Passing parameters to a static front page

Question

I have googled a lot, but so far haven't come close to a proper solution yet. I need help with passing parameters to the homepage of a WordPress website. Here's my setup / requirements:

1. I use a page template (say, MCTemplate) that is set as the static front page in Settings -> Reading.

2. I use 'Post name' permalink structure.

3. I need to pass a single parameter (say, mcdata) to the static homepage (i.e., MCTemplate).

I have used the following code in functions.php, but when I pass the parameter to the homepage (e.g., http://www.example.com/?mcdata=helloword), it show a list of latest posts instead of static front page.

function mc_query_vars( $qvars ) {
    $qvars[] = 'mcdata';
    return $qvars;
}
add_filter( 'query_vars', 'mc_query_vars' );

Using front-page.php comes close to solving this, but in that case I cannot use a static front page. Are there any rewrite rules or anything that I should change to get it working with the above requirements? All help is appreciated.

Answer 1

front-page.php is a static front page (if you rename your current template front-page.php, and don't select nothing in Settings->Reading it works exactly like now.

However, if you want to use the page approach and you don't use mcdata for query, remove the filter you posted, and simply retrieve the mcdata value in your template using $_GET['mcdata'];.

Answer 2

To pass parameter on the front page static I use the prefix "ch_" as follow:

http://www.example.com/?ch_mcdata=helloword

in this way it will work.