woothemes/woocommerce — pull request #4443 by joshlevinson (2014-01-01 19:32:16+00:00)
Title: Preserve existing loop when altering main loop

I came across a scenario where I was using the `product_category` shortcode on the Shop page content to display categories at the top of the shop page - like products from a featured category.

I noticed that setting the `columns` attribute in the shortcode affected not only the shortcode's loop, but the main loop further down the page.

I'm not sure that using such a method as I have here is best, but I wanted to bring this up so that it can be addressed. I'd assume that this issue exists in other instances where the main `$woocommerce_loop` is altered.

I did notice that `woocommerce_reset_loop()` is used in other scenarios to "_Reset the loop's index and columns when we're done outputting a product loop_" (from the comments of that function). I attempted to use that function at the end of the `product_category()` function before it returned. However, it did not have the desired effect.