Redirect exit page: Get external url from custom field WordPress
- SOLVED
Hello!
I'm looking for a solution for the following scenario:
When I link to external pages, I want to link to an exit page, which displays a goodbye message for a few seconds, and then automatically transfers the visitor to the external url.
You've probably seen it:
"You are now being redirected to blablabla, if nothing happens you can click the link below".
<strong>The problem:</strong>
I don't want to link directly to the external url. Instead I want to link to the exit page, and pass the post id as a paramenter. Something like this:
http://mywebsite.com/exit.php?=426
Where 426 is the post ID.
THEN, I would like to fetch the external url from a custom field in the original post.
<strong>So:</strong>
I need some kind of page template and when I link to this page i can pass the post id as a paramenter or something. Then the page template uses the post id and retrieves the value of a custom field from the post.
I want it to redirect after a few seconds, just have enough time so the visitor can read my Goodbye message!
Thank you!
// Jens.
Answers (4)
Ivaylo Draganov answers:
Hello, what you're trying to do is fairly simple. It can be accomplished without a page template. We'll have to intrudoce a new query variable, for example 'exit'. So then you'd link to http://example.com/?exit={post_id}
Let's go through setting that up. First we register the new query var:
<?php
// this goes into functions.php
function custom_query_vars( $vars ) {
/** Add new query vars */
array_push( $vars, 'exit' );
return $vars;
}
add_filter( 'query_vars', 'custom_query_vars' );
?>
Then, we tell WP to load a special template:
<?php
// this goes into functions.php
function custom_template_redirect() {
$exit_post_id = get_query_var( 'exit' ) ? get_query_var( 'exit' ) : 0;
if ( $exit_post_id ) {
locate_template( 'exit.php', true );
exit;
}
}
add_action( 'template_redirect', 'custom_template_redirect' );
?>
Then we create the actual template file in the theme directory:
<?php
// this is the code for exit.php
$exit_post_id = get_query_var( 'exit' ) ? get_query_var( 'exit' ) : 0;
$redirect_url = $exit_post_id ? get_post_meta( $exit_post_id, 'external_url_custom_field', true ) : '';
?>
<?php get_header(); ?>
<?php if ( $redirect_url ) { ?>
<p>You are now being redirected to blablabla, if nothing happens you can click the link below.</p>
<p><a href="<?php echo esc_url($redirect_url); ?>">The link below</a></p>
<script type="text/javascript">
setTimeout("location.href = '<?php echo esc_url($redirect_url); ?>';",1500);
</script>
<?php } else { ?>
<p>Invalid redirect URL or post ID.</p>
<?php } ?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>
Jens Filipsson comments:
Unfortunately the functions.php code breaks my page...
Ivaylo Draganov comments:
What happens to the page? Do you get a blank screen or any error messages?
Jens Filipsson comments:
Blank screen
Ivaylo Draganov comments:
Please make sure that there aren't any extra <em><?php</em> or <em>?></em> tags. After pasting the code into functions.php you should remove these extra tags. There has to be only one <em><?php</em> at the beginning of the file.
I've just tested the code and it works.
Jens Filipsson comments:
I know how the functions.php works. Could it be that this chunk of code shouldn't be in functions.php?
<?php
// this goes into functions.php
function custom_template_redirect() {
$exit_post_id = get_query_var( 'exit' ) ? get_query_var( 'exit' ) : 0;
if ( $exit_post_id ) {
locate_template( 'exit.php', true );
exit;
}
}
add_action( 'template_redirect', 'custom_template_redirect' );
?>
Ivaylo Draganov comments:
No, that's where it's supposed to be.
Actually such functionality is better to be wrapped-up as plugin instead of stuffed into functions.php. But as I said the code works.
Can you enable WP_DEBUG to see what the exact error message is - it might be a mere syntax error.
To enable WP_DEBUG add this to wp-config.php:
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
Then revisit your site and see whether an error message is shown on the blank screen.
Jens Filipsson comments:
It seems to work now, but I had to change <strong>esc_url</strong> to <strong>esc_url_raw</strong>. Is it ok to use esc_url_raw instead?
Another thing, this one needs javascript to work right? Is there another way to make the redirect not javascript dependent?
Thanks!
// Jens.
Francisco Javier Carazo Gil answers:
You will need something like this:
exit.php
<?php
define('WP_USE_THEMES', false);
require('./wp-blog-header.php');
$id = $_GET["id"];
$custom_fields = get_post_custom($id);
$my_custom_field = $custom_fields['my_custom_field'];
foreach ( $my_custom_field as $key => $value )
{
echo "You are going to be redirected to: " . $value;
// sleep 5 seconds
// redirect to $value
}
?>
Jens Filipsson comments:
Thanks!
And how do I link to the page and pass the post id paramenter?
Francisco Javier Carazo Gil comments:
If you do directly this: http://mywebsite.com/exit.php?=426 you have to create in your loop a href that contains this link and that recover the post id with get_the_ID().
Arnav Joy answers:
in the link pass the ?postID as the paramete , like below url
http://mywebsite.com/exit.php?postID=426
<?php
define('WP_USE_THEMES', false);
require('./wp-blog-header.php');
$postID = $_GET["postID"];
$external_url_custom_field = 'external_url' // change here for the url
$external_url = get_post_custom($postID,$external_url_custom_field,true);
echo "Redirecting to: " . $value.' or you can <a href="'.$external_url.'">click here</a>';
?>
<meta http-equiv='refresh' content='2;url=<?php echo $external_url;?>>
Arnav Joy comments:
if you are integrating it to page or post then use following
<?php
$url = get_bloginfo('url').'/exit.php?postID='.get_the_ID();
echo '<a href="'.$url.'" > click here </a> for external url';
?>
Arnav Joy comments:
see the
content="2;
here 2 indicates no. of second
change the 2 to whatever values you want say 10
content="10;
Jens Filipsson comments:
Thanks!
If I would like to get two different values from two different custom fields, and maybe use something like this:
<a href="http://custom-field-url">Custom-field-second-value</a>
Is this possible?
Arnav Joy comments:
use this
<?php
$external_url_custom_field_url = 'external_url' // change here for the url
$external_url_custom_field_title = 'external_url_title' // change here for the title
$external_url = get_post_custom($postID,$external_url_custom_field_url,true);
$external_title = get_post_custom($postID,$external_url_custom_field_title,true);
echo "Redirecting to: " . $external_title.' or you can <a href="'.$external_url.'">click here</a>';
?>
John Cotton answers:
1. Create yourself a page template (your exit template).
2. Don't user get_header(), just embed the header code you want and add this code after the head tag:
<?php
if( isset($_POST['t'] ) {
$url = get_post_meta( $_POST['t'], 'my_custom_field_name', true );
?>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5;url=<?php echo $url; ?>">
3. Create a new page in the dashboard and set the template to your exit template.
4. Set links to the this page as /my-exit-page?t={ID OF POST}