WP_Query queries for non-existant pages result in is_404() = false & is_page() = true

[dd32]

WP_Query queries for non-existant pages result in is_404() = false & is_page() = true

For example:

$query = array('pagename' => 'this-is-a-404-page');

$query = new WP_Query($query);

var_dump($query);


?>
object(WP_Query)[223]
  public 'query_vars' => 
    array
      'pagename' => string 'this-is-a-404-page' (length=18)
      'error' => string '' (length=0)
      'name' => string 'this-is-a-404-page' (length=18)
      'static' => string '' (length=0)
      'page_id' => int 0
      'post_type' => string '' (length=0)
  <Sniped extra empty query vars for paste length>

  public 'tax_query' => 
    object(WP_Tax_Query)[111]
      public 'queries' => 
        array
          empty
      public 'relation' => string 'AND' (length=3)
  public 'post_count' => int 0
  public 'current_post' => int -1
  public 'in_the_loop' => boolean false
  public 'comment_count' => int 0
  public 'current_comment' => int -1
  public 'found_posts' => int 0
  public 'max_num_pages' => int 0
  public 'max_num_comment_pages' => int 0
  public 'is_single' => boolean false
  public 'is_preview' => boolean false
  public 'is_page' => boolean true
  public 'is_archive' => boolean false
  public 'is_date' => boolean false
  public 'is_year' => boolean false
  public 'is_month' => boolean false
  public 'is_day' => boolean false
  public 'is_time' => boolean false
  public 'is_author' => boolean false
  public 'is_category' => boolean false
  public 'is_tag' => boolean false
  public 'is_tax' => boolean false
  public 'is_search' => boolean false
  public 'is_feed' => boolean false
  public 'is_comment_feed' => boolean false
  public 'is_trackback' => boolean false
  public 'is_home' => boolean false
  public 'is_404' => boolean false
  public 'is_comments_popup' => boolean false
  public 'is_paged' => boolean false
  public 'is_admin' => boolean true
  public 'is_attachment' => boolean false
  public 'is_singular' => boolean true
  public 'is_robots' => boolean false
  public 'is_posts_page' => boolean false
  public 'is_post_type_archive' => boolean false
  public 'query' => 
    array
      'pagename' => string 'this-is-a-404-page' (length=18)
  public 'request' => string ' SELECT   wp_posts.* FROM wp_posts  WHERE 1=1  AND (wp_posts.ID = '0') AND wp_posts.post_type = 'page'  ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC ' (length=137)
  public 'posts' => 
    array
      empty

This is not a regression, Tested in 3.0 and 2.9. To me it doesnt make sense for a instance of WP_Query to not reset the conditionals after a unsuccessful request.

This does not affect front end, as the WP Class is responsible for determining that WP_Query has returned nill results and 404'ing.

[dd32]

See #15771 which was caused as a result of this.

[benbalter]

First (rough) pass at returning 404 on non-existent pages

[nacin]

I mentioned to benbalter how the logic in 15770.diff​ could be improved a bit. Then I tried to actually improve it myself, and got fed up with the current statements in handle_404(), and ended up with 15770.2.diff​.

[benbalter]

Tested, and nacin's ​15770.2.diff fixes the problem.

[ryan]

In [19892]:

404 non-existant pages. Make handle_404() readable. Props benbalter, nacin. fixes #15770

[scribu]

This ticket seems to talk about ?pagename, but the actual patch seems to have more to do with ?page.

In any case, I foresee a lot of complaints from query_posts() fans. :)