PHP, WP Query, WP/CP | Type: PHPFilter Custom Post Type by Taxonomy

UPDATE: Moving to PHP8 from PHP7.4, there was a problem with the format of the original filter form throwing an error. I have not tested this code specifically, but I resolved the issue where it was a problem on active websites and updated this to match.

<h4>Filter News by Category</h4>

<form action="" method="GET" id="news">
<?php $categories = get_categories('taxonomy=news-category&post_type=news'); ?>
  <select name="newscat" id="newscat" onchange="submit()">
     <option value="">Show all (default)</option>
     <?php 
     foreach ($categories as $category) : 
     echo '<option value="'.$category->name.'"';
     if(isset($_GET['newscat']) && ($_GET['newscat'] == $category->name)) { echo ' selected="selected"'; } 
     echo '>'.$category->name.'</option>';
     endforeach; 
     ?>
  </select>
</form>

<?php // let the queries begin 
$paged = ( get_query_var('paged') ) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1; 
if( !isset($_GET['newscat']) || '' == $_GET['newscat']) { // if nothing selected or 'show all' selected 
$newslist = new WP_Query( array( 
    'post_type' => 'news', 
    'posts_per_page' => 8, 
    'orderby' => 'DATE', 
    'paged' => $paged 
) ); 

} else { //if select value exists, the query that compares $_GET value and taxonomy term (name) 
$newscategory = $_GET['newscat']; //get filter value 
$newslist = new WP_Query( array( 
    'post_type' => 'news', 
    'posts_per_page' => 8, 
    'orderby' => 'DATE', 
    'paged' => $paged, 
    'tax_query' => array( //the taxonomy query 
        array( 
        'taxonomy' => 'news-category', 
        'field' => 'name', 
        'terms' => $newscategory 
        ) 
     ) 
)); 
} 

if ($newslist->have_posts()) : while ( $newslist->have_posts() ) : 
$newslist->the_post(); 
?> 

SHOW RESULTS

<?php endwhile; 
else : 
echo '<p>There are no news items in that category.</p>'; 
endif; 
?>  
<?php wp_pagenavi( array( 'query' => $newslist ) ); ?> 
<? wp_reset_query(); ?>

Reference Links