Need help with creating new field type with ACF

• Koli14

• August 5, 2013 at 7:39 pm

Hello!
I started to use ACF a few days ago. I want to create a new field type. I followed the instructions of the official site. But i don’t understand something.
I want my field contain two text-area.
I don’t really know how to do it. So i created a new field, it’s appearing in the edit-page, but i can’t handle the two values. Here is how my create_field function looks like in the php-file of my field (i think that’s what i need to change):

function create_field( $field ){ ?>
    <table>
      <tr> <th scope="col">Year</th> <th scope="col">Text</th> </tr>
      <tr>
         <td>
          <?php echo '<textarea id="' . $field['id'] . 'year"
              class="' . $field['class'] . '"
              name="' . $field['name'] . 'year" >'
              . $field['value']['year'] .
            '</textarea>';
          ?>
        </td>
        <td>
          <?php echo '<textarea id="' . $field['id'] . 'text"
            class="' . $field['class'] . '"
            name="' . $field['name'] . 'text" >'
              . $field['value']['text'] .
            '</textarea>';
          ?>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
    <?php
}

Now, ACF always save the value of the second text-area. What i don’t understand, is how ACF know to save that? And how can i save the value of the first too?

I’m also interested in tutorials if you can suggest me anything in this field.
I tried to find more field-types in the internet (more than the built in ones), but i didn’t found anything.

Thanks for your help:
Koli

• Elliot

• August 6, 2013 at 1:20 pm

Hi @Koli14

Have you looked at the HTML source that this PHP produces? I believe your textarea will have a name like this:

fields[field_key]text

but what you want is:

fields[field_key][text]

Adding the extra square brackets will allow the data to be correctly posted

• Koli14

• August 7, 2013 at 1:35 am

Yes, i checked the generated HTML source, and played with a few versions (with brackets, in quotes…), i’m not expert in PHP…
It still not working, maybe i asked the question wrong.
So the name of the textarea is how ACF knows which field to save (not the ID or class)? So if i want two textarea, they need to have different names.
Now the working field has a name: $field[‘name’] which generates: fields[field_51fbdeb7f1609].
What should i add as a name to the second textarea, and how can i get the value of it?
I can get the value of the field with the $field[‘value’], but it’s just the value of the textare with the name: $field[‘name’].
Uhhh, maybe it’s a bit too complicated for me…

• Elliot

• August 7, 2013 at 2:58 pm

Hi @Koli14

Yes, it is the name which is used to post data.

As mentioned above, if you want to send 2 textarea’s in the same name, you will need to use square brackets to tell the browser it is an array of information.

For example, you want the output to be:

<textarea name="fields[field_123][textarea_1]"></textarea>
<textarea name="fields[field_123][textarea_2]"></textarea>

• Koli14

• August 7, 2013 at 7:07 pm

I tried already what you write, and then the HTML result is:

<textarea id="acf-field-text-year" class="year_n_text" name="f"></textarea>
<textarea id="acf-field-vita-year" class="year_n_text" name="f"></textarea>

• Elliot

• August 8, 2013 at 1:07 pm

Hi @Koli14

The output does not look correct.
Please attach the code you are using in the create_field function

• Koli14

• August 8, 2013 at 5:59 pm

I’m sure that a lot of thing missing from my field to work, but i have no idea what.
Here is my hole field:

<?php
class acf_field_year_n_text extends acf_field{
  var $settings, 
    $defaults;
  function __construct(){
    $this->name = 'year_n_text';
    $this->label = __('Year and text');
    $this->category = __("Content",'acf');
    $this->defaults = array(
      'default_value'  =>  '',
      'formatting'   =>  'br',
    );
    parent::__construct();
    $this->settings = array(
      'path' => apply_filters('acf/helpers/get_path', __FILE__),
      'dir' => apply_filters('acf/helpers/get_dir', __FILE__),
      'version' => '1.0.0'
    );
  }
  function create_options($field){
    $key = $field['name'];
    ?>
    <tr class="field_option field_option_<?php echo $this->name; ?>">
      <td class="label">
        <label><?php _e("Formatting",'acf'); ?></label>
        <p class="description"><?php _e("Define how to render html tags",'acf'); ?></p>
      </td>
      <td>
        <?php 
        do_action('acf/create_field', array(
          'type'  =>  'select',
          'name'  =>  'fields['.$key.'][formatting]',
          'name2'  =>  'fields['.$key.'2][formatting]',
          'value'  =>  $field['formatting'],
          'choices' => array(
            'none'  =>  __("None",'acf'),
            'br'  =>  __("auto <br />",'acf'),
            'html'  =>  __("HTML",'acf'),
          )
        ));
        ?>
      </td>
    </tr>
    <?php
  }
  function create_field( $field ){
    ?>
    <table >
      <tr>
        <th scope="col">Year</th>
        <th scope="col">Text</th>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <?php var_dump ($field['value']); ?>
        <td>
          <?php echo '<textarea 
            id="' . $field['id'] . '" 
            rows="4" 
            class="' . $field['class'] . '"
            name="' . $field['name']['textarea_1'] . '" >'
              . $field['value']['textarea_1'] . 
            '</textarea>';
          ?>
        </td>
        <td>
          <?php echo '<textarea 
            id="' . $field['id'] . '" 
            rows="4" 
            class="' . $field['class'] . '"
            name="' . $field['name']['textarea_2'] . '" >'
              . $field['value']['textarea_2'] . 
            '</textarea>';
          ?>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
    <?php
  }
  function input_admin_enqueue_scripts(){
    wp_register_script('acf-input-year_n_text', $this->settings['dir'] . 'js/input.js', array('acf-input'), $this->settings['version']);
    wp_register_style('acf-input-year_n_text', $this->settings['dir'] . 'css/input.css', array('acf-input'), $this->settings['version']);
    wp_enqueue_script(array(
      'acf-input-year_n_text',
    ));
    wp_enqueue_style(array(
      'acf-input-year_n_text',
    ));
  }
}
new acf_field_year_n_text();
?>

• Elliot

• August 12, 2013 at 4:01 pm

This is incorrect:

 name="' . $field['name']['textarea_2'] . '" >'

It should be:

 name="' . $field['name'] . '[textarea_2]" >'

There is a major different between the 2

• Koli14

• August 16, 2013 at 7:58 pm

Thanks, yes, now i understand why!