get_field() returns null after importing

• alexgorbatchev

• July 15, 2014 at 2:41 am

Hey friends!

Love ACF. I’m having a strange issue with importing wordpress XML format. In my XML i declare values like so

<wp:postmeta>
  <wp:meta_key>module_name</wp:meta_key>
  <wp:meta_value><![CDATA[blessed]]></wp:meta_value>
</wp:postmeta>
<wp:postmeta>
  <wp:meta_key>_module_name</wp:meta_key>
  <wp:meta_value><![CDATA[field_53c3e2b1f982b]]></wp:meta_value>
</wp:postmeta>

Where field ID is generated randomly. Problem I’m having is that while values DO show up in the post edit view, get_field("module_name") returns null.

However, after I click “preview post”, all values are immediately available and visible in the post.

Makes me think there’s some kind of additional process happening that doesn’t get triggered on wordpress import.

Any thoughts?

Thank you ^_^

• alexgorbatchev

• July 15, 2014 at 4:19 am

I think my issue might be related to http://support.advancedcustomfields.com/forums/topic/programmatic-post-insertion-acf-fields-and-the-save_post-hook/

• Elliot

• July 15, 2014 at 10:53 am

Hi @alexgorbatchev

Thanks for the bug report. I’ll do some testing with the WP export / import tool and get back to you shortly

• alexgorbatchev

• July 16, 2014 at 7:49 am

Thanks @elliot! Eagerly awaiting your findings!

• alexgorbatchev

• July 17, 2014 at 3:29 am

Hey @elliot, curious if you have an update on this? I’m currently blocked by this and trying to figure out what to do next… 🙁

• alexgorbatchev

• July 19, 2014 at 1:08 pm

I figured out what the problem was. Dug into the source quite a bit and found out that there is one field that is generated by the update post action that was missing. So, the correct way to import a field is using THREE meta fields

<wp:postmeta>
  <wp:meta_key>field_53c9df3d9e257</wp:meta_key>
  <wp:meta_value><![CDATA[a:2:{s:4:"name";s:11:"module_name";s:3:"key";s:11:"module_name";}]]></wp:meta_value>
</wp:postmeta>
<wp:postmeta>
  <wp:meta_key>module_name</wp:meta_key>
  <wp:meta_value><![CDATA[ node-jvm ]]></wp:meta_value>
</wp:postmeta>
<wp:postmeta>
  <wp:meta_key>_module_name</wp:meta_key>
  <wp:meta_value><![CDATA[ field_53c9df3d9e257 ]]></wp:meta_value>
</wp:postmeta>

For some reason ACF stores entire field definition with each post, I just used a couple of fields that seemed important and this worked for me.

• Elliot

• July 29, 2014 at 10:55 am

Hi @alexgorbatchev

It sounds like the field’s settings did not exist on the 2nd website

• MrWebslinger

• January 28, 2015 at 2:12 pm

I am having a similar issue. I am importing data from an outside source to populate my meta data. They show up when editing, but not on the post until I update. I compared the post_meta data before and after the update and am adding the same fields that get added on save, but they still are not showing up until I physically hit update.

In my case it’s a repeater field and I have the following data

photo_slider
_photo_slider
photo_slider_0_photo
_photo_slider_0_photo
photo_slider_1_photo
_photo_slider_1_photo
etc….

What else am I missing. Is there something else I need to update for ACF to recognize the data for output?

• Twansparant

• June 12, 2020 at 3:37 am

This is still an issue in 2020. I’m using the Gravityforms User Registration add-on to create users and populate acf fields with form data. In the backend on the user profile all the fieldvalues are there, the metafields are also present in the database.
But the fields won’t show up in the WP Rest API or with get_field, unless I manually save the user profile…
What should we do to make the fieldvalues available right away?
Thanks!