I'm not a super-experienced Wordpress guy, but I generally know what I'm doing, and have been programming for years.
I'm in the middle of building a fairly simple Wordpress site, but lots of posts will be added in the future by the client.
It suddenly dawned on me that all my posts are static, so if changes in design are needed they will need to be applied manually across many pages.
I've searched Google but to no avail. What I need is a plugin or method that allows me to have templates for my posts, into which the unique content for each page are added. Then, if design changes are needed, I simply edit the template and the design will change instantly across all the pages using this template.
I've found plugins which seem to offer post templates, but all they seem to do is create a new post with a pre-made design, but do not make it possible to make changes to that design which are reflected across all the posts that use that template. Maybe I'm missing something simple here, as I can't be the only WP author who wants to achieve this?
I'm not talking about dynamic content. ie I have no need to pull constantly updated data like weather or prices from an API. The content is hand-written for each page, but I would like to separate it from the design, so if design changes are needed they can be made only once from some kind of post template manager, and not individually on each page.
Actually, I'm already using the simple post-snippets plugin, and I realise that I could use this or something similar to achieve my aim, but I don't think this would be very user-friendly for non-technical authors. Instead, it would be ideal if I had a set of custom fields under each post which the authors filled in, and the content was then taken from there and inserted in the page's template.
In principle you should be able to change the design just using CSS selectors. Of course that may have its limitations but there is never a design that fits it all.
For bigger changes you will need to change the WordPress template.
Ok, after some research and poking around, this is what I've come up with.
Install the 'Advanced Custom Fields' and 'Custom Post Templates' plugins , although neither are strictly necessary.
Create a group of custom fields which defines the unique data (URL, media selector etc) for each post.
Most importantly, create a new custom post template following the instructions for the 'Custom Post Templates' plugin. In this template remove the line that outputs the post content (the_content()), and replace it with code that outputs all the shortcodes or whatever for this page type, with placeholders string replaced with the values of the custom variables for that post. Then (in my case) I do something like do_shortcode($page_template) to correctly output the correct content for that page.
I create a new post, leaving the content field completely empty, and filling in the custom field's values as required. Also, you must choose the post template, so it matches the new custom template you create.
$v=get_post_custom_values("image_url")[0];//gets the id of the post which contains the image
$image_url = wp_get_attachment_image_src($v, 'medium')[0]; //get the image (URL?) from the reference
$page_template='[one_third last="no" spacing="yes" background_color="" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" background_position="left top" border_size="2px" border_color="#eaeaea" border_style="solid" padding="20px" class="" id=""][imageframe lightbox="no" style_type="none" bordercolor="" bordersize="0px" borderradius="0" stylecolor="" align="none" link="" linktarget="_self" animation_type="0" animation_direction="down" animation_speed="0.1" class="" id=""] <img src="#image_url#" alt="" />[/imageframe][fusion_text]Email Me | Website[/fusion_text][/one_third][two_third last="yes" spacing="yes" background_color="" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" background_position="left top" border_size="0px" border_color="" border_style="" padding="" class="" id=""][fusion_text]#main_text_html#[/fusion_text][/two_third]';
$page_template=str_replace ( "#image_url#" , $image_url , $page_template );
echo do_shortcode($page_template);
The code above contains the page template hard-coded into the $page_template variable, but it could also be loaded by referencing the id of the post which is acting as the template.
This code currently only inserts the correct image URL. Once it's finished it will also insert the personal email link, website link, and main text.
Related
I'm new to drupal and reading through docs, but hoping to get an explanation for something.
I have a page called page--type-home-page.tpl.php.
Part of this page prints render($page['content'])). I want to remove something that is rendered as part of the page content from the page, but don't understand where this comes from and where/how to look.
Thanks!
Assuming you're talking about Drupal-7
Well the $page['content'] contains a string, which is a rendered version of what's injected into the content region of your theme.
By default, the only block in this region is the "Main page content" block that is generated by the Drupal core. Many things can generate this content but it always pass through the menu API. For instance, if you're viewing a node, the URL used is: node/12. The node module declares a menu entry for node/%node, this menu entry contains a callback function that will render whatever the module wants to render. The module, then, may use different strategy to render it's content from a simple function to a complex imbrication of templates.
The key to alter what's in the box, sorry, what's in the $page['content'], is to know what is rendered and to understand how it's rendered.
If it's a node, first you want to look if you can achieve your goal through the display settings of the content type. admin/structure/types/manage/page/display: And this is true for all entities (users, comments, taxonomy term etc.) Because this is the first thing the module of these entities will put together when they'll try to render your content.
If this is not enough to achieve your goal, you can look into the module that renders the path to see if it hasn't a .tpl.php. You'll be able to re-use it in your theme. You'll want to copy/paste the file in your theme and edit it.
If the module do not have a tpl file to override, try a template suggestion: here's a list from Drupal.org
Ex: node--type.tpl.php
If all this doesn't satisfy your need, you'll have to dig into preprocess functions; Those functions allow you to modify what's in the variables passed to .tpl.php files. That's a little more advanced and I recommend you to read this previous stackoverflow question/answer
Simply, don't use that $page['content'] which prints all content, but place your custom template code instead and print separate field values where you need them like:
<?php print render($content['your_field_name']); ?>
https://drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/30063/how-to-print-fields-in-node-tpl-php
If you want to do just simple styling, like excluding some field you can use content type display options like mgadrat explained, but if you want to use some complex styling, with totally custom html this solution is easier.
I am creating custom post types in WordPress using the "Types" plugin. Those post types are not supposed to have a post page associated with them that the user would navigate to by default when clicking a particular post link. They are supposed to be merely titles that I am displaying in a grid and that should link out to separate sites. Every post title has an individual link associated with it. I am styling those post titles using the "Grid Element" creator of the "Visual Composer" plugin, so I can set which attributes of the post I want to display (in my case only the title).
When I am creating the post type, I am adding a custom field for the link url that I can then set when I create the individual post. However, I am not seeing an option to set that custom link to be the link for the post itself. I can add the link as a separate UI element of the post but I want the post title itself to be the link. Is this possible and how?
Very possible, but you will have to do some coding of your own, rather than relying on visual composer. Within the template you are using, in the loop that pulls the posts, you need to grab the meta data from that field for the current post:
<?php
// loop stuff here...
$link = get_post_meta(get_the_id(), your-key-here, true);
echo '<p>'.the_title().'</p>';
// other loop stuff...
?>
In the above, your-key-here refers to the name of the custom field you've set up for the link that gets set by the post author. The above also assumes you know enough about WordPress to know where you need to edit this code in, in the template. The code does not check for empty values and handle with a fallback, so yes, this code can be improved upon, but it sill do what you've asked in the question.
EDIT: A link for reference regarding pulling meta data/custom fields data; https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_post_meta/
For a project of mine I need to define an alternative template for single posts.
To be more specific I need each post to be displayed as usual when the website is browsed but I need to create different single pages reachable from different URL to create a sort of a mini-website for each post.
(I'm actually using the WooCommerce plugin and what I need to do is to create a mini-website for each product. This needs to be something "outside" from the main website, with a complete different graphic template and is going to be reachable through a QR-code).
Hope it makes a bit of sense.
Thanks for your advices and/or suggestions.
Angelo
I think the easiest way to do that is by registering a custom post type for the special posts that get this special "single.php" template. Then, you can simply write a new single template titled post-[custom post_type].php. Any post you register of this type will use that template.
OR...
If you don't actually need them to be posts, it's even easier if you publish them as pages. By default, pages let you assign a specific page template in the edit screen. So you could make any number of custom templates. Just make sure you add the special header:
/* Template Name: Custom Page */
...so WP knows it's a page template.
Is there anywhere online where one can find how to create custom blocks in the same way we can create custom content types in Wordpress. The desired result is to add a block that will allow the user to add/edit custom fields like client name, portfolio description, portfolio thumbnail.
I've created a free tool called "Designer Content" that lets you easily generate these custom blocks:
http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/designer-content
That being said, it is important to understand this key concept: In Concrete5, everything revolves around PAGES. In general, you want to try to establish an architecture where each piece of data is represented on its own page (a "details" page, which would roughly equate to a single blog post in Wordpress). Then you use the Page List block (usually creating a custom template for it to modify its look) to list out titles, links, and excerpts/photos from each of those "details" pages on a top-level "index" page (roughly equivalant to the home page or category archive in Wordpress).
For example, if you're building a portfolio site, you might want one top-level "Portfolio" page that shows a thumbnail and title of each piece, then a "Portfolio Item Detail" page type that contains one piece per page -- each living underneath the top-level "portfolio" index page.
The benefits of this approach are C5 gives you out-of-the-box tools to manage your "data" (pages) in this way -- users can add, edit, delete, and rearrange the pages via the "Sitemap" in the dashboard. Site search works without any modification -- each page (i.e. portfolio piece) will be its own search result with a link to a specific page. Also you then have more fine-grained control over access permissions if you ever decide to restrict access to only certain groups of people (registered users, etc.).
If you take this approach, you might find the "Page List Teasers" addon helpful (it will let the Page List block -- which you're using for your top-level "index" page -- to show actual content excepts from the pages instead of just a separate "description" field):
http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/page-list-teasers
Or if you want to dive deeper and customize the page list template even more, I have a starting template with a ton of code comments in it explaining how to do different things here:
https://github.com/jordanlev/c5_clean_block_templates/blob/master/page_list/view.php
But... if you're only talking about small amounts of information and you think a separate page for each one is overkill, then the Designer Content approach I linked to first will work just fine.
You can find a HOW-TO on creating new blocks written by Franz Maruna on the concrete5 website.
Here is the link: Creating a New Block Type
There is also a simple block you can download and install to help you follow the developer tutorials. You can find that here: Simple block template
Can a post be hidden from home page, archive view, category lists etc. and viewable only if you have a direct link to it? The blog doesn't have registered readers and is open to public so that would be a mean of hiding some posts from public view without using the password protection.
I asked this question in Wordpress section and the idea there was to use conditional code so I'm asking the question here as well to get closer to the code.
If I used conditioning, would I have to input each post's ID separately to PHP file for archive, categories, search and such?
EDIT:
After reading a bit more all over, I had an idea of creating a private category and then use some kind of conditioning so that posts from that category are hidden. According to Codex, certain category can be hidden from, for example front page but I don't know if there's a way to hide it altogether except when you have a direct link.
Creating a "Private" category is a good solution. It is quite possible to hide this category altogether except via direct link. You just have to "block all the exits" with conditional code.
The default WordPress theme displays posts via the Post Loop. See http://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop, especially the section entitled "Exclude Posts from Some Category". Just find all the places in your theme's PHP files (e.g. index.php) where this loop is used, and add the conditional code. You'd also need to filter your category list and blog archives in the side menu. Don't add filtering in single.php, otherwise the private post won't display on its own page.
You'd probably want to add a similar condition to filter search results so that private posts aren't leaked via the blog's search tool. There may be more "exits" I haven't thought of, but I'll be sure to update as I do. I'm glad to look at specific code if you so desire.
Understanding WordPress' post query and loop really opens up a world of possibilities for customization.
I found the simplest way - just use Simply Exclude Wordpress plugin. It has the option to exclude each post (or tag, for that matter) from front page, archive, search or feed. It works flawlessly. You can still view the posts by using direct links.
(Not actually an answer that includes code but a working solution nonetheless.)