[Resolved] Custom Post Type Pagination 404 error

[Author]

Posts

[derekB]

Hello,

I've created a custom post type called "testimonials" and I'm getting 404 errors when setting the post per page lower then the default blog pages show at most in settings > reading.

I'm wanting to only show 4 testimonials per page but the pagination links go to 404 error pages. If I set the default blog pages show at most to lets say "1" it works as expected. I do not want to change this to 1 because I already have our blog showing 10 posts.

I've tried resetting rewrite rules, saving permalinks and I do not have another page with the same slug.

Help would greatly be appreciated.

<?php
			$current_page = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
			$per_page = '2';
			$testimonial_args = array(
				'post_type' => 'testimonials',
				'posts_per_page' => $per_page,
			);
			$testimonials = new WP_Query($testimonial_args);
			?>

			<?php if ($testimonials->have_posts()) : $i = 1; ?>
				<?php while ($testimonials->have_posts()) : $testimonials->the_post(); ?>

					<div class="col-lg-4 col-sm-6">

						<div class="testimonial-card">

							<div class="headline">
		                        <?php the_title(); ?>
		                        <span><?php echo types_render_field('field-of-study'); ?></span>
		                    </div>


							<div class="card-container">

								<div class="photo"><?php the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail'); ?></div>

								<p><?php echo get_excerpt(260); ?></p>

								<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" class="btn btn-secondary btn-pill hvr-float-shadow"><i aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-arrow-circle-o-right"></i> Full Story</a>

							</div>

						</div>

					</div>

					<?php $i+=1; ?>
				<?php endwhile; ?>
				
				<div class="pagination">
					<?php 					
						$big = 999999999; // need an unlikely intege

						echo paginate_links( array(
							'base' => str_replace( $big, '%#%', esc_url( get_pagenum_link( $big ) ) ),
							'format' => '?paged=%#%',
							'current' => max( 1, get_query_var('paged') ),
							'total' => $testimonials->max_num_pages
						) );
					?>
				</div>
			<?php else : ?>
		
				<h2 class="center">Testimonials Not Found</h2>
				<p class="center">Sorry, but there are no testimonials, check back later!</p>
		
		<?php endif; ?>

[Christian Supporter]

Hi Derek,

it's one of these WordPress issues, which are known since years but still not resolved.

But I have a workaround for you, but first we have to do a little fix to your query:

Change:

$testimonial_args = array(
	'post_type' => 'testimonials',
	'posts_per_page' => $per_page,
);

To:

$testimonial_args = array(
	'post_type' => 'testimonials',
	'posts_per_page' => $per_page,
        'paged' => $current_page,
);

Now the fix for the WordPress bug... add to your themes functions.php:

function toolset_fix_custom_posts_per_page( $query_string ){
	if( is_admin() || ! is_array( $query_string ) )
		return $query_string;

	$post_types_to_fix = array(
		array(
			'post_type' => 'testimonials',
			'posts_per_page' => 2
		),
		// add another if you want
		/*
		array(
			'post_type' => 'movie',
			'posts_per_page' => 2
		),
	    */
	);

	foreach( $post_types_to_fix as $fix ) {
		if( array_key_exists( 'post_type', $query_string )
			&& $query_string['post_type'] == $fix['post_type']
		) {
			$query_string['posts_per_page'] = $fix['posts_per_page'];
			return $query_string;
		}
	}

	return $query_string;
}

add_filter( 'request', 'toolset_fix_custom_posts_per_page' );

Best,
Christian

[derekB]

Thank you, this now works as expected. I'll use this moving forward for all of my projects 🙂

Much appreciated!