Timthumb placeholder image

[DancingK]

I've installed a theme (Chronicle) that's using timthumb for thumbnails.

It seems the thumbnails work fine if I add an image to a post, but without an image it shows an empty X box on the index page post.

The Thumbnail is called via this :

<img class="ethumb" src="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/timthumb.php?src=<?php echo $preview; ?>&amp;h=100&amp;w=290&amp;zc=1" alt=""/>

I've tried replacing the <?php echo $preview; ?> as some other help files have suggested but this over writes any other featured images I've uploaded on other posts.

I have seen a loop which seems to do what I want only when I try to use code or anything like this it throws a php error:

<?php $i = 0; while ( $q->have_posts() ) : $q->the_post(); 
		  $image = wp_get_attachment_image_src( get_post_thumbnail_id( $post->ID ), 'single-post-thumbnail' );
		  $image = $image[0];
		  
		  if(empty($image)){
			  $image = 'http://www.mysite.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/XX/placeholder.jpg';
		  }
	?>

FYI: The image url above is one I've made up for this forum.

I'd simply just like for a particular image to be used when and only when another image isn't uploaded. Does anyone know the best way to solve this ?

[Jeffro]

While I can't help you with the TimThumb stuff, have you tried messing around with Justin Tadlocks, Get The Image script?

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/get-the-image/

You might find out that you can accomplish what you want via that plugin.

[DancingK]

While I can't help you with the TimThumb stuff, have you tried messing around with Justin Tadlocks, Get The Image script?

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/get-the-image/

You might find out that you can accomplish what you want via that plugin.

Thank You, I found an alternative fix for the theme I'm using (Chronicle) but the plugin you mentioned will most likely come in very handy with any future builds.

For future reference if anyone else has the same problem, here's the fix I found:

<div class="sentry">
<?php if ($preview = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'preview', $single = true)) { ?>
<img class="ethumb" src="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); ?>/timthumb.php?src=<?php echo $preview; ?>&amp;h=100&amp;w=290&amp;zc=1" alt=""/> 
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?> 
   <?php } else { ?>
<img src="http://domain.com/wp-content/uploads/DEFAULT_IMAGE.jpg" width="290" height="100" alt=""  />
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
   <?php } ?> 
<div class="clear"></div>
</div>

[chipbennett]

For "future builds" of your Theme, I would recommend using thumbnail generation built in to WordPress core, rather than using a third-party thumbnail-generation script.