Paginating custom post types

Kevin:

Can you post the template code you're having an issue with?

Hi John,

Here is what I've been trying.

<?php
            $paged = ( get_query_var( 'paged' ) ) ? get_query_var( 'paged' ) : 1;
            $args = array(
                       'post_type' => 'projects',
                       'posts_per_page' => 5,
                       'paged' => $paged
                        );

        $the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
?>

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>

           //General Loop Stuff

  <?php endwhile; else: ?>
               <p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.'); ?></p>
 <?php endif; ?>

  <?php
           global $the_query;  
           $total_pages = $the_query->max_num_pages;  

       if ($total_pages > 1){  

        $current_page = max(1, get_query_var('paged'));  

    echo '<div class="page-numbers-centered">';

    echo paginate_links(array(  
      'base' => get_pagenum_link(1) . '%_%',  
      'format' => '/page/%#%',  
      'current' => $current_page,  
      'total' => $total_pages,
      'type' => 'list',
      'prev_text' => '<<',
      'next_text' => '>>',
    )); 

    echo '</div>';
} 
?>

The currently creates the correct number of pagination links, but doesnt work when I click on it. If I manually update the $paged variable from 1 to 2 and refresh, I do get the second page of pagination but the URL clearly stays the same. I have a missing link between my pagination URL and updated the $paged variable to the correct page.

I've tried using $wp_query on everything instead of $the_query after a suggestion on WP.SE and didn't change anything (didn't expect it to)

I have tried this http://css-tricks.com/snippets/wordpress/paginate-custom-post-types/ and no dice.

I saw this, but was not interested in using this as a fix. It's a 2 year old fix and there has to be a better and less hacky way. http://wp.tutsplus.com/tutorials/custom-post-type-pagination-chaining-method/

This is where I got my pagination code, which I've used before on a different project with the default post type and it worked beautifully. http://wp.tutsplus.com/tutorials/wordpress-pagination-a-primer/?search_index=4

I've tried this:

<?php
             $big = 999999999; // need an unlikely integer

                echo paginate_links( array(
            'base' => str_replace( $big, '%#%', esc_url( get_pagenum_link( $big ) ) ),
            'format' => '?paged=%#%',
            'current' => max( 1, get_query_var('paged') ),
           'total' => $the_query->max_num_pages
         ) );
   ?>

which I found here: https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/paginate_links and still no dice.

This is were I've hit my PHP wall. I've looked at the core files to see what is inside the paginate links function I called, but still can't see where my disconnect is between the paged variable and my pagination link.

For this very project, I've decided to move this custom post type over to the default post type, add my custom fields to that, and be done with it. I do believe that this post type is the only one I will need to paginate. The rest wont' be an issue I don't think. However, I would still love to find my error and a fix to this because I know it will be a problem in future project. There has to be an easy way to paginate custom post types as easily as the default post type.

You'd be surprised just how often re-saving the permalinks can solve a whole host of problems.