[Resolved] Auto populate post title with author's name

[Author]

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[richardG-4]

Tell us what you are trying to do?
When a specific form is submitted I want the title to be populated with the author's name and the post date.

Is there any documentation that you are following?
Not that I have found, though I have checked forums.

Is there a similar example that we can see?
This is what I have right now in my functions.php file:

////////
// Display Current Date
add_shortcode('wpv-post-today', 'today_shortcode');
    function today_shortcode() {
    return date( 'F j, Y', current_time( 'timestamp' ));
}

/////////////
// Auto Populate Payment Plan Application Title
add_action('cred_submit_complete', 'auto_populate_payment_title',10,2);
function auto_populate_payment_title($post_id, $form_data){
    // Edit form ID to match form ID
    if ($form_data['id']==11714) {
        $author=get_post_meta($post_id, 'wpv-post-author')
        $today_date = current_time( 'Y-m-d' );
        $payment_plan_title = array(
            'ID'           => $post_id,
            'post_title'   => $author . ' - ' . $today_date,
        );
   wp_update_post( $payment_plan_title );
	}
}

What is the link to your site?

[Nigel Supporter Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) Timezone: Europe/London (GMT+01:00)]

Hi Richard

there are several problems with your code.

I took a look at it and updated it, though I haven't tested it, but you can try the following:

add_action('cred_submit_complete', 'auto_populate_payment_title', 10, 2);
function auto_populate_payment_title($post_id, $form_data)
{
    // Edit form ID to match form ID
    if ($form_data['id'] == 11714) {
        $the_post = get_post($post_id);
        $the_author_id = $the_post->post_author;
        $the_author_name = get_the_author_meta('display_name', $the_author_id);
        $today_date = date('Y-m-d');
        $payment_plan = array(
            'ID' => $post_id,
            'post_title' => $the_author_name . ' - ' . $today_date,
        );
        wp_update_post($payment_plan_title);
    }
}

You will want to update your custom shortcode, too, there is no such function as current_time in PHP.

[richardG-4]

There is no current_time function?? That's weird, the functions work for the other form title I am auto populating, haha. Here is the other code, can you tell me why it is working if there is no "current time" function?

////////
// Display Current Date
add_shortcode('wpv-post-today', 'today_shortcode');
    function today_shortcode() {
    return date( 'F j, Y', current_time( 'timestamp' ));
}

/////////////
// Auto Populate Repair Title
add_action('cred_submit_complete', 'auto_populate_title',10,2);
function auto_populate_title($post_id, $form_data){
    // Edit form ID to match form ID
    if ($form_data['id']==888) {
        $parentpost_id = toolset_get_related_post($post_id, 'membership-vehicle-repair' );
        $parent_title = get_the_title($parentpost_id);
        $today_date = current_time( 'Y-m-d' );
        $childpost_title = array(
            'ID'           => $post_id,
            'post_title'   => $parent_title . ' - ' . $today_date,
        );
   wp_update_post( $childpost_title );
	}
}

------------------------------------------------------------------

The code you shared gave me this error: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '$today_date' (T_VARIABLE) in /wp-content/themes/oceanwp-child/functions.php on line 113

It is also not changing or updating the title for the Payment Plan Application form.

[Nigel Supporter Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) Timezone: Europe/London (GMT+01:00)]

I looked through my code again and spotted a typo, the last line should read

wp_update_post($payment_plan);

Sorry about that.

I then checked the code on my own site and it worked correctly.

As for current_time, it seems it's a WordPress function, although it seems somewhat redundant as it is doing the same as the native PHP date function, so either should work.

[richardG-4]

That worked perfectly, thank you!!

[richardG-4]

I changed the function a little so it grabs their first and last name instead of the display name:

/////////////
// Auto Populate Payment Plan Title
add_action('cred_submit_complete', 'auto_populate_payment_title', 10, 2);
function auto_populate_payment_title($post_id, $form_data)
{
    // Edit form ID to match form ID
    if ($form_data['id'] == 11714) {
        $the_post = get_post($post_id);
        $the_author_id = $the_post->post_author;
        $the_author_first_name = get_the_author_meta('first_name', $the_author_id);
        $the_author_last_name = get_the_author_meta('last_name', $the_author_id);
        $today_date = date('Y-m-d');
        $payment_plan = array(
            'ID' => $post_id,
            'post_title' => $the_author_first_name . " " . $the_author_last_name . ' | ' . $today_date,
        );
        wp_update_post($payment_plan);
    }
}

[richardG-4]

My issue is resolved now. Thank you!

Edit: I think I accidentally marked this as "Very Hard" because a score of 5 is normally good, but this was actually "Very Easy." Thanks again!