Custom Homepage Pagination using WP_Query

Question

I have a situation and all the searching I've done hasn't led me to a successful outcome. I have a static homepage template with a custom wp_query that looks like the following (which works on another site on a custom page--Also, I have posts_per_page set to 1 for testing purposes and I have posts set to 1 in the dashboard):

<?php 
    global $paged;
    global $bday_parties;
    $temp = $bday_parties; 
    $bday_parties = null; 

    $bday_parties = new WP_Query(); 
    $bday_parties->query('category_name=party-themes&posts_per_page=1&post_type=page'.'&paged='.$paged);
    while ($bday_parties->have_posts()) : $bday_parties->the_post(); 
?>

<article id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class(); ?>>
    <div class="article-border">
        <?php get_template_part('partials/loop-homeparties'); ?>
    </div>      
</article>

<?php endwhile; ?>
<div class="pagination">
    <?php wp_pagenavi( array( 'query' => $bday_parties ) ); ?>
</div>
<?php 
    $bday_parties = null; 
    $bday_parties = $temp; 
?>

The partials/loop-homeparties template is pulling meta values from custom meta boxes on a page and that content is making up the "posts" on the homepage (as well as on archive pages).

Using the above query, I get the content on the home page, I get the nav links but when I click (the link shows the URL for the next page) the home page just reloads. I've been working on this for a couple of days now and the site needs to launch soon (this is holding me up). Since it works on another page successfully, I don't understand why it isn't working for me here. Any help would be appreciated.

TIA!

Answer 1

Since it works on another page successfully, I don't understand why it isn't working for me here.

The problem is other page is not Static Front Page. When paging a static page, WordPress use the page variable, not the paged query variable. Pages use <!--nextpage--> to paginate. From the WP_Query page:

Pagination Note: Use get_query_var('page'); if you want your query to work in a Page template that you've set as your static front page. The query variable 'page' also holds the pagenumber for a single paginated Post or Page that includes the <!--nextpage--> Quicktag in the post content.

Display posts from current page on a static front page:

$paged = ( get_query_var('page') ) ? get_query_var('page') : 1;
$query = new WP_Query( array( 'paged' => $paged ) );

In your code, this:

global $paged;
global $bday_parties;
$temp = $bday_parties;
$bday_parties = null;

$bday_parties = new WP_Query();
$bday_parties->query('category_name=party-themes&posts_per_page=1&post_type=page'.'&paged='.$paged);
while ($bday_parties->have_posts()) : $bday_parties->the_post();

Could be rewritten as this:

global $bday_parties;

$temp = $bday_parties;
$bday_parties = null;

$bday_parties = new WP_Query();

$page_number = ( get_query_var('page') ) ? get_query_var('page') : 1;

$bday_parties->query( 'category_name=party-themes&posts_per_page=1&post_type=page&page=' . $page_number );