Joomla: How to change template on a specific article

Is there a way to change the template on a specific article only? Note that it should work without linking the article to any menu.

Answers

If you want the template override not to depend on the menu position than the standard joomla way of assigning a different template to a menu will not work. You will need to get your hands dirty and write some custom code. You will need to use the article_id as a trigger for template switch.

I did something like that at work but don't remember now how exactly this is achieved. I will post my code here as soon as I locate it.

EDIT: Found the code :)

You need to edit the file /includes/application.php, specifically the getTemplate() method. At the end of this method, just before:

// Fallback template
if (!file_exists(JPATH_THEMES.DS.$template.DS.'index.php')) {
  $template = 'rhuk_milkyway';
}

you can add your condition for applying a custom template, like so:

//CUSTOM TEMPLATE FOR THE ARTICLE 13
if (JRequest::getVar('id')=='13' && JRequest::getVar('option')=='com_content') {
  $template = $custom_template_name;
}

This will apply the custom template which name is inside the $custom_template_name to article with id=13. You can also use it to apply a different template to components, like I did with simplecaddy:

//TEMPLATE FOR SIMPLECADDY
if (JRequest::getVar('option')=='com_caddy'){
  $template = 'shop';
}