Template part including not working

Question

I have since tried a blank and new php file and accessing it the same way - that worked. So I am now unclear why the existing file does not load at all. There are no errors. Here is the code start of the template part I am getting:

<?php
   require_once WP_PLUGIN_DIR.'/themename/includes/file1.php';
   require_once WP_PLUGIN_DIR.'/themename/includes/file2.php';
   require_once WP_PLUGIN_DIR.'/themename/includes/file3.php';
     
   if(isset($_GET["ict"])){
       $id_category[] = "'{$_GET["ict"]}'";
       $variable1= new file3();

I am trying to include a partial template and have read up on how to do so.

<div class="row">
    <div class="col-md-12">
        <?php get_template_part('/partials/category.php');
        ?>
    </div>
</div> 

The file I have included the above code in is in the theme main. The partial is in a folder in the theme main called partials. When I use /partials/category.php I get a blank with no PHP error in the area of the page where the information should be.

If I dont use the / on front of partials I get an error.

I have also tried removing the / on the front and at the same time removing the .php at the end. Same result where there is no error and no output

What am I missing about getting the template part to display>?

Here is the blank space where this should display

Answer 1

Your get_template_part call is successful, it's the file it loads that is broken

<?php get_template_part( 'partials/category' ); ?>

If you swap the contents of that file for this:

<p>Hello World</p>

Then it will work as expected.

The cause of your problem is this:

require_once WP_PLUGIN_DIR.'/themename/includes/file1.php';

• you should not be including files from other themes directly
• themes don't go in the plugins/WP_PLUGIN_DIR folder
• PHP can't find the file so it exits with a fatal error

You should see confirmation of this in your PHP error log