Entering the code in the template file

So that you can see how to enter the code in your template file, we use
the default WordPress theme called Twenty Ten. If you’re using a different
theme (and you can find thousands of different WordPress themes avail-
able), then you need to adapt these instructions to your particular theme.
If you really want to follow along in this chapter, activate the Twenty Ten
theme on your site, for now, just so that you can follow along and know that
you’re seeing the same code in the places we describe (you can find informa-
tion on the Twenty Ten theme and how to activate it in Book VI).
We use Lisa’s mood Custom Field as the example here. When you’re done
with these steps, WordPress displays your current mood at the bottom of
the posts to which you’ve added the mood Custom Field. Keep in mind that
this example is just one type of Custom Field that you can add to your posts
(and it’s an easy one for the purposes of introducing you to the concept).

If you’re ready to give it a go, then you’re in luck because you can follow
these steps to add the template tag, along with a little HTML code to make it
look nice, to your theme (these steps assume that you’ve already added the
mood Custom Field to your blog post and have assigned a Value to it):

1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.

2. Click Editor in the Appearances drop-down list.
The Edit Themes page loads in the Dashboard, as shown in Figure 5-5.
3. Locate the template files for the Twenty Ten theme.
The available templates are listed on the right side of the Edit Themes page, as shown in Figure 5-5.

4. Click Single Post in the list of templates.

The Single Post (single.php) file opens in the text editor on the left side of the screen, where you can edit the template file.
5. Scroll down and locate the template tag that looks like this: <?php
the_content() ?>.
6. On the new line underneath the preceding one, type: <p><strong>My
Current Mood is:.

<p> and <strong> open the HTML tags for paragraph and bold text, respectively; followed by the words to display in your template (My Current Mood is:).

7. Type the code that we discuss in the preceding section.
<?php $key=”mood”; echo get_post_meta($post->ID, $key, true); ?>
8. Type </strong></p>.
This code closes the HTML tags you opened in Step 6.
9. Click the Update File button.
Located at the bottom of the Edit Themes page, this step saves the
changes you made to the Single Post (single.php) file and reloads
the page with a message that says your changes have been successfully
saved.
10. View your post on your site to see your Custom Field data displayed.
The data should look just like the “My Current Mood is: Happy” shown in Figure 5-3.

The entire code, put together, should look like this in your template:

<p><strong>My Current Mood is: <?php $key=”mood”; echo get_post_meta($post->ID,
$key, true); ?></strong></p>

The code is case sensitive, which means that the words you input for the
Key in your Custom Field need to match case with the $key in the code. For example, if you input mood in the Key field, then the code needs to be lowercase, as well: $key=”mood”, if you attempt to change the case like this: $key=”Mood”, the code will not work.
You have to add this code for the mood Custom Field only one time; after you add the template function code to your template for the mood Custom Field, you can define your current mood in every post you publish to your site by using the Custom Fields interface.