@sporklab for a quick and dirty solution to this, I use jQuery and the acf field ID. Here’s an example below where a metabox is added to a certain post type, and when the user enters an ID in a field and fetches data from a remote API, it fills out some ACF fields:
function my_metabox_render() { ?>
<p>Enter the ID:</p>
<input type="text" id="the_id_for_remote_api" />
<button id="my_import_button" class="button button-primary button-large">Import</button>
<script>
jQuery("#my_import_button").on("click", function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
var theID = jQuery("#the_id_for_remote_api").val();
var apiEndpoint = "https://some.api.com/someendpoint/" + theID + ".json?api_key=some_nifty_key";
jQuery.get(apiEndpoint, function(data) {
console.log(data);
jQuery("input#acf-field_abc123xyz456").val(data.coolInfo);
jQuery("input#acf-field_zxy987qwe123").val(data.sweetData);
});
});
</script>
<?php }
function register_my_metabox() {
add_meta_box(
'my_meta_box_id',
'Example Metabox Title',
'my_metabox_render',
'your_custom_post_type_here',
'side',
'default'
);
}
add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'register_my_metabox' );
Like I said, this is just the rough outline. But it works pretty well for the use case you described. Note that I tend to keep the “remote” field separate from ACF, siloed in the metabox, it just simplifies things.
