helper.php

<?php
/**
 * @module	JM News Ticker
 * @copyright	Copyright (C) 2016 John McCabe
 * @license	GPL
 */
defined ( '_JEXEC' ) or die ( 'Restricted access' );
abstract class mod_jmnewstickerHelper {
	static function getList($params) {
		$db = JFactory::getDbo ();
		$query = $db->getQuery ( true );
		
		$query->select ( '*' );
		$query->from ( '#__content' );
		
		$category = $params->get ( 'category', '' );
		$category = intval ( $category );
		if (isset ( $category ) && $category) {
			$query->where ( 'catid = ' . $category . ' AND state = 1 AND ((now() >= publish_up OR publish_up = 0) AND (now() <= publish_down OR publish_down = 0))' );
		}
		
		$showItems = $params->get ( 'showItems', '' );
		if ($showItems) {
			$query->setLimit ( $showItems );
		}
		
		$query->order ( 'created DESC' );
		
		$db->setQuery ( $query );
		
		try {
			$results = $db->loadObjectList ();
		} catch ( RuntimeException $e ) {
			JError::raiseError ( 500, $e->getMessage () );
			return false;
		}
		
		foreach ( $items as &$item ) {
			echo $item->title;
		}
		
		return $results;
	}
}