Page template doesn't display simple HTML if inserted into other page?

Question

I've created a super simple contact page template, just content and a contact form, like so:

<?php
/*
Template Name: Contact
*/
?>

<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

    <div id="blockcontact">
        <?php the_content(); ?>
        <form id="contactform" method="post" action="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/_assets/submitemail.php">
            <input name="user"  type="text" value="Name" />
            <input name="email" type="text" value="E-Mail"/>
            <input name="url" type="text" value="Website" />
            <input name="subject" type="text" value="Subject" />
            <textarea rows="10" name="message" cols="50" id="message">Your message here...</textarea>
            <input type="submit" class="button" value="SEND" id="send" />
            <div id="error"></div>
        </form>
    </div><!-- blockcontact -->

<?php endwhile; ?>

I then need to insert this page into another page (say, homepage) - using custom query. The query is irrelevant, I think, but it's basically getting all created pages and displaying their contents:

<?php 
    $temp_query = $wp_query;
    $args = array('post_type' => 'page', 'orderby' => 'menu_order', 'order' => 'ASC', 'post_status' => 'publish', 'posts_per_page' => 5,);
    $wp_query = new WP_Query($args);
?>

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

    <div class="block group" id="<?php echo $post->post_name; ?>">

        <?php the_content(); ?>

    </div><!-- /<?php echo $post->post_name; ?> -->

<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php endif; ?>

<?php $wp_query = $temp_query; ?>

It seems to work fine for normal pages (those without a custom template), but for this contact page, I'm getting from the query is the content (the_content()) but not the form.

I also have another custom page template that I'm trying to pull into the homepage, and it's doing the same thing.

Any idea what would cause this problem? Never seen anything like that and I've been working with WordPress for years now...

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I now see my problem - the_content() in my query works correctly - it pulls the entered content of the page. What I'm trying to achieve is get the entire content of the page, including my custom HTML, much like include() function in PHP. Would love some tips on how to do that.

Answer 1

Couldn't you use the custom form like this:

STEP ONE:

Open a Text editor and paste your form content-

<?php
// Custom Contact Form
?>
<div id="my-ccf">
<form id="contactform" method="post" action="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/_assets/submitemail.php">
    <input name="user"  type="text" value="Name" />
    <input name="email" type="text" value="E-Mail"/>
    <input name="url" type="text" value="Website" />
    <input name="subject" type="text" value="Subject" />
    <textarea rows="10" name="message" cols="50" id="message">Your message here...</textarea>
    <input type="submit" class="button" value="SEND" id="send" />
    <div id="error"></div>
</form>
</div>

STEP 2: Save the file as my-contact-form.php (upload my-contact-form.php to your themes root directory)

STEP 3: When you want to display your contact form, place this in the template file:

<?php get_template_part('my-contact-form.php'); ?>

Answer 2

If you need a form to be part of the content (rather than part of a page template), try using a shortcode to generate the form. (See the Shotcodes API documentation in the Codex). This way, you can include a shortcode as part of the content (ie it'll get returned from a regular post query), and you won't need to create a bunch of custom templates for use with one-off pages.

For example, you could put the following in your functions file (or in a plugin):

<?php
function wpsx_27632_my_shortcode_handler() {
?>
    <div id="my-ccf">
    <form id="contactform" method="post" action="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/_assets/submitemail.php">
        <input name="user"  type="text" value="Name" />
        <input name="email" type="text" value="E-Mail"/>
        <input name="url" type="text" value="Website" />
        <input name="subject" type="text" value="Subject" />
        <textarea rows="10" name="message" cols="50" id="message">Your message here...</textarea>
        <input type="submit" class="button" value="SEND" id="send" />
        <div id="error"></div>
    </form>
    </div>
<?php
}
add_shortcode('my_contact_form', 'wpsx_27632_my_shortcode_handler'):
?>

And then, in the WYSIWYG, you can just add "[my_contact_form]" where you want the contact form to appear.

Answer 3

You need to create a proper custom page template.

A custom page template is intended to define all of the markup necessary to render a static page that has the template assigned. Your example code constitutes a template-part file, rather than a complete template file.

(Codex reference: Pages >> (Custom) Page Templates)

Creating a custom page template

So, first things first: you need to correct your code, by wrapping it all in get_header() and get_footer() calls and getting rid of the Loop, since it doesn't appear that you need it here. (You only need a Loop if you intend to display the_content() for the Static Page to which you assign the custom template, or if you intend to output a custom query loop.)

For example:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div id="blockcontact">
    <?php the_content(); ?>
    <form id="contactform" method="post" action="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/_assets/submitemail.php">
        <input name="user"  type="text" value="Name" />
        <input name="email" type="text" value="E-Mail"/>
        <input name="url" type="text" value="Website" />
        <input name="subject" type="text" value="Subject" />
        <textarea rows="10" name="message" cols="50" id="message">Your message here...</textarea>
        <input type="submit" class="button" value="SEND" id="send" />
        <div id="error"></div>
    </form>
</div><!-- blockcontact -->

<?php get_footer(); ?>

PROTIP: you want this template file to look exactly like page.php, except with the Loop replaced by your contact-form markup.

Using a custom page template

1. Create a new static page; give it a title and no content
2. Under Page Attributes, via the "Template" dropdown, assign the "Contact" template to the page
3. Publish the page
4. View the page, and enjoy your contact-form goodness