Shortcode append to the the_content()

What your asking for can’t be done using shortcodes. <article> isn’t a part of the content, its part of the theme and it ‘contains’ the content. Thus shortcodes cannot modify it or move those tags around. Shortcodes by definition are part of the content, so anything they add on the end is also a part of the content.

Instead you will need to modify your theme to add the extra elements somewhere else. How this is done is beyond the scope of this question/answer, but I advise using post meta ( and metaboxes to provide a UI )

To demonstrate the irrationality of what you’re requesting:

<article>
  <?php the_content(); ?>
</article>
<!-- you want the_content() to magically reach over here via a shortcode and do something --!>

Instead, something along these lines:

<article>
  <?php the_content(); ?>
</article>
<?php
$meta = get_post_meta($post->ID,'_dothing',true);
if($meta == true){
    $param1 = get_post_meta($post->ID,'_dothing_param1',true);
    $param2= get_post_meta($post->ID,'_dothing_param2',true);
    that_shortcode_thing_you_wanted($param1,$param2);
}
?>

Related Posts: