Popular Posts & Categories

function zm_popular_categories($zmpc_days = 30, $zmpc_title = 0, $zmpc_limit = 10, $zmpc_shownumber = 0, $zmpc_titlename = '<h2>Popular Categories</h2>', $zmpc_pretags = '<div class="headlines">' , $zmpc_posttags = '</div>', $zmpc_prelist = '<span style="float: right;">', $zmpc_postlist = '</span>', $zmpc_countsepstart = '<span>(', $zmpc_countsepend = ' Posts)</span>', $zmpc_return = 0, $zmpc_lastupdated = 0) {
    global $wpdb, $post;
    
    
    // Draw posts along with relevant associated category data from database
    $zmpc_posts = $wpdb->get_results("
        SELECT p.ID, p.post_title, p.post_date, c.cat_ID, c.cat_name, p2c.post_id, p2c.category_id
        FROM ($wpdb->posts p LEFT JOIN $wpdb->post2cat p2c on p.ID = p2c.post_id) 
            LEFT JOIN $wpdb->categories c ON p2c.category_id = c.cat_ID
        WHERE post_status = 'publish'
            AND p.post_date > DATE_ADD(CURDATE(), INTERVAL -$zmpc_days DAY)
        ORDER BY p.post_date DESC    
    ");
    
    // Initialisations    
    $zmpc_catcounts = array();
    $zmpc_caturls = array();
    
    foreach ($zmpc_posts as $zmpc_post) {
        if (!array_key_exists($zmpc_post->cat_name, $zmpc_catcounts)) {
        $zmpc_catcounts[$zmpc_post->cat_name] = 1;
        $zmpc_caturls[get_category_link($zmpc_post->cat_ID)] = 1;    
        }
        else {
        $zmpc_catcounts[$zmpc_post->cat_name]++;
        $zmpc_caturls[get_category_link($zmpc_post->cat_ID)]++;
        }
    }
    arsort($zmpc_catcounts);
    arsort($zmpc_caturls);
    
    $zmpc_cattitles = array_keys($zmpc_catcounts);
    $zmpc_permalinks = array_keys($zmpc_caturls);
    
    $zmpc_travelcount = 0;
    
    $html_out .= 
        '<div class="zm_pop_cats">';
        
    if ($zmpc_title) {
        $html_out .= 
        $zmpc_titlename;
    }
    $html_out .= 
            $zmpc_prelist;
            
    foreach ($zmpc_catcounts as $zmpc_catcount) {        
        $html_out .=    
                $zmpc_pretags;
        $html_out .=
                    '<a href="'.$zmpc_permalinks[$zmpc_travelcount].'">'.$zmpc_cattitles[$zmpc_travelcount].'</a>';
        if ($zmpc_shownumber) {            
        $html_out .=    $zmpc_countsepstart;
        $html_out .=        $zmpc_catcount;
        $html_out .=    $zmpc_countsepend;
        }
        $html_out .= 
                $zmpc_posttags;
        $zmpc_travelcount++;
        if ($zmpc_travelcount >= $zmpc_limit) break;
    }
    
    $html_out .=
            $zmpc_postlist;
    $html_out .= 
        '</div>';        
    
    if($zmpc_return)
        return $html_out;
    else
        echo $html_out;
}


?>