Custom taxonomy archive templates not found

Question

I've created a custom taxonomy register as the code below, but it does not find the taxonomy-specialty.php nor archive.php templates (page not found error).

I did following (as recommended by other threads found on SE and the web): - re-save the permalinks - find the taxonomy settings page in wp-admin and when I hover over 'View' it points me to 'mysite.com/events/specialties/footology' for a 'Footology' taxonomy entry I created for a post of type 'event' - so the URL is as expected. However when visiting the link still get page not found error.

$specialty_args = array(
            'hierarchical' => false,
            // This array of options controls the labels displayed in the WordPress Admin UI
            'labels' => array(
                'name' => 'Specialty',
                'singular_name' => 'Specialty',
                'search_items' => 'Search specialties',
                'all_items' => 'All specialties',
                'edit_item' => 'Edit specialty',
                'update_item' => 'Update specialty',
                'add_new_item' => 'Add new specialty',
                'new_item_name' => 'New specialty name',
                'menu_name' => 'Specialties',
            ),

            'show_ui' => true,
            'show_admin_column' => true,
            'query_var' => 'specialty',

            // Control the slugs used for this taxonomy
            'rewrite' => array(
                'slug' => 'events/specialties', // This controls the base slug that will display before each term
                'with_front' => false, // Don't display the category base before "/specialties/"
                'hierarchical' => false
            ),
        );

        register_taxonomy('specialty', 'event', $specialty_args);
        register_taxonomy_for_object_type('specialty', 'event'); //says in https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/register_taxonomy under 'Usage' to do this

I don't know what is wrong. Help appreciated, thank you!

Answer 1

The page not found error doesn't mean that the template file is not found/used. Note that a URL returns a 404 status header (not found), then 404.php is used (or index.php if 404.php doesn't exist).

I think your real problem is that you have not flushed the rewrite rules after the taxonomy has been registered. To do it, follow these steps:

Manually: go to settings->permalinks and click the save button (you don't need to change anything, just click the save button).

Auto: in your plugin, use flush_rewrite_rules() during plugin activation hook (never use flush_rewrite_rules() on every page load). For example:

register_activation_hook( __FILE__, 'cyb_plugin_activation' );
function cyb_plugin_activation() {

    cyb_register_taxonomy();
    flush_rewrite_rules();

}

add_action( 'init', 'cyb_register_taxonomy' );
function cyb_register_taxonomy() {

    $specialty_args = array(
            'hierarchical' => false,
            // This array of options controls the labels displayed in the WordPress Admin UI
            'labels' => array(
                'name' => 'Specialty',
                'singular_name' => 'Specialty',
                'search_items' => 'Search specialties',
                'all_items' => 'All specialties',
                'edit_item' => 'Edit specialty',
                'update_item' => 'Update specialty',
                'add_new_item' => 'Add new specialty',
                'new_item_name' => 'New specialty name',
                'menu_name' => 'Specialties',
            ),

            'show_ui' => true,
            'show_admin_column' => true,
            'query_var' => 'specialty',

            // Control the slugs used for this taxonomy
            'rewrite' => array(
                'slug' => 'events/specialty', // This controls the base slug that will display before each term (renamed to specialty from specialties)
                'with_front' => false, // Don't display the category base before "/specialties/"
                'hierarchical' => false
            ),
        );

        register_taxonomy('specialty', 'event', $specialty_args);
        register_taxonomy_for_object_type('specialty', 'event');

}

register_deactivation_hook( __FILE__, 'cyb_plugin_deactivation' );
function cyb_plugin_deactivation() {

    // Flush the rewrite rules also on deactivation
    flush_rewrite_rules();

}

Answer 2

'show_ui'           => true,
'show_admin_column' => true,
'query_var'         => 'specialty',
'has_archive'       => true, //make sure you have added this one

What is your archive name? What is your archive url? Actually, your archive file name should be like that archive-specialty.php, your post type archive url will be like this yourdomain.com/events/specialties. I have tested, it should work on yours.

If you are not sure about custom post type, use wordpress type plugin or use wordpress generator