Sridhar Katakam

Genesis and WordPress Tutorials

How to link Post Titles with custom URLs on single Posts in Genesis

by 6 Comments

In Genesis Facebook group a user asked,

I am really not a coder and need some help resolving an issue. I am not even certain I am framing my question properly, but here goes.

I am in the process of redesigning and converting a site utilizing a non-Genesis custom child theme to a Genesis child theme. The current non-Genesis custom theme has a custom field containing a link (named “link”) defined in it.

I believe the following code in the loop section of single.php file applies the custom field “link” to the post title if the custom field is present.

<?php if (get_post_meta($post->ID, 'link', true)) { ?>
<h2><a href="<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'link', true); ?>" target="_blank"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<?php } else { ?>
<h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
<?php } ?>

I have successfully added the “link” custom field into the Genesis child theme, but I do not understand how to apply the “link” url to the post title when the custom field is populated. My question is, what code should be applied in what files to achieve the same link action when appropriate in the Genesis child theme so that the “link” field url is applied to the title if the post has a “link” field present?

Hope that made sense. Thanks in advance for any guidance you might have.

genesis_post_title_text filter can be used to wrap the single post titles with their corresponding custom links (if present).

screen-shot-2016-10-19-at-7-20-41-am

Add the following in child theme’s functions.php:

// Filter Post Title Text to wrap the title in a custom URL (if present)
add_filter( 'genesis_post_title_text', 'sk_post_title_text' );
function sk_post_title_text( $title ) {
	if ( is_singular( 'post' ) ) {
		$single_post_link = esc_url( get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'single_post_link', true ) );

		if ( $single_post_link ) {
			$title = '<a href="'.$single_post_link.'">'.$title.'</a>';
		}

	}

	return $title;
}

where single_post_link is the name of the custom URL field. This can be created using ACF Pro.

single-post-link-acf

References:

https://my.studiopress.com/docs/filter-reference/

genesis/lib/structure/post.php

  • Why did you mention ACF and use a different custom field? For the uninitiated it would look like you are answering a different question.

    Thanks for describing the genesis_post_title_text filter – I can think of a perfect use for it on a current project.

    Reply

      • The user did not mention that the custom field was added by ACF. Some readers might think that ACF would be required to implement the code snippet.
        The user said that the custom field name is ‘link’ but your answer references ‘single_post_link’. This might confuse some readers.

        Aside: genesis_post_title_text was not the right filter for my task – I used genesis_post_title_output and str_replace() to add classes I needed (trying to add text animation for fun – https://www.stilllife.studio/txtwav).

        Reply

  • Sridhar, could this be adapted for using with Genesis Responsive Slider? I would like the titles, in the slider to link to an ACF instead of the post title ( I am using a CPT for the posts) Thanks.

    Reply

    • As far as I know, it is not possible to do this in Genesis Responsive Slider w/o directly editing the plugin’s file (and this is not recommended).

      Your alternative is to use a jQuery carousel/slider script like SlickJS to show your CPT entries with titles linking to their custom URLs (if present).

      I can write a tutorial on this if you want. Do you have a screenshot or mockup of the slider?

      Reply
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