Why isn't ['field_name'][0]['#markup'] work for getting taxonomy of this node?

Question

I have two content types: Case and News.
In node--case.tpl.php, I'm using echo $content['field_case_category'][0]['#markup']; in order to print the taxonomy term for the page and that works fine. In node--news.tpl.php, I can't use echo $content['field_news_category'][0]['#markup'];; in fact, #markup is not even present in this array at all.

1. Why doesn't this method work in the second case? What can I do to solve it?
2. Is there a better/right way to print taxonomy terms in nodes?

The error I get is the following:

Notice: Undefined index: #markup in include()

Answer 1

Please don't print some result directly. You should print the content of field like below.

print drupal_render($content['field_case_category']);

Hope this solves your problem. Also please check whether your node contains the value for the field_case_category field.

Answer 2

The correct way to render a field API field is using render() (print render($content['field_case_category']) or print render($content['field_news_category'])) that, through drupal_render(), is able to correctly handle all the cases, including the case #markup is not set because the field is empty.

Notice that you don't normally need to explicitly print node fields, if not in the case you hide them before calling render($content), and then you need to render them separately. The default node.tpl.php file used from the Node module, or any theme that comes with Drupal.

// node/node.tpl.php
<div id="node-<?php print $node->nid; ?>" class="<?php print $classes; ?> clearfix"<?php print $attributes; ?>>

  <?php print $user_picture; ?>

  <?php print render($title_prefix); ?>
  <?php if (!$page): ?>
    <h2<?php print $title_attributes; ?>><a href="<?php print $node_url; ?>"><?php print $title; ?></a></h2>
  <?php endif; ?>
  <?php print render($title_suffix); ?>

  <?php if ($display_submitted): ?>
    <div class="submitted">
      <?php print $submitted; ?>
    </div>
  <?php endif; ?>

  <div class="content"<?php print $content_attributes; ?>>
    <?php
      // We hide the comments and links now so that we can render them later.
      hide($content['comments']);
      hide($content['links']);
      print render($content);
    ?>
  </div>

  <?php print render($content['links']); ?>

  <?php print render($content['comments']); ?>

</div>

//bartik/templates/node.tpl.php
<div id="node-<?php print $node->nid; ?>" class="<?php print $classes; ?> clearfix"<?php print $attributes; ?>>

  <?php print render($title_prefix); ?>
  <?php if (!$page): ?>
    <h2<?php print $title_attributes; ?>>
      <a href="<?php print $node_url; ?>"><?php print $title; ?></a>
    </h2>
  <?php endif; ?>
  <?php print render($title_suffix); ?>

  <?php if ($display_submitted): ?>
    <div class="meta submitted">
      <?php print $user_picture; ?>
      <?php print $submitted; ?>
    </div>
  <?php endif; ?>

  <div class="content clearfix"<?php print $content_attributes; ?>>
    <?php
      // We hide the comments and links now so that we can render them later.
      hide($content['comments']);
      hide($content['links']);
      print render($content);
    ?>
  </div>

  <?php
    // Remove the "Add new comment" link on the teaser page or if the comment
    // form is being displayed on the same page.
    if ($teaser || !empty($content['comments']['comment_form'])) {
      unset($content['links']['comment']['#links']['comment-add']);
    }
    // Only display the wrapper div if there are links.
    $links = render($content['links']);
    if ($links):
  ?>
    <div class="link-wrapper">
      <?php print $links; ?>
    </div>
  <?php endif; ?>

  <?php print render($content['comments']); ?>

</div>

If your template is already using render($content), and you are not seeing the taxonomy terms, then you need to check the field has not been hidden in the display setting, or a module is hiding it.