[Resolved] Set a page template to use sections?

[Katie Jones]

Hi Tom,

I’m making a custom page template, and I want it to use sections. The WP user won’t be using the sections, I just will in the template itself. But, just using the sections HTML isn’t enough, there’s more going on in the rest of the theme. How can I programmatically set the page to use sections when the template is set?

Many thanks,
Katie

[Katie Jones]

Responding to turn replies by email on. Thanks!

[Tom]

Hi Katie,

So you’re hard coding the sections into the template, but the actual Sections interface won’t be used?

Basically, you want the page to act like Sections are enabled without actually using the Sections options?

[Katie Jones]

Yes, exactly. How can I do this?

Thanks!

Katie

[Katie Jones]

I think I’m on the right track here – I’m working on setting the post meta “_generate_use_sections” on post save. Will report back when complete –

[Tom]

That should do it 🙂

[Katie Jones]

Hi Tom,

This is what I’m using (below), it isn’t working yet. I’m adding the same exact meta that is added when I manually set “use sections” to “yes”, and yet “use sections” displays “no” on the front end when I add the meta programmatically. There must be something else to it – any ideas?

Thanks,
Katie

====

function zs_set_sections($post_id, $post, $update) {

$template = get_post_meta($post_id, “_wp_page_template”, true);
if($template == “tmpl_landing.php”) {
add_post_meta($post_id, “_generate_use_sections”, ‘a:1:{s:12:”use_sections”;s:4:”true”;}’, true);
}

}
add_action( ‘save_post’, ‘zs_set_sections’, 10000, 3 );

[Tom]

Hmm, try using the “Custom Fields” area when adding your page.

If you can’t see it, click on “Screen Options” at the top right and check the checkbox next to the Custom Fields option.

Then under “Name”, add: _generate_use_sections

Under “Value”, add: a:1:{s:12:"use_sections";s:4:"true";}

See if that works 🙂

[Katie Jones]

Hmm, WordPress is both blocking that name & value formatting. So when I set the custom meta programmatically, it’s there in the database, but I can’t set it on the front end.

Why might the value be in the database, exactly the same as what is set when you choose “yes” in the drop-down, yet “yes” isn’t selected? Is whether or not this template uses sections entirely determined by this single custom field?

[Katie Jones]

Got it! It was that I needed to use an array and let WP serialize it, instead of this string. This works!

function zs_set_sections($post_id, $post, $update) {

  $template = get_post_meta($post_id, "_wp_page_template", true);
  if($template == "tmpl_landing.php") {
    add_post_meta($post_id, "_generate_use_sections", array("use_sections" => "true"), true);
  } 
    
}
add_action( 'save_post', 'zs_set_sections', 10000, 3 );

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Tom.

[Tom]

Bam, very nice.

Thanks for sharing the code!

[Katie Jones]

Sure thing, I hope it helps others! I’ve wanted to force the section view display in other instances so I think I’ll be reusing this on other projects myself.

Thanks!

[Katie Jones]

Hi Tom, there’s a second issue – once I have ‘use sections’ set, it uses the page generate-sections-page-template.php, instead of the normal WordPress structure. Any ideas here?

My goal is to develop a page with the same HTML structure as a sections page, with the sections hardcoded in the template. Just using a template (and not setting ‘use sections’) wasn’t enough because the header and footer html is different for sections pages, too.

I suppose I could make new header and footer files, though then I’d need to start removing generatepress functions…

What’s the best way to hard-code sections, the sections view, in a template with minimal interference to generatepress?

Thanks!

Katie

[Katie Jones]

…. to expand on the past question – the problem I’m having with it using the page generate-sections-page-template.php is that it’s in the plugin, not the theme – so I’m not sure how to override it, and/or how to override it just for a page template –

Thanks for any ideas!

[Tom]

Hi Katie,

This is some code I gave someone else – it might help you: https://gist.github.com/generatepress/84bae0e5ac0d94ce46f7

Let me know 🙂

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