acf_form() validation and feedback

• eXalted

• September 16, 2016 at 10:06 pm

I’m creating a front-end form for submitting new post (ACF PRO latest version) with the following code:

$options = array(
    'post_id' => 'new_post',
        'new_post' => array(
        'post_type'   	 => 'deal',
        'post_status'   => 'post'
    ),
    'html_before_fields' => $html_before_fields,
    'html_after_fields' => $html_after_fields,
    'uploader' => 'basic',
    'submit_value' => __("Create", 'domain'),
    'updated_message' => __("Your post was submitted successfully! Please wait for it to be approved.", 'domain'),
);

acf_form($options);

And here is a snippet of my functions.php;

function _action_ssd_acf_submit_post_pre_save( $post_id ) {

    if( empty($_POST['acf']) ) {
        return;
    }

    if ( !isset($_POST['acf_post_submit']) ) { // this is a hidden input field in the form
        return;
    }

    if (  ) { // some more checks here
        wp_mail(); //removed parameters for cleaner code, I send email to the admin
    }  

    if( empty(get_user_meta(get_current_user_id(), 'this_user_can_submit', true)) ) {
        exit;
        return;
    } 
		
	   
}

add_action( 'acf/pre_save_post', '_action_ssd_acf_submit_post_pre_save' );

How can I stop the post from saving as it is always saved as Draft?

Also I can’t seem to find a way to change the update_message when there is an error wth the submission. For example, if the user doesn’t have the needed user_meta.

So, yeah, my problem is that I am unable to stop the submission of the post (in case of a validation error) and send a front end message feedback after the page has refreshed.

• markbloomfield

• September 17, 2016 at 8:41 pm

hi @exalted

I think the problem lies with 'post_status' => 'post'

Your post status should be publish. post isn’t a valid option for post_status, so this is why it’s defaulting to a draft post.

• eXalted

• September 17, 2016 at 8:53 pm

Yeah, ‘ I’ve ma ed a mistake with that example code. It should be

'post_type'   	 => 'post',
 post_status'   => 'publish'

I think I solved my problem with using:

wp_redirect(add_query_arg( 'error', 'true', get_permalink($submit_page_id)));

in the _action_ssd_acf_submit_post_pre_save function in the following hook:

add_action( 'acf/pre_save_post', '_action_ssd_acf_submit_post_pre_save', 1 );

This way I don’t use the return of the acf_form() function and redirect to the same page with the form but the parameters in the URL which I can get to show the error notice on that page.

Don’t know if this is the right way though.