How to link to a page, but only if the page status is active

Question

This is probably a really basic question, but I can't figure out how to check the status of a page before I link to it.

I have a link in my footer to 'Policy' page. But if the page status is inactive, I don't want that link to show. How can I perform this simple check?

Thanks,

Mark

Answer 1

This should work.

{% set policy = craft.entries.section('policy').first() %}
{% if policy %}<a href="{{ policy.url }}">{{ policy.title }}</a>{% endif %}

ElementCriteriaModel should only return active records by default.

Answer 2

Plugin alternative:

  public function statusIsLive($handle) {
    $section = craft()->sections->getSectionByHandle($handle);
    $criteria = craft()->elements->getCriteria(ElementType::Entry);
    $criteria->section = $section;
    return craft()->elements->findElements($criteria);
  }