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We want to test different landing pages to display only certain parts of a specific Custom Post Type's content metadata so I need to create templates that are used only when specifically crafted URLs are clicked on, that will not be linked to anywhere from the website.

I am not looking to change the default WP behavior for loading single pages (the current various single-cpt.php templates) because we want all current behavior to remain the same for anyone on the site who clicks on various links - the new landing pages will be linked to from other sites so if the site visitor clicks on one of those off-site links I want to be able to serve them up the content using a specific (single) template file.

I could, in theory, just create new Posts for those landing pages but that means that if the content changes now I have TWO Posts to update or risk incorrect content being displayed, so I want to avoid that by having the same content called by both the normal template and the new 'landing' template.

I've done a lot of research into using various templates for custom post types and taxonomies and the idea of adding yet another term (this particular CPT has a Custom Taxonomy also setup with a number of terms in use) and can get as far as a custom taxonomy archive-style template that works, but not a single template that I can get to work without interfering with normal behavior.

I'm open to any/all suggestions!

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    Sounds like you want to do A/B tests, have you looked into how plugins do this right now?
    – kero
    Jul 2, 2018 at 22:39
  • Thanks @kero, but it isn't exactly A/B testing, and the plugins I did look at seem to send traffic in a randomized way to the different pages - what we want to do is send specific traffic to specific pages without changing the experience for (normal) site visitors - those that don't get to the site via these specific links but find their way there via other links or SERPs
    – Trisha
    Jul 3, 2018 at 17:45

1 Answer 1

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You can add a query string to your URLs and read that using the $_GET global.

For example, you could add ?template=main to your posts's URL. Then, in the single-cpt.php for your CPT, use

<?php if ( isset( $_GET['template'] ) ) $mytemplate = $_GET['template']; ?>

Then, around the bits that you want to display differently, just add

switch ( $mytemplate ):
    case "main":
        //code;
        break;
    case "somethingelse":
        //code;
        break;
    default:
        //code;
endswitch;

Oh, and to add the query string to your URLs in the first place, use:

$url = add_query_arg( 'template', 'main', $permalinktopost );

Hope that helps

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  • Perfect! A creative, simple, and elegant solution that works. Thank you @Peter HvD I greatly appreciate your help!
    – Trisha
    Jul 4, 2018 at 17:00

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