If category only contains one product then link user directly to the product

Question

Our category page child category links are generated using the code below. However, some categories only contain one product. If the category contains only one product is there a way to link directly to that product page rather than the category product listing page?

For example; the 'widgets' category contains only 1 product 'widget'. So rather than the code below generating a link to 'mywebsite.com/main-category/widgets.html' the link would go directly to 'mywebsite.com/widget-product.html

<?php 
                //If there are sub categories
                $categories = $this->getCurrentChildCategories();
                $categoriescount = $this->getCurrentChildCategories()->count();
                if ($categoriescount > 0): 
                ?>
                <div class="container_12">  
                    <?php 
                    //Loop through categories
                    foreach ($categories as $category):
                    ?>
                    <div class="grid_3 alpha special-spacing" style="margin-bottom:10px;">
                        <div>
                        <a href="<?php echo $this->getCategoryUrl($category)?>" class="cat-link"><?php echo $category->getName()?></a>
                        </div>
                        <a href="<?php echo $this->getCategoryUrl($category)?>" class="cat-image">
                        <?php 
                        // If there is a thumbnail set for the category - Display it
                        if($imgUrl = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($category->getId())->getImage()):?>
                        <img src="<?php echo $this->getBaseUrl()."media/catalog/category/".$imgUrl ?>" alt="<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($category->getName()) ?>" />
                        <?php endif; ?>
                        </a>
                    </div>

                    <?php endforeach; ?>
                <div class="clear"></div>
                </div>
                <?php else:?>
                <p>No Sub Categories</p>
<?php endif; ?>

Answer 1

Try this way:

<?php 
            //If there are sub categories
            $categories = $this->getCurrentChildCategories();
            $categoriescount = $this->getCurrentChildCategories()->count();
            if ($categoriescount > 0):  ?>
            <div class="container_12">  
            <?php 
                //Loop through categories
                foreach ($categories as $category): ?>
                <div class="grid_3 alpha special-spacing" style="margin-bottom:10px;">
                    <div>
                    <?php //get category products
                        $categoryProducts = $category->getProductCollection();
                       if(count($categoryProducts) > 1):?>
                         <a href="<?php echo $this->getCategoryUrl($category)?>" class="cat-link"><?php echo $category->getName()?></a>
                      <?php else:?>
                      <?php $product = $categoryProducts->getFirstItem();?>
                        <a href="<?php echo $product->getProductUrl()" class="cat-link"><?php echo $product->getName()?></a>
                      <?php endif;?>
                    </div>
                    <a href="<?php echo $this->getCategoryUrl($category)?>" class="cat-image">
                    <?php 
                    // If there is a thumbnail set for the category - Display it
                    if($imgUrl = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($category->getId())->getImage()):?>
                    <img src="<?php echo $this->getBaseUrl()."media/catalog/category/".$imgUrl ?>" alt="<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($category->getName()) ?>" />
                    <?php endif; ?>
                    </a>
                </div>

                <?php endforeach; ?>
            <div class="clear"></div>
            </div>
            <?php else:?>
            <p>No Sub Categories</p>
<?php endif; ?>

We are utilising this method from class Mage_Catalog_Model_Category

  /**
   * Get category products collection
   *
   * @return Varien_Data_Collection_Db
   */
  public function getProductCollection()
  {
      $collection = Mage::getResourceModel('catalog/product_collection')
          ->setStoreId($this->getStoreId())
          ->addCategoryFilter($this);
      return $collection;
  }

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Instead of coding you can add apache/nginx 301 redirects to url. Let me know if you need syntax.