As said in my edit to my answer to your previous post, I have rewritten your complete shortcode to be a bit more useful, and I also removed the extract() function which is a bad function to use.
To answer this question, I had to further modify your shortcode. To avoid clash with other excerpt functions, I have removed the_excerpt() and have replaced it with wp_trim_words. This will also void the need for the excerpt more function, so you can delete that. All that functionality is now build into the shortcode
Here is the update code. Just to renote: Needs PHP 5.4+
add_shortcode( 'news_box', 'newsbox_new_loading_shortcode' );
function newsbox_new_loading_shortcode($atts){
ob_start();
$a = shortcode_atts(
[
'posts_per_page' => '-1',
'news_box_title' => 'Latest News',
'news_box_more' => '',
'post_type' => 'post',
'taxonomy' => '',
'terms' => '',
'category' => '',
],
$atts
);
if( '' == $a['taxonomy'] || '' == $a['terms'] ) {
if( '' == $a['category'] ) {
$args = [
'posts_per_page' => $a['posts_per_page'],
'post_type' => $a['post_type'],
];
}else{
$args = [
'posts_per_page' => $a['posts_per_page'],
'post_type' => $a['post_type'],
'category_name' => $a['category'],
];
}
}else{
$args = [
'posts_per_page' => $a['posts_per_page'],
'post_type' => $a['post_type'],
'tax_query' => [
[
'taxonomy' => $a['taxonomy'],
'field' => 'slug',
'terms' => $a['terms'],
]
]
];
}
//The following lines is for the excerpt more text NEW!!
if( 'post' != $a['post_type'] && '' != $a['news_box_more'] ){
$read_more_text = $a['news_box_more'];
}else {
$read_more_text = "Read More »";
}
// end of excerpt more text code
$q = new WP_Query($args);
if ( $q->have_posts() ) :
while($q->have_posts()) : $q->the_post();
$newsbox_post_img_src = wp_get_attachment_image_src(get_post_thumbnail_id(), '', false, '' );
// wp_trim_words function NEW!!
$content = get_the_content();
$trimmed_content = wp_trim_words( $content, 55, '<a href="'. get_permalink() .'"> ...' . $read_more_text . '</a>' );
// wp_trim_words function
?>
<li class="news-item">
<table cellpadding="4">
<tr>
<td>
<?php if( !empty($newsbox_post_img_src)) { ?>
<img src="<?php echo $newsbox_post_img_src[0]; ?>" width="100" class="img-circle" />
<?php } ?>
</td>
<td>
<?php echo $trimmed_content; // Replaced the_excerpt() ?>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</li>
<?php endwhile;
$list = ob_get_clean();
return $list;
endif;
wp_reset_postdata();
}
For support for PHP < 5.4, you can do the following for the shortcode function.
add_shortcode( 'news_box', 'newsbox_new_loading_shortcode' );
function newsbox_new_loading_shortcode($atts){
ob_start();
$a = shortcode_atts(
array(
'posts_per_page' => '-1',
'news_box_title' => 'Latest News',
'news_box_more' => '',
'post_type' => 'post',
'taxonomy' => '',
'terms' => '',
'category' => '',
),
$atts
);
if( '' == $a['taxonomy'] || '' == $a['terms'] ) {
if( '' == $a['category'] ) {
$args = array(
'posts_per_page' => $a['posts_per_page'],
'post_type' => $a['post_type'],
);
}else{
$args = array(
'posts_per_page' => $a['posts_per_page'],
'post_type' => $a['post_type'],
'category_name' => $a['category'],
);
}
}else{
$args = array(
'posts_per_page' => $a['posts_per_page'],
'post_type' => $a['post_type'],
'tax_query' => array(
array(
'taxonomy' => $a['taxonomy'],
'field' => 'slug',
'terms' => $a['terms'],
),
),
);
}
//The following lines is for the excerpt more text NEW!!
if( 'post' != $a['post_type'] && '' != $a['news_box_more'] ){
$read_more_text = $a['news_box_more'];
}else {
$read_more_text = "Read More »";
}
// end of excerpt more text code
$q = new WP_Query($args);
if ( $q->have_posts() ) :
while($q->have_posts()) : $q->the_post();
$newsbox_post_img_src = wp_get_attachment_image_src(get_post_thumbnail_id(), '', false, '' );
// wp_trim_words function NEW!!
$content = get_the_content();
$trimmed_content = wp_trim_words( $content, 55, '<a href="'. get_permalink() .'"> ...' . $read_more_text . '</a>' );
// wp_trim_words function
?>
<li class="news-item">
<table cellpadding="4">
<tr>
<td>
<?php if( !empty($newsbox_post_img_src)) { ?>
<img src="<?php echo $newsbox_post_img_src[0]; ?>" width="100" class="img-circle" />
<?php } ?>
</td>
<td>
<?php echo $trimmed_content; // Replaced the_excerpt() ?>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</li>
<?php endwhile;
$list = ob_get_clean();
return $list;
endif;
wp_reset_postdata();
}
Just for interest sake, you have the following in your shortcode 'news_box_title' => Latest News',, but I can see where it fits in. I have also used it in my code, but have not used it anywhere. You will have to place it where you need it.