated within the Product class

echo $product->price();
```

## Available Methods for `Rareloop\Lumberjack\Post`[​](#available-methods-for-rarelooplumberjackpost "Direct link to available-methods-for-rarelooplumberjackpost")

Lumberjack's `Post` class extends `Timber\Post`, and adds some convenient methods for you:

```
use Rareloop\Lumberjack\Post;

use App\PostTypes\Product;



// Get all published posts, with 10 per page, ordered ascending by title

$posts = Post::all(10, 'title', 'asc');



// Accepts the WP_Query args as an array. By default it will filter by published posts for the correct post type too

$products = Product::query(['s' => 'Toy Car']);
```