id,summary,reporter,owner,description,type,status,priority,milestone,component,version,severity,resolution,keywords,cc
23142,"Make it possible to ""stem"" an arbitrary prefix with the Template Hierarchy's ""stemming"" logic.",rulatir,,"Please expose the template hierarchy ""stemming"" logic for theme developers. By ""stemming"" I mean the process by which the list of candidate template filenames  (e.g. page-meaningoflife.php, page-42.php, page.php) is generated.

I '''know''' that the way template-loader.php is currently written, such list is never explicitly assembled. I consider this a deficiency. The ""stemming"" logic should be available as an API:


{{{
function wp_template_candidates($prefix="""") {

    $filenames = array();

    // Extensively refactored code from template-loader.php and template.php

    return $filenames;
}
}}}

The new template-loader.php could then probably be just reduced almost to this:

{{{
locate_template(wp_template_candidates(),true);
}}}

But the real motivation is to be able to use a single layout template that includes different versions of ""parts"" like menu or sidebars depending on the query type and queried object, exactly as the template hierarchy does. This can of course be done with ad-hoc checks:

{{{

if (is_home()) { locate_template(""home/sidebar.php"", true); }

}}}

but making this consistent with how template hierarchy works would involve basically reimplementing much of it. The proposed API would make it possible to override parts of a template for specific query types or queried objects just by creating an appropriately located and named file, and without modifying the main layout file:

{{{

/*
 *   File: MyTheme/includes/body-layout.php
 */

<div id=""main-menu"">
<?php locate_template(wp_template_candidates(""main-menu/""),true); ?>
</div>

<?php

//On a ""video"" category page, this will pick MyTheme/social_slider/category-video.php

@include_once locate_template(wp_template_candidates(""social_slider/""));

?>

}}}",feature request,new,normal,Awaiting Review,Template,3.5,normal,,,