Title: Changing sample permalink
Last modified: August 21, 2016

---

# Changing sample permalink

 *  [Mark Jansen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mark-jansen/)
 * (@mark-jansen)
 * [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-sample-permalink/)
 * Hello all,
 * I have made myself a custom rewrite for a post type I’ve made. All ‘s well and
   all ‘s fine, but I run into a slight problem.
 * When the post is auto saved, the permalink structure does not show correctly 
   in the sample permalink under the title.
 * It shows as [http://loc.test-site.org/?post_type=matches&p=137](http://loc.test-site.org/?post_type=matches&p=137)
   where with my code I expect it to be: [http://loc.test-site.org/match/%d%/%m%/%Y%/%post-name%/](http://loc.test-site.org/match/%d%/%m%/%Y%/%post-name%/)
 * If I save the post, it all works fine, but when it autosaves it’s not.
 * Anyone have any idea how I can fix this?
 * I use the code below to generate my new permalink
 *     ```
       function better_match_permalinks( $permalink, $post ) {
       	global $wp_rewrite;
   
       	$timestamp = get_field( 'match_datetime', $post->ID );
   
       	$structure = __( 'match', 'apollo' );
       	if( ! empty( $timestamp ) ) {
       		$structure .= date( '/d/m/Y', $timestamp );
       	} else {
       		$structure .= date( '/d/m/Y', strtotime( $post->post_date ) );
       	}
       	$structure .= '/%matches%/';
       	$wp_rewrite->add_rewrite_tag( "%matches%", '([^/]+)', "matches=" );
       	$wp_rewrite->add_permastruct( 'matches', $structure, false );
   
       	return $permalink;
       }
       ```
   
 * I hope some one can help me out.
 * Thanks
 * Mark

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

 *  Thread Starter [Mark Jansen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mark-jansen/)
 * (@mark-jansen)
 * [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-sample-permalink/#post-4396981)
 * Ok, I found out perhaps the filter ‘get_sample_permalink_html’ could help me 
   further, but I am a bit in the dark about some things.
 * 1. Why do I not get the structure I am building when I hook into post_type_link.
   Why is the link that I see different and also for example, when I hover over 
   a link in a connected post (using Posts2Posts for that), I get the ‘ugly’ URL,
   not my custom permalink structure
 * Perhaps if I understand that, I can fix this problem in a whole different way
   maybe. Maybe I am approaching this entirely wrong.
 * 2. get_sample_permalink_html gives me the entire html from the permalink, get_sample_permalink
   is also a function, but that one has no filter. Perhaps that is something that
   I am overlooking or is that’s intended?
 * 3. If I try to apply my custom permalink structure, see the code in my post above,
   it gives me 1970/01/01 as date. It looks like $post entirely disappears when 
   autosave kicks in.
 * So all in all, I am not that much wiser, but I hope I’m getting somewhere. Anyone
   who can give me another kick in the right direction?
 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-sample-permalink/#post-4396988)
 * How is your code called? Hooked into what? Or called from where? This influences
   the answer to why you are not seeing your permalink in ‘post_type_link’. And 
   possibly why autosave is not picking it up.
 * It’s somewhat common in WordPress for only higher level functions to have filters
   and the lower level functions that are called from within do not. I suppose the
   idea is you can either filter the higher function or write custom code that directly
   calls the lower function and manipulates the returned value, so no filter is 
   required. In the case of `get_sample_permalink()` though, it does have a filter,
   it’s not as obvious but it’s there — ‘editable_slug’. Even if it doesn’t explain
   why autosave is not picking up your permalink, it may offer a way to resolve 
   the issue?
 *  Thread Starter [Mark Jansen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mark-jansen/)
 * (@mark-jansen)
 * [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-sample-permalink/#post-4396989)
 * The hook is called in my custom plugin using the following line:
 * `add_filter( 'post_type_link', array( $this, 'better_match_permalinks' ), 10,
   2 );`
 * Your explanation about the filters makes sense, but shame that in this case you
   get the entire HTML, where you really wouldn’t want that 😛 (well I don’t :P)
 *  [Danny van Kooten](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dvankooten/)
 * (@dvankooten)
 * [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-sample-permalink/#post-4397021)
 * Hi Mark,
 * Are you sure this code is working the way you want it to when using the save 
   post button explicitly?
 * A few things come to mind when looking at your code..
 * 1. You’re not actually manipulating the permalink variable. You are returned 
   the same permalink as was given in the function parameters.
 * 2. I wouldn’t add rewrite rules in a filter, as the filter might be called multiple
   times on the same page load. You will only need to add those once, have a look
   at the [WP_Rewrite class documentation](http://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Rewrite)
   for some examples.
 * 3. Are you using the Advanced Custom Fields plugin to get the `match_datetime`
   meta value? It might also be that PHP’s `date()` function is failing to format
   it. In that case, the third parameter of the ACF `get_field` function might come
   in handy.
 * Hope that helps at least a little! Good luck.
 *  Thread Starter [Mark Jansen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mark-jansen/)
 * (@mark-jansen)
 * [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-sample-permalink/#post-4397023)
 * Thanks for your answer.
 * 1. Hm, strange, because the permalink seems to work fine. When ever I save the
   post, the sample-permalink shows up correctly and the permalink works. When I
   pull up the permalink in the frontend, it gives me the permalink I expect.
 * I based my code on this tutorial:
    [http://shibashake.com/wordpress-theme/custom-post-type-permalinks-part-2](http://shibashake.com/wordpress-theme/custom-post-type-permalinks-part-2)
 * 2. I thought the post_type_link filter was designed for this, that is why I used
   it. I’ll have a look at the documentation you posted.
 * 3. I am using ACF yes, but when it is autosaved, and I forgot to mention this
   is only when it’s a new post, it should use the `$post->post_date` because `$
   timestamp` will be empty. When I dump the `$post` variable to the screen, it 
   shows up, but not on autosave, then it seems to be empty. Very strange.
 * When I publish or draft the post, it works fine. It’ll either get the ACF date
   or the post date.
 *  [Danny van Kooten](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dvankooten/)
 * (@dvankooten)
 * [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-sample-permalink/#post-4397024)
 * Hi Mark,
 * The tutorial you’re referring to adds the rewrite rules when the plugin is initialized.
   Notice the first sentence in his code snippet.
 *     ```
       // add to our plugin init function
       global $wp_rewrite;
       $gallery_structure = '/galleries/%year%/%monthnum%/%gallery%';
       $wp_rewrite->add_rewrite_tag("%gallery%", '([^/]+)', "gallery=");
       $wp_rewrite->add_permastruct('gallery', $gallery_structure, false);
       ```
   
 * Then (point 3 in the tutorial) he returns a different permalink according to 
   his own custom logic.
 * My guess is that it will work just fine for both regular saves as auto saves 
   if you fix that part of your code. 🙂
 * As for the `$post` object being empty on autosaves, not sure about that. It’s
   just null?
 *  Thread Starter [Mark Jansen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mark-jansen/)
 * (@mark-jansen)
 * [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-sample-permalink/#post-4397026)
 * Big big big thank you Danny.
 * Turns out I didn’t read the tutorial all that well and I had to create the structure
   in the init hook and the permalink itself in the post_type_link hook.
 * It works now with the following code:
 *     ```
       add_action( 'init', array( $this, 'match_permalink_structure' ) );
       add_filter( 'post_type_link', array( $this, 'better_match_permalinks' ), 10, 3 );
       ```
   
 *     ```
       public function match_permalink_structure() {
       	global $wp_rewrite;
   
       	$structure = __( 'match', 'apollo' ) . '/';
       	$structure .= '%year%/%month%/%day%/';
       	$structure .= '%matches%/';
   
       	$wp_rewrite->add_rewrite_tag( "%matches%", '([^/]+)', "matches=" );
       	$wp_rewrite->add_permastruct( 'matches', $structure, false );
       }
       public function better_match_permalinks( $permalink, $post, $leavename ) {
       	$rewritecode = array(
               '%year%',
               '%month%',
               '%day%',
               $leavename ? '' : '%matches%',
           );
   
       	$timestamp = get_field( 'match_datetime', $post->ID );
   
       	if( ! empty( $timestamp ) ) {
       		$year = date( 'Y', $timestamp );
       		$month = date( 'm', $timestamp );
       		$day = date( 'd', $timestamp );
       	} else {
       		$year = date( 'Y', strtotime( $post->post_date ) );
       		$month = date( 'm', strtotime( $post->post_date ) );
       		$day = date( 'd', strtotime( $post->post_date ) );
       	}
   
       	$rewrite_replace = array(
       		$year,
       		$month,
       		$day,
       		$post->post_name,
       	);
   
       	$permalink = str_replace($rewritecode, $rewrite_replace, $permalink);
   
       	# Flush rewrite rules, so the changes are visible.
       	//flush_rewrite_rules();
   
       	return $permalink;
       }
       ```
   
 * Thanks!

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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## Tags

 * [autosave](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/autosave/)
 * [custom post type](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/custom-post-type/)
 * [permalink](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/permalink/)
 * [sample](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/sample/)

 * In: [Hacks](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/hacks/)
 * 7 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Mark Jansen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mark-jansen/)
 * Last activity: [12 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/changing-sample-permalink/#post-4397026)
 * Status: not resolved

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