URL rewrite problem in WordPress plugin

Question

I am having some trouble getting rewrite rules to work as I want in my a WordPress plugin.

I added a rewrite rule:

add_rewrite_rule('some_url','some_redirected_url', 'top');

The rule is written to .htaccess and the rule works as expected; when inspecting the $_SERVER variable I get the following:

$_SERVER['REDIRECT_URL']='some_redirected_url'

$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']='some_url'

However, WordPress is parsing $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] for request arguments so the redirected request is not parsed.

In other words, if I go to http://myserver/some_url the request is not working, even if the redirect works. If I go directly to http://myserver/some_redirected_url everything works correctly.

How can I make WordPress parse the redirected URL?

Answer 1

If you want a rewrite rule that loads a post type archive from a different URL, the simplest way is via an internal rewrite, which doesn't get inserted into .htaccess. Internal rewrites map URLs to query arguments, and must result in a successful main query:

add_rewrite_rule(
    'some_url/?$',
    'index.php?post_type=yourcpt',
    'top'
);

Answer 2

I found a way to solve my problem, but it is not very elegant at all.
Before Wordpress parses the request I make sure the parsed request is the same as the redirected by setting the $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] directly.
Then after Wordpress is finished parsing i reset $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] back to its original value.
Not pretty at all, but at least the hack works like I want. Still interested in an answer if anyone can tell me the "right way" to do this...

My "hack" below

    add_filter('do_parse_request', 'myplugin_doParseRequestFilter', 10, 3);
    add_filter('request', 'myplugin_doRequestFilter', 10, 1 );



    function myplugin_doParseRequestFilter($some_bool, $request, $vars){
            //called before Wordpress starts the parsing...     
            if(isset($_SERVER['REDIRECT_URL'])){
                if(strpos($_SERVER['REDIRECT_URL'],'/_my_page_prefix_/')){
                    global $resetUrl;
                    $resetUrl=$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];   
                    $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']=$_SERVER['REDIRECT_URL'];    
                }    
            } 
            return $request;    
        }


    function myplugin_doRequestFilter($vars){
        //called when Wordpress is finished parsing... 
        if(isset($_SERVER['REDIRECT_URL'])){
            if(strpos($_SERVER['REDIRECT_URL'],'/_my_page_prefix_/')){   
                global $resetUrl;
                $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']=$resetUrl;             
            }    
        }
        return $vars;    
    }