How can I load a page template from a plugin?

I want to add page templates to a theme directly from the plugin. The idea is that the template would show up in the dropdown under Page Attributes, and all the code would need to be in the plugin.

Any tips on how to achieve that ?

Answers:

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Method 1

You can use the theme_page_templates filter to add templates to the dropdown list of page templates like this:

function wpse255804_add_page_template ($templates) {
    $templates['my-custom-template.php'] = 'My Template';
    return $templates;
    }
add_filter ('theme_page_templates', 'wpse255804_add_page_template');

Now WP will be searching for my-custom-template.php in the theme directory, so you will have to redirect that to your plugin directory by using the page_template filter like this:

function wpse255804_redirect_page_template ($template) {
    if ('my-custom-template.php' == basename ($template))
        $template = WP_PLUGIN_DIR . '/mypluginname/my-custom-template.php';
    return $template;
    }
add_filter ('page_template', 'wpse255804_redirect_page_template');

Read more about this here: Add custom template page programmatically

Method 2

This is a combination of the above answer and the above comments which ended up working for me.

The function to add the plugin to the list of available templates:

function wpse255804_add_page_template ($templates) {
    $templates['my-custom-template.php'] = 'My Template';
    return $templates;
    }
add_filter ('theme_page_templates', 'wpse255804_add_page_template');

The function to point the template to the appropriate directory within the plugin:

function wpse255804_redirect_page_template ($template) {
    $post = get_post();
    $page_template = get_post_meta( $post->ID, '_wp_page_template', true );
    if ('my-custom-template.php' == basename ($page_template))
        $template = WP_PLUGIN_DIR . '/mypluginname/my-custom-template.php';
    return $template;
    }
add_filter ('page_template', 'wpse255804_redirect_page_template');

Method 3

Thanks for the help. I changed the code a little to work with the current WordPress version. Also changed it to support more than one custom template.

I bet there is a better way of doing this but it worked for me.

/**
 * Load Template with Plugin
 */
function yourname_add_page_template ($templates) {
    $templates['page-one.php'] = 'title here One';
    $templates['page-two.php'] = 'title here Two';
    $templates['page-three.php'] = 'title here Three';
    return $templates;
}
add_filter ('theme_page_templates', 'yourname_add_page_template');

function yourname_redirect_page_template ($template) {
    $post = get_post();
    $page_template = get_post_meta( $post->ID, '_wp_page_template', true );
    if ('page-one.php' == basename ($page_template)) {
        $template = WP_PLUGIN_DIR . '/pluginname/templates/page-one.php';
        return $template;
    }
    elseif ('page-two.php' == basename ($page_template)) {
        $template = WP_PLUGIN_DIR . '/pluginname/templates/page-two.php';
        return $template;
    }
    elseif ('page-three.php' == basename ($page_template)) {
        $template = WP_PLUGIN_DIR . '/pluginname/templates/page-three.php';
        return $template;
    }
}
add_filter ('page_template', 'yourname_redirect_page_template');

Method 4

From the codex:

<?php 
   $templates = get_page_templates();
   foreach ( $templates as $template_name => $template_filename ) {
       echo "$template_name ($template_filename)<br />";
   }
?>

You get then use the current templates and programmatically add them to whatever you wish.

Method 5

The below code snippet is very well thought out, it will try to look for a template in the plugin and if it can’t find it there it will try to get it from the theme.

define( 'MY_PLUGIN_DIR', plugin_dir_path( __FILE __ ) );
define( 'MY_PLUGIN_TEMPLATE_DIR', MY_PLUGIN_DIR . '/templates/' );

add_filter( 'template_include', 'ibenic_include_from_plugin', 99 );

function ibenic_include_from_plugin( $template ) {

    $new_template = '';

    $provided_template_array = explode( '/', $template );

    // This will give us archive.php
    $new_template = end( $provided_template_array );

    // Define single and archive template for custom post type 'portfolio'
    if( is_singular('portfolio') ) {
        $new_template = 'single-portfolio.php';
    }

    if( is_post_type_archive( 'portfolio' ) ) {
        $new_template = 'archive-portfolio.php';
    }

    $plugin_template = MY_PLUGIN_TEMPLATE_DIR . $new_template;

    if( file_exists( $plugin_template ) ) {
    return $plugin_template;
    }

    return $template;
}

Source: https://www.ibenic.com/include-or-override-wordpress-templates/

Method 6

<?php load_template( $_template_file, $require_once ) ?>

That is from the very 1st google search results for “load template from plugin”. Please make an effort to find the answers yourself before asking here.

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0