theme-template-example.php

<?php
/**
 * Theme view template example using locate_template
 * 
 * @return string
 */
function my_theme_template()
{
    
    // do view related stuff 
    $date = date('M j Y');
    
    $template_content = "";
    $found_template = locate_template(array('my-template.php'));
    if (!$found_template)
        return $template_content; // return empty if not found
    
    ob_start();
    require_once $found_template;
    
    return ob_get_clean();
}
// EOF
?>

<?php
/**
 * my-template.php
 */
 ?>
 
 Today's date: <?php echo $date; ?>