how to load a file from a plugin when a url is passed

Question

I'm creating a plugin where a file is loaded and if a link is clicked, it passes some variables that are appended to the url. So if a link is clicked it will change the url by appending filter/?term=il_Massac,st_locked which should load the filter.php file.

My issue is how do I get it to use the filter.php which is included in the plugin? The main plugin file is called meta-box.php. If I added it the the theme as a page, it works but I want the plugin to do the work instead of adding a page. Right now, if I don't use it as a page-template in the theme folder and just have it in the plugin folder, it gives a 404.

Here is the code to the link that is in my meta-box.php file: <a href="<?php echo home_url()?>/filter/?term=<?php echo $term ?>">search link</a>

$term is a variable that has some search parameters in it. So if I click that link, it gives me the 404 page rather than loading the filter.php file to execute some code. Again, I can add it the the theme as a page template but I would like it to be contained within the plugin so it does not need to be added to the theme as a page template.

Does that help?

Any suggestions on how I might do this?

Answer 1

I ended up answering my own question by using the following code

add_filter( 'template_include','include_filter_template_function', 1 );

function include_filter_template_function($template_path ) {
        $template_path = plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ) .'filter.php';

return $template_path;
}

and checking the params on that page. I'm sure there is a more elegant way to do this but it works for me. :)