WordPress category based template - php

Question

I have a task to create a template which is specific to the category. So Lets say I have 10 categories but I want to create a specific template for lets say 3 of them. So if the category is a,b or c I will apply a certain template.
And then when I create a post and attach it to the specific category I need to show that specific template associated to the category.
Any headers?

Answer 1

The Advanced Custom Fields https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/ plugin should allow you to show different templates based off categories. It has some pretty fancy functionality, but can't remember if it can do exactly this.
There is a free version, so give it a try. Let me know how you go ;)

Answer 2

Delete everything in single.php
Insert the ‘switching’ code (see below)
Create 3(three) new templates with unique names. like : single-a,single-b,single-c.
On the server, the magical fairy dust in your modified single.php will automatically load the correct template when the page is requested
Please try below Code for the same.
if (in_category('21')) {include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/single-a.php');
}
else if (in_category('22')) {include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/single-b.php');
}
else if (in_category('23')) {include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/single-c.php');
}
else { include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/single-29.php');
}
There is single-a,single-b,single-c are 3 templates for different categories and your main code in it.

Answer 3

If you refer to Category_Templates
Wordpress will auto retrieve category files in the following format:
category-slug.php or category-ID.php
Let's say you have 3 categories, category a, category b, category c, to assign each of the template differently you can easily create category-a.php, category-b.php, category-c.php and place your desire template within the file and Wordpress will handle the rest.

Answer 4

Here you can use category_template
function wp_category_template( $template ) {
$cat = get_queried_object(); // get category object
if( 1 ) // check condition
$template = locate_template( 'template.php' ); // load template
return $template;
}
add_filter( 'category_template', 'wp_category_template' );
or as #shashi suggested you can use plugin custom-category-template

Answer 5

You have 3 options :
Option 1 : You can create 3 templates and name them according to the WordPress Template Hierarchy like this :
category-1.php
category-2.php
category-3.php
Option 2 : Use PHP code in your functions file to load 1 template for 3 different categories :
add_filter( 'template_include', 'custom_category_template', 99 );
function custom_category_template( $template ) {
if ( is_category(array( 1,2,3 ) ) ) {
$new_template = locate_template( array( 'custom.php' ) );
if ( '' != $new_template ) {
return $new_template;
}
}
return $template;
}
Use the in_category or is_category conditional tag depending on whether you want to load the template for posts in specific categories or only for the category archive page.
Option 3 : You can use the code in option 2 with the category_template filter :
add_filter( 'category_template', 'custom_category_template' );
function custom_category_template( $template ) {
if ( is_category(array( 1,2,3 ) ) ) {
$template = locate_template( 'custom.php' );
}
return $template;
}
Assumes your category i.d's are 1, 2 and 3. Swap out these to match your installations category i.d's