I was tasked with creating a posts aggregator that fits seamlessly into the category nav-bar. For this to work, I could not use the category-list.php that exists, for it is full of workarounds and exceptions and i can barely make sense of it.

So I went simple and created a CPT (mensuels) to create archives (month/year) of posts based on their date and tags. I added the taxonomies category and post_tag and categorize them as 'themes-mensuels' so that I can include them as part of the category nav-bar in the site header.

I created a file called category-themes-mensuels.php that displays the list of archives and a file called single-mensuels.php that displays the chosen month (one cpt) and lists the articles it aggregated.

The CPT has posts basics plus 2 fields: year and month. When I create one, I fill those in, add a month-year title, check the 'themes-mensuels' category, then choose whatever posts tags came up during that month. I can then add content to comment on such or such particular subject I am filtering for.

I did not create specific pages in the wordpress theme.

This works well:

• hovering over the bar shows 4 latests "themes" just like they were posts in other categories
• clicking the tab takes me to the category page and lists all the themes. I had to list their articles below each item (like another CPT on the site) and that works too.
• choosing one takes me to the single-mensuels page (blog/mensuels/month-year) where there is a bit of a intro showing thumbnail/excerpt/content then lists each posts as per the filter.
• each article is shown in single.php as expected.

But pagination does not work for either page.

I list the custom-post-type list using the category tag as a category-$slug page. Then I list ONE theme using its single-$posttype page.

The paginate_links() code does its job: the links are there.

But the query_var(paged) is not read, so the category page goes to a 404, and the single-mensuels page (for one theme) just returns the first page of articles.

I looked at other cpt pages on the site and created wp pages for my needs, but pagination was the only thing that worked: category page did not link to category nav-bar (not the "right" way. Though that page showed all the items), and single-mensuels page ignored the new wp_query that was coded in, showing ALL POSTS EVER. So I am not using those.

I tried quite a few things over the past week : renaming the category, changing the number of posts read and removing posts_per_page from the new wp_queries, renaming the file to archive-themes-mensuels.php (and back again)

I save the permalink structure in the settings tab when I change something in the functions.php file.

I cannot change the permalink structure of my site and it uses the word "categorie" as a prefix for the categories.

I am so close to getting this to work, but something in the WordPress logic escapes me and it seems no one has attempted this.

Edit: I realized I could link the nav-bar category tab-link to an archive page for the cpt rather than mistreat the category. So I dutifully reproduced the formatting code for the category (getting links for each theme-post), stuck it in the bar, and directed the tab-link to a renamed category-themes-mensuel.php to archive-mensuels.php.

Now I have pagination for the cpt archive page and better understanding of the template hierarchy. That's 1/2 pagination.

Edit 2:

I DID try several combinations of the global $tempquery = $wp_query switcheroo hack. It didn't work.

Part of the challenge is that there are 3 loops going on in that page, more if you count the header. My custom post type is only just a placeholder for the keys that will be used to query for the posts I really want. My "single-$posttype.php" page is the starting point for another loop once that month's theme comment is displayed. Every article page on the site has a footer containing 3 related articles filtered by tags.

I finally applied the

    /* pagination fix for custom loops on pages*/    
add_filter('redirect_canonical', 'custom_disable_redirect_canonical');
function custom_disable_redirect_canonical($redirect_url){
    if(is_paged() && is_singular('mensuels')) $redirect_url = false; 
return $redirect_url;
}

in functions.php. I was hesitant until I saw I could specify the cpt i wanted. Well, it almost works.

• If I start from the 1st page, I get nowhere.
• If I put /page/2 in the url, I get page 2 but can't navigate.
• If I put in page/3 I get the proper page AND then can navigate back and forth.

I am le dumbfound.

I was tasked with creating a posts aggregator that fits seamlessly into the category nav-bar. For this to work, I could not use the category-list.php that exists, for it is full of workarounds and exceptions and i can barely make sense of it.

So I went simple and created a CPT (mensuels) to create archives (month/year) of posts based on their date and tags. I added the taxonomies category and post_tag and categorize them as 'themes-mensuels' so that I can include them as part of the category nav-bar in the site header.

I created a file called category-themes-mensuels.php that displays the list of archives and a file called single-mensuels.php that displays the chosen month (one cpt) and lists the articles it aggregated.

The CPT has posts basics plus 2 fields: year and month. When I create one, I fill those in, add a month-year title, check the 'themes-mensuels' category, then choose whatever posts tags came up during that month. I can then add content to comment on such or such particular subject I am filtering for.

I did not create specific pages in the wordpress theme.

This works well:

• hovering over the bar shows 4 latests "themes" just like they were posts in other categories
• clicking the tab takes me to the category page and lists all the themes. I had to list their articles below each item (like another CPT on the site) and that works too.
• choosing one takes me to the single-mensuels page (blog/mensuels/month-year) where there is a bit of a intro showing thumbnail/excerpt/content then lists each posts as per the filter.
• each article is shown in single.php as expected.

But pagination does not work for either page.

I list the custom-post-type list using the category tag as a category-$slug page. Then I list ONE theme using its single-$posttype page.

The paginate_links() code does its job: the links are there.

But the query_var(paged) is not read, so the category page goes to a 404, and the single-mensuels page (for one theme) just returns the first page of articles.

I looked at other cpt pages on the site and created wp pages for my needs, but pagination was the only thing that worked: category page did not link to category nav-bar (not the "right" way. Though that page showed all the items), and single-mensuels page ignored the new wp_query that was coded in, showing ALL POSTS EVER. So I am not using those.

I tried quite a few things over the past week : renaming the category, changing the number of posts read and removing posts_per_page from the new wp_queries, renaming the file to archive-themes-mensuels.php (and back again)

I save the permalink structure in the settings tab when I change something in the functions.php file.

I cannot change the permalink structure of my site and it uses the word "categorie" as a prefix for the categories.

I am so close to getting this to work, but something in the WordPress logic escapes me and it seems no one has attempted this.

Edit: I realized I could link the nav-bar category tab-link to an archive page for the cpt rather than mistreat the category. So I dutifully reproduced the formatting code for the category (getting links for each theme-post), stuck it in the bar, and directed the tab-link to a renamed category-themes-mensuel.php to archive-mensuels.php.

Now I have pagination for the cpt archive page and better understanding of the template hierarchy. That's 1/2 pagination.

Edit 2:

I DID try several combinations of the global $tempquery = $wp_query switcheroo hack. It didn't work.

Part of the challenge is that there are 3 loops going on in that page, more if you count the header. My custom post type is only just a placeholder for the keys that will be used to query for the posts I really want. My "single-$posttype.php" page is the starting point for another loop once that month's theme comment is displayed. Every article page on the site has a footer containing 3 related articles filtered by tags.

I finally applied the

    /* pagination fix for custom loops on pages*/    
add_filter('redirect_canonical', 'custom_disable_redirect_canonical');
function custom_disable_redirect_canonical($redirect_url){
    if(is_paged() && is_singular('mensuels')) $redirect_url = false; 
return $redirect_url;
}

in functions.php. I was hesitant until I saw I could specify the cpt i wanted. Well, it almost works.

• If I start from the 1st page, I get nowhere.
• If I put /page/2 in the url, I get page 2 but can't navigate.
• If I put in page/3 I get the proper page AND then can navigate back and forth.

I am le dumbfound.

• custom-post-types
• categories
• loop

1 Answer 1

Screw using a category. I manually added the tab to the nav-list and disguised it as a category. The posts are filtered by a "special" tag that doesn't need to show up anywhere else. The custom post type looks for that tag and has fields for month and year. Archive-* and single-* template pages display according to plan. Everything works now. Thank you very much to everyone who helped out.