Use Topic Template with create topic link

[TheOctopus]

I have a category on my forum with a topic template. For ease of access I want to create a link that will auto-open the create topic panel with this category loaded. Right now I have a link to /new-topic?category_id=7, which correctly starts a new topic for that category. However, this doesn’t use the topic template. If I manually click the Create Topic button it does use this template. How can I combine these two and create a link that uses the topic template?

[jtbayly]

I know it’s been a long time, but I wanted to say that the answer is here:

How to create a new topic button with category and topic template

I’m looking at the following theme as a reference. My goal is to find a way to put up a secondary new topic button that shows up for members of a specific group. This group has access to a private area in the forum and I’d like to be able to have the button in question start a new topic in that area of the forum regardless of their current page. I’m also looking to use a topic template or similar boilerplate functionality with this button. I think I’ve figured out how to selectively add t…