Alternate single post template for specific categories

OK, I’ve switched that first bit of code with this, however, I still don’t know where I should be putting it, as everywhere I’ve tried messes stuff up.

<?php
$post = $wp_query->post;
if ( in_category('25') ) {
   include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/singlereview.php');
} else {
   include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/single.php');
}
?>

I’m trying to do much the same thing, though with just one category. I tried a plugin called “Post Templates By Category“, but it’s really buggy in 2.5.1 — it made all the URLs to posts in the category I’d selected, point to the most recent post in that category. We-eird.

I guess I could just use a giant “if…then…else” conditional, & have the code for one whole template inside the “then” part, and the code for the other template inside the “else” part, but that would make me feel really dirty.

I’ll start digging. Somebody stop me if you know how to do this.

Thanks!

Shane

okay, this plugin causes the exact same error. (I guess that’s somewhat reasonable.)

oops — it was my freakin’ template that was causing the error. Should’ve known.

Mithrustt, I’ll see if I can give you an answer in just a minute.

Okay, Mitthrustt — Using your original code, I think you’ll need to do something like this:

First, I don’t think in_category() will take a list of values. You’ll have to use the php “or” operator, like this: “…in_category(1) || in_category(2) || in_category(3)…”

You’ll need three separate template files; for instance: single.php, singlereview.php, and single-default.php

Assuming you only want to modify what goes on between the header & footer, your single.php should look like this:

<?php get_header(); ?>

	<?php
        if ( have_posts() ) { the_post(); rewind_posts(); }
        if ( in_category(25) || in_category(26) || in_category (27) ) {
            include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/singlereview.php');
        }
        else {
            include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/single-default.php');
        }
    ?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

…and your single-default & singlereview files should contain everything that originally went between the get_header and get_footer tags in your original single.php file, modified however you’d like.

Or, you could try one of the two plugins that I linked to previously, now that I know it was my template that was screwey, & (probably) not the plug-ins.

Happy coding!

Shane

Yeah, I figured this out a few days ago and forgot to post back saying how.

Basically, I took the single.php and put this code in:

<?php
 if ( have_posts() ) { the_post(); rewind_posts(); }
 if ( in_category(25) || in_category (26) || in_category (27) || in_category (28) || in_category (29) || in_category (30) || in_category (31) || in_category (32) || in_category (33) || in_category (34) || in_category (35) || in_category (36) || in_category (38) ) {
 include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/singlereview.php');
 } else {
 include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/singlepost.php');
 }
 ?>

Then I just created the two new templates and styled them the way I desired. Quite easy, actually, and once you get the basic code for one alternate template, it’s really easy to do it for more.

I hope this helps anyone else looking for an answer to a similar question.

It certainly helped me, and I didn’t even know I had the question! ?? Thanks, good for future reference.

Awesome! Thanks for posting this guys. Helped me out too!

There’s a better method for this that what’s above. I wrote this a while ago:
https://www.nathanrice.net/blog/wordpress-single-post-templates/

Thanks, Nathan! I’m glad people found this handy, but I figured there was a more elegant way of handling it. Looks good.

Always Learning!

Shane

Hey guys, this is a solution that worked for me perfectly. All I did is at this code to my single.php template

<?php
$post = $wp_query->post;
if (in_category(9)) {
	include (TEMPLATEPATH.'/single-specific9.php');
	return;
}
if (in_category(8)) {
	include (TEMPLATEPATH.'/single-specific8.php');
	return;
}
if (in_category(11)) {
	include (TEMPLATEPATH.'/single-specific11.php');
	return;
}
get_header(); ?>

Hopefully this can help you.

Thanks Guys for sharing your knowledg,
her another code i use , and it work perfectly

<?php
$post = $wp_query->post;

if (in_category('news')) {
	include ('news.php');
	return;

} else { ?>
	<?php include ('other.php');?>
<?php } ?>

Hop it help.

Would it be possible to call for a template of a specific post using the custom fields?

So instead of using a category, it would only work for the post. I would like this, because my writing sense isn’t based on category, more on the utility of the article itself. Something related to page templates with pages would be good. Any code around?