If you need to create a custom URL Path (rewrite) it’s easy enough to just create the page in the admin and create a custom shortcode that will output the HTML that you want. However, you would not be able to properly re-theme this output so a preferred method is to create a URL rewrite that will automatically pull a custom template file that can be customized in a theme as needed.
Create URL Path Rewrites
After you add or update a rewrite you need to flush the rewrites. This can be done using flush_rewrite_rules() or by going to the Settings > Permalinks page and saving a change there (which will issue the same flush).
/**
* URL Rewrites
*/
public function myRewrite()
{
/** @global WP_Rewrite $wp_rewrite */
global $wp_rewrite;
$newRules = array(
'pets/?$' => 'index.php?my_page=pet',
'pets/(\d+)/?$' => sprintf(
'index.php?my_page=pet&pet_id=%s',
$wp_rewrite->preg_index(1)
),
);
$wp_rewrite->rules = $newRules + (array) $wp_rewrite->rules;
}
add_action('generate_rewrite_rules', 'myRewrite');
Template File Redirect
This handles getting the overridden file in a theme or falls back to your copy in your plugin.
/**
* Set templates for custom pages
*
* @see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4647604/wp-use-file-in-plugin-directory-as-custom-page-template
*/
public function myThemeRedirect()
{
$plugindir = dirname(__FILE__);
$prefix = 'myprefix'; // Set custom prefix for each plugin to prevent conflicts
$themeFilesDir = 'theme-files'; // Sub directory in your plugin to put all your template files
$page = get_query_var('my_page');
$petId = (int)get_query_var('pet_id', 0);
if ($page == 'pet' && empty($petId)) {
// Pet Archive
$data = array( // Data you can pass to the template
'pets' => array(
array('name' => 'Fluffy', 'species' => 'dog'),
array('name' => 'Spot', 'species' => 'cat'),
),
'action' => 'my_action'
);
$filename = 'archive-pet.php'; // filename of template
$fullTemplatePath = TEMPLATEPATH . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $prefix . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $filename;
$returnTemplate = (file_exists($fullTemplatePath)) ? $fullTemplatePath : $plugindir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $themeFilesDir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $filename;
doMyThemeRedirect($returnTemplate, true, $data);
return;
} elseif ($page == 'pet' && !empty($petId)) {
// Single Pet
$data = array( // Data you can pass to the template
'pet' => array('name' => 'Fluffy', 'species' => 'dog'),
);
$filename = 'single-pet.php'; // filename of template
$fullTemplatePath = TEMPLATEPATH . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $prefix . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $filename;
$returnTemplate = (file_exists($fullTemplatePath)) ? $fullTemplatePath : $plugindir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $themeFilesDir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $filename;
doMyThemeRedirect($returnTemplate, true, $data);
return;
}
}
/**
* Process theme redirect
*
* @param mixed $path
* @param bool $force force redirect regardless of have_posts()
* @param array $data vars to set for theme
*/
function doMyThemeRedirect($path, $force=false, $data=array())
{
global $post, $wp_query;
if (have_posts() || $force) {
if (!empty($data)) extract($data);
include($path);
die();
} else {
$wp_query->is_404 = true;
}
}
add_action('template_redirect', 'myThemeRedirect');
Register Custom Query Variables
If you need to use any custom query variables such as “my_page” and “pet_id” in the example above, you need to register them.
/**
* Register custom query vars
*
* @param array $vars The array of available query variables
*
* @return array
*
* @link https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Filter_Reference/query_vars
*/
public function myRegisterQueryVars($vars)
{
$vars[] = 'my_page';
$vars[] = 'pet_id';
return $vars;
}
add_filter('query_vars', 'myRegisterQueryVars');
very very goooooood ๐๐๐