I simply want two custom post type meta propertys to be the identifiers for the URL. I implements a solution but it just 404's

registering post type:

final private static function register_post_types ()
{
    $labels = array(
        'name'               => _x( 'Properties', 'post type general name', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'singular_name'      => _x( 'Property', 'post type singular name', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'menu_name'          => _x( 'Properties', 'admin menu', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'name_admin_bar'     => _x( 'Property', 'add new on admin bar', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'add_new'            => _x( 'Add New', 'property', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'add_new_item'       => __( 'Add New Property', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'new_item'           => __( 'New Property', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'edit_item'          => __( 'Edit Property', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'view_item'          => __( 'View Property', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'all_items'          => __( 'All Properties', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'search_items'       => __( 'Search Properties', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'parent_item_colon'  => __( 'Parent Properties:', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'not_found'          => __( 'No properties found.', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'not_found_in_trash' => __( 'No properties found in Trash.', ' propertystreambootstrap' )
    );

    $args = array(
        'labels'             => $labels,
        'description'        => __( 'Properties for your website.', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'public'             => true,
        'publicly_queryable' => true,
        'show_ui'            => true,
        'show_in_menu'       => true,
        'menu_icon'          => 'dashicons-building',
        'query_var'          => true,
        //'rewrite'            => array( 'slug' => 'malta-property/%department%/%location%/%reference%' ),
    'rewrite'            => array( 'slug' => 'malta-property/%location%/%reference%'),
    'has_archive' => 'about-cool-post-types',
        'capability_type'    => 'post',
        'has_archive'        => false,
        'hierarchical'       => false,
        'menu_position'      => null,
        'supports'           => array('title', 'editor', 'excerpt', 'post-thumbnails', 'thumbnail')
    );
    register_post_type( 'property', $args );

}

Url rewrites:

final public static function url_rewrite()
{
  global $wp_rewrite;
  $wp_rewrite->add_rewrite_tag('%reference%', '([^&]+)', 'reference=');
  $wp_rewrite->add_rewrite_tag('%location%', '([^&]+)', 'location=');
  return null;
}

filter function:

final public static function permalink_structure ($permalink, $post, $leavename)
{
  if (false !== strpos($permalink, '%reference%')) {
    $reference = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'propertystream_agent_ref', true);
    $location = wp_get_post_terms($post->ID, 'location');
    $location = str_replace('-cat', '', $location[0]->slug);
  //  die($location);
  //  $department = wp_get_post_terms($post->ID, 'department');
    $rewritecode = array(
      '%reference%',
      '%location%',
    //  '%department%',
      $post->post_name,
    );

    $rewritereplace = array(
      $reference,
      $location,
    //  $department,
      $leavename? $post->post_name : '',
    );

    $permalink = str_replace($rewritecode, $rewritereplace, $permalink);
  }
  return $permalink;
}

This all generates the code I want but it just 404's - to get it to work I have to add $leavename = true in the filter function but that adds the postname to the URL and I do not want that.

I simply want two custom post type meta propertys to be the identifiers for the URL. I implements a solution but it just 404's

registering post type:

final private static function register_post_types ()
{
    $labels = array(
        'name'               => _x( 'Properties', 'post type general name', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'singular_name'      => _x( 'Property', 'post type singular name', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'menu_name'          => _x( 'Properties', 'admin menu', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'name_admin_bar'     => _x( 'Property', 'add new on admin bar', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'add_new'            => _x( 'Add New', 'property', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'add_new_item'       => __( 'Add New Property', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'new_item'           => __( 'New Property', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'edit_item'          => __( 'Edit Property', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'view_item'          => __( 'View Property', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'all_items'          => __( 'All Properties', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'search_items'       => __( 'Search Properties', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'parent_item_colon'  => __( 'Parent Properties:', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'not_found'          => __( 'No properties found.', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'not_found_in_trash' => __( 'No properties found in Trash.', ' propertystreambootstrap' )
    );

    $args = array(
        'labels'             => $labels,
        'description'        => __( 'Properties for your website.', ' propertystreambootstrap' ),
        'public'             => true,
        'publicly_queryable' => true,
        'show_ui'            => true,
        'show_in_menu'       => true,
        'menu_icon'          => 'dashicons-building',
        'query_var'          => true,
        //'rewrite'            => array( 'slug' => 'malta-property/%department%/%location%/%reference%' ),
    'rewrite'            => array( 'slug' => 'malta-property/%location%/%reference%'),
    'has_archive' => 'about-cool-post-types',
        'capability_type'    => 'post',
        'has_archive'        => false,
        'hierarchical'       => false,
        'menu_position'      => null,
        'supports'           => array('title', 'editor', 'excerpt', 'post-thumbnails', 'thumbnail')
    );
    register_post_type( 'property', $args );

}

Url rewrites:

final public static function url_rewrite()
{
  global $wp_rewrite;
  $wp_rewrite->add_rewrite_tag('%reference%', '([^&]+)', 'reference=');
  $wp_rewrite->add_rewrite_tag('%location%', '([^&]+)', 'location=');
  return null;
}

filter function:

final public static function permalink_structure ($permalink, $post, $leavename)
{
  if (false !== strpos($permalink, '%reference%')) {
    $reference = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'propertystream_agent_ref', true);
    $location = wp_get_post_terms($post->ID, 'location');
    $location = str_replace('-cat', '', $location[0]->slug);
  //  die($location);
  //  $department = wp_get_post_terms($post->ID, 'department');
    $rewritecode = array(
      '%reference%',
      '%location%',
    //  '%department%',
      $post->post_name,
    );

    $rewritereplace = array(
      $reference,
      $location,
    //  $department,
      $leavename? $post->post_name : '',
    );

    $permalink = str_replace($rewritecode, $rewritereplace, $permalink);
  }
  return $permalink;
}

This all generates the code I want but it just 404's - to get it to work I have to add $leavename = true in the filter function but that adds the postname to the URL and I do not want that.

• custom-post-types
• url-rewriting
• urls

Share Improve this question edited Jul 19, 2019 at 10:29 Sally CJ 40.3k22 gold badges2929 silver badges5050 bronze badges asked Jul 19, 2019 at 5:14 EujinksEujinks 13966 bronze badges 4

• It's 404 most likely because WordPress doesn't know what the post is since the post slug is not present in the permalink. There's a possible workaround, but only if the meta propertystream_agent_ref is unique for each post. Also, if location is a custom taxonomy, you shouldn't need to add_rewrite_tag() for the %location% tag. – Sally CJ Commented Jul 20, 2019 at 7:42
• @SallyCJ What is the workaround? yes the properystream_agent_ref is unique for each post. I imagined wordpress would know what the post is as the filter function is plugged into the filter that gets the link so i imagined there would be some reference to that post on the backend (like it being the current post object) so theoretically it would just register that URL as a valid URL for that object, I was maybe wrong in assuming wordpress is that intuitive – Eujinks Commented Jul 21, 2019 at 0:49
• No, WordPress won't automatically know the meta key by simply parsing the URL of the current request/page. You need to "help" WordPress knows about it (i.e. that %reference% part). But I wonder if you still need help with this question? (perhaps already answered somewhere else?) – Sally CJ Commented Jul 21, 2019 at 18:37
• No I do still need help please! It's making me head scrach, all I need is for there to be no post title and for it to use the reference as the unique identifier in the URL instead, please! – Eujinks Commented Jul 21, 2019 at 18:45

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1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default 1

Fixing the 404 error

So it's because of the ([^&]+) in your add_rewrite_tag() calls:

$wp_rewrite->add_rewrite_tag('%reference%', '([^&]+)', 'reference=');
//$wp_rewrite->add_rewrite_tag('%location%', '([^&]+)', 'location=');

To fix the error, you should use ([^/]+) and not ([^&]+).

I also intentionally commented out the second line because if the taxonomy's slug is location, then WordPress should have already added the %location% rewrite tag.

Removing the post slug from the permalink

You shouldn't remove it from within your permalink_structure() method, which I assumed is hooked to the post_type_link filter.

Instead, you can quite easily remove the slug like so: (WordPress by default appends /%<post type slug>% to the $permastruct['struct'], so the code below removes that post slug identifier)

// Add this after the post type has been registered (after the register_post_type() call).

global $wp_rewrite;

$permastruct = $wp_rewrite->extra_permastructs['property'];
$permastruct['struct'] = str_replace( '/%property%', '', $permastruct['struct'] );
$wp_rewrite->extra_permastructs['property'] = $permastruct;

And in the permalink_structure() method, the $rewritecode should not include the post slug:

$rewritecode = array(
    '%reference%',
    '%location%',
);

$rewritereplace = array(
    $reference,
    $location,
);

Locating the correct "property"/post based on the "reference" part in the request/page path

The code below is pretty self-explanatory, but if you've got any questions, let me know:

add_action( 'parse_request', function( $wp ){
    // Check if the request/page path begins with /malta-property/<location>/<reference>
    if ( preg_match( '#^malta-property/([^/]+)/([^/]+)#', $wp->request, $matches ) ) {
        $posts = get_posts( [
            'post_type'      => 'property',
            'meta_key'       => 'propertystream_agent_ref',
            'meta_value'     => $matches[2],
            'posts_per_page' => 1,
        ] );

        if ( ! empty( $posts ) ) {
            $wp->query_vars['name'] = $posts[0]->post_name;
            $wp->query_vars['post_type'] = 'property'; // must set post type
        }
    }
} );

And remember to flush the rewrite rules — just visit the "Permalink Settings" page.

Also, as mentioned in my comment, I'm assuming each "property" post always has a metadata named propertystream_agent_ref and that the value is unique.