Calling get_field() within acf/init causes PHP notice

• ksksks

• January 14, 2022 at 7:20 am

Calling get_field() within the acf/init action causes the PHP notice (in German):

Notice: acf_get_value wurde fehlerhaft aufgerufen. Advanced Custom Fields PRO – We’ve detected one or more calls to retrieve ACF field values before ACF has been initialized. This is not supported and can result in malformed or missing data. Learn how to fix this. Weitere Informationen: Debugging in WordPress (engl.) (Diese Meldung wurde in Version 5.11.1 hinzugefügt.) in /var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-includes/functions.php on line 5663

But the documentation under
https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/resources/acf-init/
states “Fires after ACF is fully initialized.”.

• John Huebner

• January 14, 2022 at 9:47 am

Are you sure that the call to get_field() in that acf/init action function is what is causing the error? Does the error stop when you remove the action?

• ksksks

• January 14, 2022 at 11:43 am

Yes I’m sure.
I inserted
debug_print_backtrace(); die();
in acf-value-functions.php on line 351 and the stacktrace showed me exactly the call in the acf/init action.

#0  acf_log_invalid_field_notice(Array ([ID] => 0,[key] => ,[label] => ,[name] => theme_mapbox_access_token,[prefix] => ,[type] => ,[value] => ,[menu_order] => 0,[instructions] => ,[required] => ,[id] => ,[class] => ,[conditional_logic] => ,[parent] => 0,[wrapper] => Array ([width] => ,[class] => ,[id] => ),[_name] => theme_mapbox_access_token,[_valid] => 1), acf_get_value) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:303]
#1  WP_Hook->apply_filters(, Array ([0] => Array ([ID] => 0,[key] => ,[label] => ,[name] => theme_mapbox_access_token,[prefix] => ,[type] => ,[value] => ,[menu_order] => 0,[instructions] => ,[required] => ,[id] => ,[class] => ,[conditional_logic] => ,[parent] => 0,[wrapper] => Array ([width] => ,[class] => ,[id] => ),[_name] => theme_mapbox_access_token,[_valid] => 1),[1] => acf_get_value)) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:327]
#2  WP_Hook->do_action(Array ([0] => Array ([ID] => 0,[key] => ,[label] => ,[name] => theme_mapbox_access_token,[prefix] => ,[type] => ,[value] => ,[menu_order] => 0,[instructions] => ,[required] => ,[id] => ,[class] => ,[conditional_logic] => ,[parent] => 0,[wrapper] => Array ([width] => ,[class] => ,[id] => ),[_name] => theme_mapbox_access_token,[_valid] => 1),[1] => acf_get_value)) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-includes/plugin.php:470]
#3  do_action(acf/get_invalid_field_value, Array ([ID] => 0,[key] => ,[label] => ,[name] => theme_mapbox_access_token,[prefix] => ,[type] => ,[value] => ,[menu_order] => 0,[instructions] => ,[required] => ,[id] => ,[class] => ,[conditional_logic] => ,[parent] => 0,[wrapper] => Array ([width] => ,[class] => ,[id] => ),[_name] => theme_mapbox_access_token,[_valid] => 1), acf_get_value) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-content/themes/pixelcube/lib/advanced-custom-fields-pro/includes/acf-value-functions.php:72]
#4  acf_get_value(options, Array ([ID] => 0,[key] => ,[label] => ,[name] => theme_mapbox_access_token,[prefix] => ,[type] => ,[value] => ,[menu_order] => 0,[instructions] => ,[required] => ,[id] => ,[class] => ,[conditional_logic] => ,[parent] => 0,[wrapper] => Array ([width] => ,[class] => ,[id] => ),[_name] => theme_mapbox_access_token,[_valid] => 1)) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-content/themes/pixelcube/lib/advanced-custom-fields-pro/includes/api/api-template.php:45]
#5  get_field(theme_mapbox_access_token, options) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-content/themes/pixelcube/functions/mapbox/class-customtheme-mapbox.php:17]
#6  Customtheme_Mapbox::{closure}(5) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:303]
#7  WP_Hook->apply_filters(, Array ([0] => 5)) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:327]
#8  WP_Hook->do_action(Array ([0] => 5)) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-includes/plugin.php:470]
#9  do_action(acf/init, 5) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-content/themes/pixelcube/lib/advanced-custom-fields-pro/acf.php:332]
#10 ACF->init() called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-content/themes/pixelcube/lib/advanced-custom-fields-pro/includes/api/api-helpers.php:226]
#11 acf_init() called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-content/themes/pixelcube/lib/advanced-custom-fields-pro/includes/api/api-template.php:144]
#12 acf_maybe_get_field(theme_header_nav_type, options) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-content/themes/pixelcube/lib/advanced-custom-fields-pro/includes/api/api-template.php:26]
#13 get_field(theme_header_nav_type, options) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-content/themes/pixelcube/class-customtheme.php:127]
#14 Customtheme::load_header_nav() called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-content/themes/pixelcube/functions.php:65]
#15 include(/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-content/themes/pixelcube/functions.php) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-settings.php:546]
#16 require_once(/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-settings.php) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-config.php:131]
#17 require_once(/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-config.php) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-load.php:50]
#18 require_once(/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-load.php) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-blog-header.php:13]
#19 require(/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/wp-blog-header.php) called at [/var/www/clients/client1/web4/web/index.php:17]

• John Huebner

• January 14, 2022 at 11:59 am

is the field (theme_mapbox_access_token) a field that is created by ACF?

• ksksks

• January 14, 2022 at 12:11 pm

This reply has been marked as private.

• ksksks

• January 14, 2022 at 12:19 pm

STOP!

It seems, that this notice was caused by another statement in a totally different module.
I’m still investigating.

• ksksks

• January 14, 2022 at 12:37 pm

Issue resolved.
Sorry for the false alarm.

Stacktrace #14 Customtheme::load_header_nav() had the get_field() before acf/init.
After that ACF->init() is called (#10) and that fires all acf/init actions and after all the actions it shows the notice.
This is somehow missleading. I guess it should already have stopped at #14.

• Michael85

• February 3, 2022 at 10:09 am

@ksksks I’ve been digging into the notice issue myself and found that using the field key prevents the error. Alternatively, you could try this snippet that I created.

add_filter('acf/pre_load_reference', function ($reference, $name, $postId) {
    $fields = acf_get_local_store('fields');

    return $fields && array_key_exists($name, $fields->aliases) ? $fields->aliases[$name] : $reference;
}, 10, 3);

This probably saves a DB roundtrip per option for you.