custom meta box for page default template

Question

I'm having issues getting some custom meta boxes to display on the page default template. I want these meta boxes to only display on the default template and disappear when the user chooses a different page template. Below is the code I have tried.

add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'add_page_meta' );

function add_page_meta() {

    global $post;

    if(!empty($post)) {

        $pageTemplate = get_post_meta($post->ID, '_wp_page_template', true);

        if( $pageTemplate == 'page-templates/page.php') {
            add_meta_box('banner-attributes', 'Banner Attributes', 'banner_attributes_callback', 'page', 'side');
            echo("<script>console.log('true');</script>");
        }
    }
}

I also noticed when changing the if condition from 'page-templates/page.php' to 'page-templates/page-notitle.php' the function would work as intended. I have both a page.php and a page-notitle.php within my page-templates folder. Do I need to reference the default template as something other than page.php?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Maybe your problem comes from the fact that page.php is a reserved template name for default template file which should be located in the root directory of your theme and not in a sub dir such as page-templates/page.php.

You can check the template hierarchy schema here : https://codex.wordpress.org/images/c/ca/Template_Hierarchy_2015.png