Is there a way to change the default page template selection?

Question

Click on "Pages" -> Click on "Add New"

In the add new page screen. The default page template selected is "Default Template". Is there a way to change the default option to, let's say "My Other Template". So that when I click on "Add New", "My Other Template" will always be selected by default? This needs to be done before the page is saved. I can accomplish this with JS. Is there a WP option?

UPDATE:

Here's an example:

Template Options:

• Default Template (automatically selected)
• My Template 1
• My Template 2

Is there a WordPress way to change to:

• Default Template
• My Template 1 (automatically selected)
• My Template 2

I thought maybe this could be accomplished with a function:

if (some condition is met)
 default_template = My Template 1
endif

I know how the template hierarchy works. I know how to make my template always be used for certain pages. But that's not the question. I am just trying to make things easier for the end-user so that upon certain conditions I can preselect the template, that should be used on a group of pages, but still, give the user the flexibility to switch back to another template if needed.

Answer 1

Using template_include (as suggested by Brad Dalton) only changes the page template on the front end, not in the admin when editing a page.

On the other hand, changing the value in the post object before the metabox is rendered, as suggested by czerspalace, works! I added a check to only apply this when $post->page_template is not set, like this:

function wpse196289_default_page_template() {
    global $post;
    if ( 'page' == $post->post_type 
        && 0 != count( get_page_templates( $post ) ) 
        && get_option( 'page_for_posts' ) != $post->ID // Not the page for listing posts
        && '' == $post->page_template // Only when page_template is not set
    ) {
        $post->page_template = "page-mytemplate.php";
    }
}
add_action('add_meta_boxes', 'wpse196289_default_page_template', 1);

Answer 2

I have not tested this, but it may work. The template is chosen based on a value in the global post object, so we need to change that value in the post object before the metabox is rendered. The code which chooses the default dropdown is here: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/src/wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php#L751

add_action('add_meta_boxes', 'wpse196289_default_page_template', 1);

function wpse196289_default_page_template() {
    global $post;
    if ( 'page' == $post->post_type && 0 != count( get_page_templates( $post ) ) && get_option( 'page_for_posts' ) != $post->ID ) {
         if( $my_conditions )
             $post->page_template = "page-mytemplate.php";
    }
}

Answer 3

The simplest way that I found, without hacking code is to create a separate page.php (away from your page_template-name.php files) and get_template_part() to redirect to your template file. This then provides the default template across your site, as well as keeping the template as a discrete option.

<?php get_template_part('page_template-name'); ?>

This is all that needs to exist in your page.php file. It simply gets your default template. If you want to change your template site wide, then you could simply change the slug. Any page that then has the default option selected will change. Any page that is specifically set to use the template (i.e. set to template-1 instead of default), won't change.

Answer 4

I've managed to accomplish that in the new block editor (Gutenberg).

The task needs a hook into REST API response in this case.

I took the conditions from Adrian's answer.

foreach ( array( 'page', 'post' ) as $post_type ) :
    add_filter( "rest_prepare_{$post_type}", 'wpse196289_rest_set_default_page_template', 1, 2 );
endforeach;

function wpse196289_rest_set_default_page_template( $data, $post ) {
    if ( 0 != count( get_page_templates( $post ) ) && get_option( 'page_for_posts' ) != $post->ID && '' == $data->data['template'] ) :
        $data->data['template'] = 'page-mytemplate.php';
    endif;

    return $data;
}

Answer 5

Use template_include in your functions file with a conditional tag.

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

function default_page_template( $template ) {

    if ( is_singular( 'page' )  ) {
        $default_template = locate_template( array( 'default-page-template.php' ) );
        if ( '' != $default_template ) {
            return $default_template ;
        }
    }

    return $template;
}

Answer 6

It's success for me:

function wpse196289_default_page_template() {
    global $post;
    if ( 'page' == $post->post_type 
    && 0 != count( get_page_templates( $post ) ) 
        && get_option( 'page_for_posts' ) != $post->ID // Not the page for listing posts
        && '' == $post->page_template // Only when page_template is not set
    ) {
//print_r(get_page_templates( $post )); get list templates
//Array([Elementor Canvas] => elementor_canvas [Elementor Full Width] => elementor_header_footer [Theme] => elementor_theme)
        $post->page_template = "elementor_header_footer"; // set template you want
    }
}
add_action('add_meta_boxes', 'wpse196289_default_page_template', 1);