[Resolved] Pulling Custom Fields into Variables

[Author]

Posts

[diamondA]

Hello!

I have a question about how to pull in data from my custom fields, I'm assuming as WordPress variables? I am using the Jetpack publicize plugin to post to Twitter every time I publish a new custom post. I want to edit the default Tweet to include data from two custom fields in each post.

For example, the message would say [company] is looking for [job name]. I'm wondering, could you point me in the right direction for how to pull that information into PHP?

Here's a snippet I am trying to edit - I see that %s is a variable but I'm wondering do I need to turn my custom field into a variable?

$custom_message = sprintf(
__( 'Check out this new awesome blog post on %s!',

Let me know if I can provide any more details about this, I really appreciate your help!

Diamond

Link to article I'm using to customize the message: hidden link

[Jamal]

Hello Diamond and thank you for contacting the Toolset support.

I checked the provided article and I must note that it uses two functions from PHP and WordPress that are meant to format a string and localize it:
- sprintf: From PHP, to format a string using variables hidden link
- __(): From WordPress, to localize a string in different languages https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/__/
Please read more about these functions to determine how to use them.

Now, regarding Types custom fields, please note, that Toolset adds a prefix(wpcf-) for custom fields, so a field named "company" will be stored in the database with a key "wpcf-company" and can be retrieved using WordPress function get_post_meta https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_post_meta/

$company = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'wpcf-company', true);

It can also be retrieved using Toolset function types_render_field, read more about it here https://toolset.com/documentation/customizing-sites-using-php/functions/

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

[diamondA]

Hi Jamal, thank you for your reply!

Okay let's see if I'm understanding:

I've tried running a snippet like this one -

add_shortcode( 'global_test', function () {

$jobpost = types_render_field ('organization-name, true');

return $jobpost;
} );

but I haven't been able to display this content.

I also tried a snippet like this for the Twitter message:

function set_jetpack_publicize_default_message() {
global $post;

if ( ! empty( $post->ID ) ) {
if ( ! $wpas_title = get_post_meta( $post->ID, '_wpas_mess', true ) ) {
/* translators: %s: the name of the blog */
$org_name = get_post_meta($post_id, 'wpcf-organization-name', true);
$job_title = get_post_meta($post_id, $post_title, true);
$format = '%d is hiring a %f!';
$custom_message = sprintf(
__( $format, $org_name, $job_title,
'set-jetpack-publicize-default-message'
),
get_bloginfo( 'name' )
);
update_post_meta( $post->ID, '_wpas_mess', $custom_message );
}
}
}
add_action( 'post_submitbox_misc_actions', 'set_jetpack_publicize_default_message' );

I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong...

In the above snippet, under $format - the "is hiring a " did show up in the Twitter message so that's a great start but it didn't pick up my other variables. Is it possible my fields aren't registered as post meta? I'm including a screenshot of what should be the meta key. I appreciate your help.

[Jamal]

Regarding the first shortcode, I assume that the field is a single line, right! Try the following code:

add_shortcode( 'global_test', function () {
	$jobpost = types_render_field ('organization-name', array() );
	return $jobpost;
} );

Please check the function documentation examples https://toolset.com/documentation/customizing-sites-using-php/functions/#how-to-use-this-field-with-17

Regarding the second part, the usage of "sprintf" function and the "__()" function is not correct. I would say:

function set_jetpack_publicize_default_message() {
	global $post;
	
	if ( ! empty( $post->ID ) ) {
		if ( ! $wpas_title = get_post_meta( $post->ID, '_wpas_mess', true ) ) {
			/* translators: %s: the name of the blog */
			$org_name = get_post_meta($post_id, 'wpcf-organization-name', true);
			$job_title = get_post_meta($post_id, $post_title, true);
			$format = '%d is hiring a %f!';
			$custom_message = sprintf(
				__( $format, 'set-jetpack-publicize-default-message'),
				$org_name, 
				$job_title
			);
			
			update_post_meta( $post->ID, '_wpas_mess', $custom_message );
		}
	}
}
add_action( 'post_submitbox_misc_actions', 'set_jetpack_publicize_default_message' );

Check their respective documentation that I already shared in my first reply.

Please consider that this custom code and is out of the scope of the support forum. If you are not comfortable with programming, consider hiring a developer. We publish a list of our partners https://toolset.com/contractors/
If you would like to do it your self, try using error_log, print_f, dump functions to understand how your code is progressing or use a debugging tool such as XDebug.

[diamondA]

Thank you so much for your help Jamal - I am really grateful for your help even though this is a custom question. I will try your recommendations and will definitely be hiring a developer if I'm still stuck.

Thank you again,
Diamond