Using a different template per Custom Taxonomies for single term archive pages

Question

I have 2 custom taxonomies, each with a number of terms:

tax1
  term1_1
  term1_2
tax2
  term2_1
  term2_2
  term2_3

I am trying to have each taxonomy usea different template file for each its single-term archive pages. I.E. term1_1 and term1_2 use one template, while term2_1 - 3 use a second one. I can of course just load different php files conditionally from the main archive.php file - but I would like to know if there is a way to do this within the standard template hierarchy.

As far as I can tell, taxonomy-tax1.php doesn't work for this (unless I'm messing up royally)

Answer 1

I would intercept the template loader at template_redirect:

function wpse53892_taxonomy_template_redirect() {
    // code goes here
}
add_action( 'template_redirect', 'wpse53892_taxonomy_template_redirect' );

Then, you would check to see if the query is a custom taxonomy:

if ( is_tax() ) {
    // This query is a custom taxonomy
}

Next, get the term object, and find out if it has a parent:

// Get the queried term
$term = get_queried_object();

// Determine if term has a parent;
// I *think* this will work; if not see below
if ( 0 != $term->parent ) {
    // Tell WordPress to use the parent template
    $parent = get_term( $term->parent );
    // Load parent taxonomy template
    get_query_template( 'taxonomy', 'taxonomy-' . $term->taxonomy . '-' . $parent->slug . 'php' );
}

// If above doesn't work, this should:
$term_object = get_term( $term->ID );
if ( 0 != $term_object->parent; {}

So, putting it all together:

function wpse53892_taxonomy_template_redirect() {

    // Only modify custom taxonomy template redirect
    if ( is_tax() ) {
        // Get the queried term
        $term = get_queried_object();

        // Determine if term has a parent;
        // I *think* this will work; if not see above
        if ( 0 != $term->parent ) {
            // Tell WordPress to use the parent template
            $parent = get_term( $term->parent );
            // Load parent taxonomy template
            get_query_template( 'taxonomy', 'taxonomy-' . $term->taxonomy . '-' . $parent->slug . 'php' );
        }
    }
}
add_action( 'template_redirect', 'wpse53892_taxonomy_template_redirect' );

Answer 2

Check WordPress Template Hierarchy. As you can see you can use pattern taxonomy-$taxonomy-$term.php to specify template for specific taxonomy and term. In your case it will be taxonomy-tax1-term1_1.php, etc.

Answer 3

Modify the conditionals to target you archive page. I would use template_include like this :

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

function tax_term_template( $template ) {

    if ( "add your conditional here"  ) {
        $new_template = locate_template( array( 'tax_term.php' ) );
        if ( '' != $new_template ) {
            return $new_template;
        }
    }

    return $template;
}

I would NOT use template redirect as advised by Lead Developer Mark Jaquith.