How to display 6 latest related content regardless of category in Joomla?

Question

PHP

Hello! Please help, it's very urgent. There is a helper code for the standard module Related Items mod_related_items in Joomla 3, how can I edit it to show the last 6 related items regardless of the category they belong to?

<?php
/**
 * @package     Joomla.Site
 * @subpackage  mod_related_items
 *
 * @copyright   Copyright (C) 2005 - 2016 Open Source Matters, Inc. All rights reserved.
 * @license     GNU General Public License version 2 or later; see LICENSE.txt
 */

defined('_JEXEC') or die;

JLoader::register('ContentHelperRoute', JPATH_SITE . '/components/com_content/helpers/route.php');

/**
 * Helper for mod_related_items
 *
 * @package     Joomla.Site
 * @subpackage  mod_related_items
 * @since       1.5
 */
abstract class ModRelatedItemsHelper
{
  /**
   * Get a list of related articles
   *
   * @param   \Joomla\Registry\Registry  &$params  module parameters
   *
   * @return  array
   */
  public static function getList(&$params)
  {
    $db      = JFactory::getDbo();
    $app     = JFactory::getApplication();
    $user    = JFactory::getUser();
    $groups  = implode(',', $user->getAuthorisedViewLevels());
    $date    = JFactory::getDate();
    $maximum = (int) $params->get('maximum', 5);

    // Get an instance of the generic articles model
    JModelLegacy::addIncludePath(JPATH_SITE . '/components/com_content/models');
    $articles = JModelLegacy::getInstance('Articles', 'ContentModel', array('ignore_request' => true));

    if ($articles === false)
    {
      JFactory::getApplication()->enqueueMessage(JText::_('JERROR_AN_ERROR_HAS_OCCURRED'), 'error');

      return array();
    }

    // Set application parameters in model
    $appParams = $app->getParams();
    $articles->setState('params', $appParams);

    $option = $app->input->get('option');
    $view   = $app->input->get('view');

    $temp = $app->input->getString('id');
    $temp = explode(':', $temp);
    $id   = $temp[0];

    $nullDate = $db->getNullDate();
    $now      = $date->toSql();
    $related  = array();
    $query    = $db->getQuery(true);

    if ($option == 'com_content' && $view == 'article' && $id)
    {
      // Select the meta keywords from the item
      $query->select('metakey')
        ->from('#__content')
        ->where('id = ' . (int) $id);
      $db->setQuery($query);

      try
      {
        $metakey = trim($db->loadResult());
      }
      catch (RuntimeException $e)
      {
        JFactory::getApplication()->enqueueMessage(JText::_('JERROR_AN_ERROR_HAS_OCCURRED'), 'error');

        return array();
      }

      // Explode the meta keys on a comma
      $keys  = explode(',', $metakey);
      $likes = array();

      // Assemble any non-blank word(s)
      foreach ($keys as $key)
      {
        $key = trim($key);

        if ($key)
        {
          $likes[] = $db->escape($key);
        }
      }

      if (count($likes))
      {
        // Select other items based on the metakey field 'like' the keys found
        $query->clear()
          ->select('a.id')
          ->select('a.title')
          ->select('CAST(a.created AS DATE) as created')
          ->select('a.catid')
          ->select('a.language')
          ->select('cc.access AS cat_access')
          ->select('cc.published AS cat_state');

        // Sqlsrv changes
        $case_when = ' CASE WHEN ';
        $case_when .= $query->charLength('a.alias', '!=', '0');
        $case_when .= ' THEN ';
        $a_id = $query->castAsChar('a.id');
        $case_when .= $query->concatenate(array($a_id, 'a.alias'), ':');
        $case_when .= ' ELSE ';
        $case_when .= $a_id . ' END as slug';
        $query->select($case_when);

        $case_when = ' CASE WHEN ';
        $case_when .= $query->charLength('cc.alias', '!=', '0');
        $case_when .= ' THEN ';
        $c_id = $query->castAsChar('cc.id');
        $case_when .= $query->concatenate(array($c_id, 'cc.alias'), ':');
        $case_when .= ' ELSE ';
        $case_when .= $c_id . ' END as catslug';
        $query->select($case_when)
          ->from('#__content AS a')
          ->join('LEFT', '#__content_frontpage AS f ON f.content_id = a.id')
          ->join('LEFT', '#__categories AS cc ON cc.id = a.catid')
          ->where('a.id != ' . (int) $id)
          ->where('a.state = 1')
          ->where('a.access IN (' . $groups . ')');

        $wheres = array();

        foreach ($likes as $keyword)
        {
          $wheres[] = 'a.metakey LIKE ' . $db->quote('%' . $keyword . '%');
        }

        $query->where('(' . implode(' OR ', $wheres) . ')')
          ->where('(a.publish_up = ' . $db->quote($nullDate) . ' OR a.publish_up <= ' . $db->quote($now) . ')')
          ->where('(a.publish_down = ' . $db->quote($nullDate) . ' OR a.publish_down >= ' . $db->quote($now) . ')');

        // Filter by language
        if (JLanguageMultilang::isEnabled())
        {
          $query->where('a.language in (' . $db->quote(JFactory::getLanguage()->getTag()) . ',' . $db->quote('*') . ')');
        }

        $db->setQuery($query, 0, $maximum);

        try
        {
          $temp = $db->loadObjectList();
        }
        catch (RuntimeException $e)
        {
          JFactory::getApplication()->enqueueMessage(JText::_('JERROR_AN_ERROR_HAS_OCCURRED'), 'error');

          return array();
        }

        if (count($temp))
        {
          $articles_ids = array();

          foreach ($temp as $row)
          {
            $articles_ids[] = $row->id;
          }

          $articles->setState('filter.article_id', $articles_ids);
          $articles->setState('filter.published', 1);
          $related = $articles->getItems();
        }

        unset ($temp);
      }
    }

    if (count($related))
    {
      // Prepare data for display using display options
      foreach ($related as &$item)
      {
        $item->slug    = $item->id . ':' . $item->alias;
        $item->catslug = $item->catid . ':' . $item->category_alias;

        $item->route = JRoute::_(ContentHelperRoute::getArticleRoute($item->slug, $item->catid, $item->language));
      }
    }

    return $related;
  }
}

Answer 1

*without going into the details of this shitcode* Try deleting the line
, probably then the categories will no longer be taken into account.
Top 6 I think you can guess how to do it.