Custom rewrite permalink doesn't work

Question

function create_posttype() {
    register_post_type( 'events',
        array(
            'labels' => array(
                'name' => __( 'Events' ),
                'singular_name' => __( 'Event' )
            ),
            'public' => true,
            'has_archive' => true,
            'rewrite' => array('slug' => '%city%/events'),
        )
    );
}
add_action( 'init', 'create_posttype' );

register_taxonomy('cities', array('events'), array(
    'hierarchical' => true,
    'labels' => $labels,
    'show_ui' => true,
    'show_admin_column' => true,
    'query_var' => true,
    'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'city' ),
  ));

function wpa_permalinks( $post_link, $post ){
    if ( is_object( $post ) && $post->post_type == 'events' ){
        $terms = wp_get_object_terms( $post->ID, 'cities' );
        if( $terms ){
            return str_replace( '%city%' , $terms[0]->slug , $post_link );
        }
    }
    return $post_link;
}
add_filter( 'post_type_link', 'wpa_permalinks', 1, 2 );

The permalink are correctly structured (ex. http://www.example.org/new-york/events/event-name) but I have two issues:

• The template single-events.php is not taken and it shows 404.
• Same for the archive template. http://www.example.org/new-york/events should display the archive.

How to solve?

Answer 1

You need to use %cities% (matching the name of the taxonomy).

I thought that %city% was just a placeholder with a random name.

Not quite - it's called a permalink structure (permastruct) and is used to map to a regular expression. When you call register_taxonomy, it automatically registers a new permastruct with the same name as the taxonomy.

Read up on WP_Rewrite::add_permastruct which hopefully gives a bit more insight.

Update: Let's clarify what we're aiming for:

• /city/new-york/events/ - All events posts attached to new-york
• /city/new-york/restaurants/ - All restaurants posts attached to new-york
• /city/new-york/events/foobar/ - Single events "foobar"

And do you need hierarchical slugs for cities? i.e. england/london (answering "yes" is going to make things difficult). Or is london sufficient?

Update 2: How about?

• /events/new-york/ - All events posts attached to new-york
• /restaurants/new-york/ - All restaurants posts attached to new-york
• /restaurants/new-york/foobar/ - Single events "foobar"