btrollup.php

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: Rollup Posts
Plugin URI: http://www.bentedder.com
Description: Rollup posts from specific categories with styles
Version: 1.0
Author: Ben Tedder
Author URI: http://www.bentedder.com
License: GPL2
*/

function bt_rollup_handler($atts, $content = null) {
	
  	// start collecting information from the output buffer
  	ob_start();
	
	// extract the arguments from the shortcode and set defaults
	extract( shortcode_atts( array(
		'category' => 1,
		'style' => 'grid',
		'limit' => 1
	), $atts ) );
	
	// set the arguments for the query
	$args = array(
		'cat' => $category,
		'posts_per_page' => $limit
	);
	
	query_posts( $args );
	
   if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post();
		
		if($style == 'featured') {
			echo '<div class="rollup-featured">';
			echo get_the_post_thumbnail(get_the_ID(), 'smallsquare', array('class' => 'alignleft'));
			echo '<a href="' . get_permalink() . '">' . get_the_title() . '</a><br/>';
			echo '<p>' . get_the_excerpt() . '</p>';
			echo '<br style="clear:both;" />';
			echo '</div>';
			
		} else if ($style == 'grid') {
			echo '<div class="rollup-grid">';
			echo get_the_post_thumbnail(get_the_ID(), 'smallsquare');
			echo '<a href="' . get_permalink() . '">' . get_the_title() . '</a><br/>';
			echo '<br style="clear:both;" />';
			echo '</div>';
		}
		
		
	endwhile; else:
	
		echo 'nothing found';
	
	endif;
	
	echo '<br style="clear:both;"/>';
	
	// don't forget to reset and output everything
	wp_reset_query();
	$output = ob_get_contents();
	ob_end_clean();
	return $output;
}
add_shortcode( 'rollup', 'bt_rollup_handler' );


add_filter( 'excerpt_length', 'custom_excerpt_length' );
function custom_excerpt_length( $length ) {
	return 10;
}

function change_excerpt_more( $more ) {
    return '... <a href="' . get_permalink() . '">Read more</a>';
}
add_filter('excerpt_more', 'change_excerpt_more');