[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #40969: RFE: get_template_part() to return something or warn when nothing found

[WordPress Trac]

#40969: RFE: get_template_part() to return something or warn when nothing found
-------------------------+------------------------------
 Reporter:  sphakka      |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Themes       |     Version:
 Severity:  normal       |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  2nd-opinion  |     Focuses:  template
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Comment (by sphakka):

 The problem is that `get_template_part( 'non-existing-file' )` fails
 silently. Of course page rendering would break, so you'd see that
 something is wrong, but that's not trivial without a message clue. The
 rationale is that something like
 {{{
 if ( ! get_template_part( 'I_misspelled_this_one' )
   error_log( 'I_misspelled_this_one: template file not found' );
 }}}
 would help spotting the mistake. It doesn't really need to report what it
 found (returning bool would be fine), but since `locate_template()` is the
 last statement in the code, then just having
 {{{
 return locate_template($templates, true, false);
 }}}
 would settle the matter with minimum effort ;-)

 Actually, I now realize that this is an instance of a more general problem
 with many (all?) `get_*()` functions calling `locate_template()` at end.
 So, along the principle that silent failure is bad practice (unless I'm
 missing some obscure reason for not having the possibility of checking
 programmatically what goes on), a review of all those functions would be
 advised. That would also make them more consistent with other
 `get_whatever()` functions that already return something.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40969#comment:3>
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