Bug(?): flexible content & nested repeater fields

• studio4

• March 27, 2016 at 4:57 am

Hello,

With repeater fields I can get the row data (array) and number of rows by running:

$array = get_field('repeater_field_name'); 
$row_count = count($array);

but when I try the same in a repeater field nested inside a flexible content block
$array = get_field('nested_repeater_field_name');

I’m using it like this:

if( have_rows('carousel') ){
 $rows = get_field('carousel');
 $row_count = count($rows);
 <!-- do some count based stuff here -->
 while( have_rows('carousel') ): the_row();
 endwhile;
}

When in a flexible content field the repeater $rows returns null, unless I’m missing something (which is entirely possible). I can get the row count by iterating through the rows but I would have expected consistent behaviour. Is this a bug or expected behaviour, if it’s the latter is there an alternative way (without iterating) of getting the row count?

Many thanks

—- Versions —-
ACF v5.3.6.1
WP v4.4.2

• John Huebner

• March 27, 2016 at 5:02 am

Inside a flexible field you need to use get_sub_field().

• studio4

• March 27, 2016 at 5:20 am

Hello John,

You pointed me in the right direction – turns out it also cannot be called after has_rows(), so the solution looks like this:

$rows = get_field('carousel');
$row_count = count($rows);
if( have_rows('carousel') ){
 <!-- do some count based stuff here -->
 while( have_rows('carousel') ): the_row();
 <!-- do some other stuff here -->
 endwhile;
}

• John Huebner

• March 27, 2016 at 5:44 am

repeaters inside of flex fields work the same as nested repeaters. A flex field is basically a repeater with some additional properties. There is a document on nested repeaters https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/resources/working-with-nested-repeaters/

• studio4

• March 27, 2016 at 5:57 am

Hello John,

Thanks for your time and responses, as this isn’t really a bug I’ll mark your last response as a solution.

Is there any reason that a normal nested repeater can call get_field within has_rows() but get_sub_field has to be called outside of has_rows() for a repeater inside a flexible content field?

Many thanks

• John Huebner

• March 27, 2016 at 11:14 am

Your question actually has me a little lost.

You can use get_field() for a top level repeater field, or any top level field.

get_field() should always return top level fields, not sub fields of any repeater or flex field. Using get_field() inside a repeater loop will not return values from the rows of a repeater. get_sub_field() shouldn’t get anything outside of the current repeater loop. If you are using get_field() inside a repeater then you’re probably not seeing what you think your seeing.

Here is some code illustrating a three level nesting of repeater type fields with comments about what will be returned where.

When I use get_field() or get_sub_field() this also refers to their equivalent function the_field() and the_sub_field().

// repeater loop
// this could be a flex field or a repeater
// both are treated the same as the loop is concerned
if (have_rows('flex_field')) {
  while (have_rows('flex_field')) {
    the_row();
    /* 
       using get_field() here will not 
       return values from rows of the flex field
       get_field() will still return values from 
       top level fields
       you must use get_sub_field() to get values 
       from the flex field row
    */
    
    // repeater in the flex field
    if (have_rows('repeater')) {
      while (have_rows('repeater')) {
        the_row();
        /* using get_field() here will still only 
           return top level fields not not value or
           the flex field or this repeater
           you must use get_sub_field()
           it is impossible to get other values from 
           the flex field until after the end of this 
           loop get_sub_field() will return sub fields 
           of this repeater only
        */
        
        // nested repeater
        if (have_rows('nested_repeater')) {
          while (have_rows('nested_repeater')) {
            the_row();
            /* 
               using get_field() here will still only 
               return top level fields and not values of 
               the flex field or the first repeater
               you must use get_sub_field()
               get_sub_field() will only return values 
               from rows of this nested repeater
            */
          } // end while have_rows nested repeater
        } // end if have_rows nested repeater
      } // end while have_rows for repeater
    } // end if have_rows repeater
  } // end while have_rows for flex field
} // end if have_rows flex_field