Adding new functions, general_template.php page

  • Hi,
    first, wordpress forums is very helpful, I have found answers to ALL of my questions within 24 hours here. wow.

    In the previous version 2.6, in order to add a function, like for instance to have a template page call a different sidebar, all I had to do was define the new sidebar in the general_template.php page and presto, I got my new template page to call it’s own special sidebar.

    I tried with version 2.7, and found the process of defining functions is spread all over the place and I can’t figure out how to define anything new. Here is the code in general_template.php for calling the sidebar:

    function get_sidebar( $name = null ) {
	do_action( 'get_sidebar' );

	$templates = array();
	if ( isset($name) )
		$templates[] = "sidebar-{$name}.php";

	$templates[] = "sidebar.php";

	if ('' == locate_template($templates, true))
		load_template( get_theme_root() . '/default/sidebar.php');
}

    Can I change this code to get a new sidebar defined? Or if not, where and how do I do that?

    thanks,
    JSC

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

  • The function is set up to allow for multiple sidebar configurations.

    just call the function with the name of your sidebar
    <?php get_sidebar(name); ?>

    For example if I wanted do add a sidebar on the right side I would
    create the sidebar file and name the file sidebar-right.php

    I could name it sidebar-blue.php and still have it show up on the right side it is just the name used to locate the file that displays the sidebar.

    then just call the function
    <?php get_sidebar(right); ?>

    and it will use the sidebar-right.php

    file for the sidebar

    I hope that helps.

    Thread Starter jami1955

    (@jami1955)

    Thanks! we’re getting there, so to clarify:
    If I create a sidebar page called sidebar-02.php and want that to be called on my template page, do I call the function
    <?php get_sidebar(02); ?> ?

    What’s a little confusing is that in my theme (cognoblue) the original sidebar that is called with this function is sidebar_r.php which is written with an underscore, not a hyphen… but if I have what you’re saying correct, I’ll try it.

    thanks again,
    JSC

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    www.ads-software.com Admin

    The correct syntax would actually be:

    <?php get_sidebar('02'); ?>
<?php get_sidebar('right'); ?>

    The quotes make it a string. I know, pedantic, but it sometimes makes a difference.

    As far as the underscore/hyphen.. Rename the existing file to use a hyphen instead.

    Right, that helped! thanks.

    What I did was this: the original code was
    <?php include(TEMPLATEPATH."/sidebar_r.php");?>
    which still works on several templates, and I added this

    <?php include(TEMPLATEPATH."/sidebar-authors.php");?>
    to put my special sidebar on my authors’ page. works great, much simpler than the other way of going into general_template.php and adding functions!
    great stuff.
    JSC

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    www.ads-software.com Admin

    While a direct include will indeed work, using something like this:
    <?php get_sidebar('authors'); ?>
    is safer and better. It does essentially the same thing, but with the benefit of being inside a function scope, as well as having the ability to fallback to the sidebar.php if the sidebar-authors.php file is missing.

    Here’s an interesting question: now that I’ve got my authors page calling my special sidebar…. how do I get that special sidebar to show up in the drop down sidebar list in my admin widgets control panel, so that I can configure that sidebar differently than the original one?

    Actually Otto42, I changed the code to what you suggested
    <?php get_sidebar(‘authors’); ?>
    but that rendered this call for the author’s thumbnail pic in the sidebar which comes from the user-photo plugin useless. The picture would not show up anymore. The code
    <?php userphoto_thumbnail($authordata) ?>
    only works in that sidebar when it is called like this
    <?php include(TEMPLATEPATH."/sidebar-authors.php");?>
    C’est la code…

    thanks for your help
    JSC

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    www.ads-software.com Admin

    Do this instead:

    <?php
global $authordata;
userphoto_thumbnail($authordata);
?>

    That will prevent the issue you saw.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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