While setting up a site recently I wanted to route a specific entry in a structure section to its own custom template. Using a dynamic route sounded like the right option until I remembered that it wouldn't work due to Craft's routing order (matched entry uri comes before matched template).
I considered adding a conditional redirect to the structure's generic template but this feels a bit dirty. Does anyone have a better solution of how to make this work?
The cleanest way I have found to achieve this is to create a generic template for the structure as well as a custom template for each entry that needs one, ensuring that its path matches the entry's uri.
I then put this single line of code in the structure's selected template and it works beautifully:
{% extends [entry.uri, '_generic'] %}
This should work as well:
{% include [entry.uri, '_generic'] %}
If the entry's uri exists as a template route then it will be rendered, otherwise the generic template will be.
UPDATE:
I recently extended this on a site to allow for unique custom pages, custom entry type pages and a fallback generic page:
{% extends [
'_custom/' ~ entry.slug,
'_entrytypes/' ~ entry.type,
'_generic'
] %}
{% extends [ craft.request.path, '_generic' ] %}
Commented
Feb 24, 2017 at 14:20
Currently, the conditional redirect is the best way. You can use it to load a template dynamically in the structure's generic _entry template using the include tag.
My suggestion would be to add a lightswitch field that tells the entry to load a custom template. Then in the _entry template do something like this:
{% if entry.customTemplate %}
{% include "section/_" ~ entry.slug %}
{% else %}
{% include "section/_generic" %}
{% endif %}
This is the same basic idea used in Pixel & Tonic's help page on using different templates for different entry types.
I think you are on the right track. Call the generic template _route.html, and have it do nothing but {%extends ...%} to route to the template you want.
