how to export ACF fields definition in JSON using PHP

• postoffice33

• July 10, 2016 at 12:01 am

Hi,

I use ACF embedded in my themes/plugins. For registering the ACF fields at runtime I use the JSON file created using tools/export feature of ACF.

I would like to automatize the building process, so I would like to have a PHP code that giving the ACF Group IDs generate the related JSON.

Thanks

• John Huebner

• July 10, 2016 at 3:52 am

You can use the function acf_get_field_group($id) to get a field group. $id can be either the field group key or the post ID of the field group.

You can use the function acf_get_fields($id) to get the fields in the field group. Again $id is either the field group key or the post ID of the field group.

Putting them together

$field_group = acf_get_field_group($id);
$field_group['fields'] = acf_get_fields($id);

If you want to just json encode them you’d just do

$json = json_encode($field_group);

If you want the save it to a file and you want it pretty the way that ACF saves field groups, ACF has another function that you can use.

$json = acf_json_encode($field_group);