WooCommerce 3.x – Hide category of product

I would like to know if anyone has a clue on how to hide a specific product category all around my website. Means on the “shop”, “related product” and the “search” of my WordPress WooCommerce website.

For the “shop” pages I have done (and it’s working) the following:

 function custom_pre_get_posts_q( $q ) {

        $tax_query = (array) $q->get( 'tax_query' );

        $tax_query[] = array(
               'taxonomy' => 'product_cat',
               'field' => 'slug',
               'terms' => array( 'carton' ), // Don't display products in the composite category on the shop page.
               'operator' => 'NOT IN'
        );


        $q->set( 'tax_query', $tax_query );

    }
    add_action( 'woocommerce_product_query', 'custom_pre_get_posts_q' );

For the search I tried the following but it doesn’t work:

function exclude_category_from_search($query) {
if ($query->is_search) {
    $cat_id = get_cat_ID('carton');
    $query->set('cat', '-'.$cat_id);
}
    return $query;
}

add_filter(‘pre_get_posts’,’exclude_category_from_search’);

Finally, for the related product I tried the following which seems deprecated since WC 3.x:

function wc_remove_related_products( $args )
{
    if (is_product() && has_term( 'carton', 'product_cat'))
    {
        return array();
    } 

    return $args;
}
add_filter('woocommerce_related_products_args','wc_remove_related_products', 10);

I also have in my child-theme the following:

`               <?php foreach ( $related_products as $related_product ) : ?>

                <?php
                        $post_object = get_post( $related_product->get_id() );

                        setup_postdata( $GLOBALS['post'] =& $post_object );

                        wc_get_template_part( 'content', 'product' ); ?>

                <?php endforeach; ?>`

And I know that we can hide product category with this part of code that I used on other classes:

            global $post;
        $terms = wp_get_post_terms( $post->ID, 'product_cat' );
        foreach ( $terms as $term ) $categories[] = $term->slug;

        if ( in_array( 'children', $categories ) ) {

Anyone have an idea on how to do that with the new version of WoomCommerce? I’ve made a lot of research around but all looks like deprecated answer since this new version.

PS: I need to keep this category as I am using it to create some composite products, so only hide these products but not remove them .

Cheers

Answer

To exclude your category (“Carton” here) from search and SHOP page, add the following in my function.php file of my child theme:

    /* hide CARTON category SEARCH
=============================*/
function sm_pre_get_posts( $query ) {

   if (  $query->is_search() ) {
       $query->set( 'post_type', array( 'product' ) );
       $tax_query = array(
           array(
               'taxonomy' => 'product_cat',
               'field'   => 'slug',
               'terms'   => 'carton', //slug name of category
               'operator' => 'NOT IN',
           ),
       );
       $query->set( 'tax_query', $tax_query );
    }

}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'sm_pre_get_posts' );

/* hide CARTON category for SHOP pages
====================================*/
function custom_pre_get_posts_query( $q ) {

    $tax_query = (array) $q->get( 'tax_query' );

    $tax_query[] = array(
           'taxonomy' => 'product_cat',
           'field' => 'slug',
           'terms' => array( 'carton' ), // Don't display products in the carton category on the shop page.
           'operator' => 'NOT IN'
    );

    $q->set( 'tax_query', $tax_query );
}
add_action( 'woocommerce_product_query', 'custom_pre_get_posts_query' );

Regarding the “related products”, I had to tweak it but in the end it’s improving the related coming with woocommerce. I am basically sorting my related product by order of brand, category & season. Because “Carton” is a category, it doesn’t retrieve any of them:

global $post;
$terms = get_the_terms( $post->ID, 'product_cat' );
foreach ($terms as $term) {
    $myTerm = $term->slug;
    if($myTerm == 'mens' || $myTerm == 'ladies'){
        $mainCat = $myTerm; 
    }else if($myTerm == 'accessories'){
        $mainCat = $myTerm; 
    }else if($myTerm == 'children'){
        $mainCat = $myTerm;             
    }else if($myTerm == 'summer' || $myTerm == 'winter'){
        $seasonCat = $myTerm;
    }
}
    $terms = get_the_terms( get_the_ID(), 'pa_brand' );
    foreach ($terms as $term) {
        $theBrand = $term->slug;
    }

?>

    <div class="product-carousel related-products spb_content_element">

        <div class="title-wrap clearfix">
            <h3 class="spb-heading"><span><?php echo esc_attr($related_heading); ?></span></h3>
            <div class="carousel-arrows"><a href="#" class="carousel-prev"><i class="sf-icon-chevron-prev"></i></a><a href="#" class="carousel-next"><i class="sf-icon-chevron-next"></i></a></div>
        </div>

        <div class="related products carousel-items <?php echo esc_attr($gutter_class); ?> product-type-<?php echo esc_attr($related_product_display_type); ?>" id="carousel-<?php echo esc_attr($sf_carouselID); ?>" data-columns="<?php echo esc_attr($woocommerce_loop['columns']); ?>">
        <?php
            $args = array(
                'posts_per_page' => -1,
                'tax_query' => array(
                    array(
                        'taxonomy' => 'pa_brand',
                        'field' => 'slug',
                        'terms' => $theBrand
                    ),
                    array(
                        'taxonomy' => 'product_cat',
                        'field' => 'slug',
                        'terms' => $mainCat
                    ),
                    array(
                        'taxonomy' => 'product_cat',
                        'field' => 'slug',
                        'terms' => $seasonCat
                    )
                ),
                'post_type' => 'product',
                'orderby'        => 'rand',
                'order'          => 'desc',
                'posts_per_page' => 12
            );  
            $loop = new WP_Query( $args );
            if ( $loop->have_posts() ) {
                while ( $loop->have_posts() ) : $loop->the_post();
                    wc_get_template_part( 'content', 'product' );
                endwhile;
            } else {
                echo __( 'No products found' );
            }
            wp_reset_postdata(); ?>                     

        </div>

    </div>