A class to copy into your WordPress plugin, to allow loading template parts with fallback through the child theme > parent theme > plugin.
GPL-2.0 License
A class to copy into your WordPress plugin, to allow loading template parts with fallback through the child theme > parent theme > plugin.
Easy Digital Downloads, WooCommerce, and Events Calendar plugins, amongst others, allow you to add files to your theme to override the default templates that come with the plugin. As a developer, adding this convenience in to your own plugin can be a little tricky.
The get_template_part()
function in WordPress was never really designed with plugins in mind, since it relies on locate_template()
which only checks child and parent themes. So we can add in a final fallback that uses the templates in the plugin, we have to use a custom locate_template()
function, and a custom get_template_part()
function. The solution here just wraps them up as a class for convenience.
This isn't a WordPress plugin on its own, so the usual instructions don't apply. Instead:
class-gamajo-template-loader.php
into your plugin. It can be into a file in the plugin root, or better, an includes
directory.or:
composer require gamajo/template-loader
composer require coenjacobs/mozart --dev
and configure it.class-your-plugin-template-loader.php
, in the same directory.Gamajo_Template_Loader
(or the new prefixed name, if you installed via Composer/Mozart). You can see the Meal Planner Template Loader example class below as a starting point if it helps.get_templates_dir()
method if it isn't right for you.get_template_part()
method. This could be within a shortcode callback, or something you want theme developers to include in their files.// Template loader instantiated elsewhere, such as the main plugin file.
$meal_planner_template_loader = new Meal_Planner_Template_Loader();
Use it to call the get_template_part()
method. This could be within a shortcode callback, or something you want theme developers to include in their files.
$meal_planner_template_loader->get_template_part( 'recipe' );
If you want to pass data to the template, call the set_template_data()
method with an array before calling get_template_part()
. set_template_data()
returns the loader object to allow for method chaining.
$data = array( 'foo' => 'bar', 'baz' => 'boom' );
$meal_planner_template_loader
->set_template_data( $data )
->get_template_part( 'recipe' );
The value of bar
is now available inside the recipe template as $data->foo
.
If you wish to use a different variable name, add a second parameter to set_template_data()
:
$data = array( 'foo' => 'bar', 'baz' => 'boom' );
$meal_planner_template_loader
->set_template_data( $data, 'context' )
->get_template_part( 'recipe', 'ingredients' );
The value of bar
is now available inside the recipe template as $context->foo
.
This will try to load up wp-content/themes/my-theme/meal-planner/recipe-ingredients.php
, or wp-content/themes/my-theme/meal-planner/recipe.php
, then fallback to wp-content/plugins/meal-planner/templates/recipe-ingredients.php
or wp-content/plugins/meal-planner/templates/recipe.php
.
You can also pass the template loader object into the template as well:
$template_loader = new Your_Template_Loader();
$template_loader->set_template_data(
array(
'template_loader' => $template_loader,
// Optional other data as needed.
)
);
Then in the template you can use:
$data->template_loader->get_template_part( 'recipe' );
<?php
/**
* Meal Planner
*
* @package Meal_Planner
* @author Gary Jones
* @link http://example.com/meal-planner
* @copyright 2013 Gary Jones
* @license GPL-2.0+
*/
if ( ! class_exists( 'Gamajo_Template_Loader' ) ) {
require plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ) . 'class-gamajo-template-loader.php';
}
/**
* Template loader for Meal Planner.
*
* Only need to specify class properties here.
*
* @package Meal_Planner
* @author Gary Jones
*/
class Meal_Planner_Template_Loader extends Gamajo_Template_Loader {
/**
* Prefix for filter names.
*
* @since 1.0.0
*
* @var string
*/
protected $filter_prefix = 'meal_planner';
/**
* Directory name where custom templates for this plugin should be found in the theme.
*
* @since 1.0.0
*
* @var string
*/
protected $theme_template_directory = 'meal-planner';
/**
* Reference to the root directory path of this plugin.
*
* Can either be a defined constant, or a relative reference from where the subclass lives.
*
* In this case, `MEAL_PLANNER_PLUGIN_DIR` would be defined in the root plugin file as:
*
* ~~~
* define( 'MEAL_PLANNER_PLUGIN_DIR', plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ) );
* ~~~
*
* @since 1.0.0
*
* @var string
*/
protected $plugin_directory = MEAL_PLANNER_PLUGIN_DIR;
/**
* Directory name where templates are found in this plugin.
*
* Can either be a defined constant, or a relative reference from where the subclass lives.
*
* e.g. 'templates' or 'includes/templates', etc.
*
* @since 1.1.0
*
* @var string
*/
protected $plugin_template_directory = 'templates';
}
The Cue plugin from AudioTheme uses this class. Starting at https://github.com/AudioTheme/cue/tree/develop/includes, it has this class in the vendor directory, then the required subclass of my class in the class-cue-template-loader.php
file, which sets a few basic properties. It also has a template in https://github.com/AudioTheme/cue/tree/develop/templates.
If you wanted the playlist to have different markup for your theme, you'd copy templates/playlist.php
to wp-content/themes/{your-active-theme}/cue/playlist.php
and do whatever changes you wanted. WordPress will look for that file first, before then checking a parent theme location (if your active theme is a child theme), before falling back to the default template that comes with the Cue plugin.
See the change log.
Contributions are welcome - fork, fix and send pull requests against the develop
branch please.
Built by Gary Jones Copyright 2013 Gary Jones