Setting $field['default_value'] not working in acf/prepare_field

• dreiQBIK

• June 9, 2020 at 4:52 pm

Hi Elliot,
I’m using ACF Forms and am trying to set the default value of a checkbox field (multiple checkboxes, some of them initially checked) through the filter acf/prepare_field – it doesn’t have any effect though. It works through acf/load_field, but I’m having some other issues there with query vars not being available, probably because it’s too early in the loop.

I think this could potentially be a bug – shouldn’t it be possible to set defaults via acf/prepare_field?

Cheers,
Moritz

• John Huebner

• June 9, 2020 at 11:08 pm

It should be possible to set the default value using acf/prepare field.

More information on the field and the code your using to try to set the default would help.

• dreiQBIK

• June 10, 2020 at 1:43 am

Hi @hube2,
currently, I’ve split up the code into setting the available choices for the checkboxes in acf/prepare_field and defining the default value for the field in acf/load_field. I hope my code below is enough to understand what I’m doing.

function wptd_acf_load_brot_verfuegbarkeit_values( $field ) {

    if (!is_admin()) {
        // Only in frontend
        $verfuegbarkeiten = get_query_var('verfuegbarkeiten') ?? $_SESSION['verfuegbarkeiten'] ;
        $sortiment_heute = get_query_var('sortiment_heute') ?? $_SESSION['sortiment_heute'];

        if (!empty($sortiment_heute)) {
            $field['default_value'] = wptd_get_brote_available($sortiment_heute, $verfuegbarkeiten);
        }
    }

    return $field;
}
add_filter('acf/load_field/key=field_5eddd053baf5a', 'wptd_acf_load_brot_verfuegbarkeit_values');

function wptd_acf_load_brot_verfuegbarkeit_choices( $field ) {

    if (!is_admin()) {
        // Only in frontend
        $sortiment_heute = get_query_var('sortiment_heute');

        if (!empty($sortiment_heute)) {
            $field['choices'] = array_reduce($sortiment_heute, function($result, $item) {
                $result[$item] = get_the_title($item);
                return $result;
            }, []);
        }
    }

    return $field;
}
add_filter('acf/prepare_field/key=field_5eddd053baf5a', 'wptd_acf_load_brot_verfuegbarkeit_choices');

• dreiQBIK

• June 10, 2020 at 1:47 am

Hi @hube2,
I have currently split my code for loading the choices for my checkboxes and for setting the default value. I hope my code gives you enough insight to understand what I’m trying to do.

function wptd_acf_load_brot_verfuegbarkeit_values( $field ) {

    if (!is_admin()) {
        // Only in frontend
        $verfuegbarkeiten = get_query_var('verfuegbarkeiten') ?? $_SESSION['verfuegbarkeiten'] ;
        $sortiment_heute = get_query_var('sortiment_heute') ?? $_SESSION['sortiment_heute'];

        if (!empty($sortiment_heute)) {
            $field['default_value'] = wptd_get_brote_available($sortiment_heute, $verfuegbarkeiten);
        }
    }

    return $field;
}
add_filter('acf/load_field/key=field_5eddd053baf5a', 'wptd_acf_load_brot_verfuegbarkeit_values');

function wptd_acf_load_brot_verfuegbarkeit_choices( $field ) {

    if (!is_admin()) {
        // Only in frontend
        $sortiment_heute = get_query_var('sortiment_heute');

        if (!empty($sortiment_heute)) {
            $field['choices'] = array_reduce($sortiment_heute, function($result, $item) {
                $result[$item] = get_the_title($item);
                return $result;
            }, []);
        }
    }

    return $field;
}
add_filter('acf/prepare_field/key=field_5eddd053baf5a', 'wptd_acf_load_brot_verfuegbarkeit_choices');

Cheers,
Moritz

• dreiQBIK

• June 10, 2020 at 2:13 am

Hey @hube2,
I just found out that I need to use $field['value'] instead of $field['default_value'] in acf/prepare_field to do what I want to do! 🙂

Cheers,
Moritz

• ahateleybrowne

• June 6, 2023 at 11:19 pm

I also had some difficulty getting the $field['default_value'] to work in the acf/prepare_field. @dreiqbik got me on track (thanks!). You can obviously use another filter, but if you need to define the default value when preparing the field, using $field['value'] can imitate the $field['default_value'].

This will override any selected value though, so you’ll have to filter it yourself. Check if it already has a value set, and if you don’t know if the field allows for null, you should check for that too:

if(!$field['value'] && !$field['allow_null']) {
    $field['value'] = 'YOUR DEFAULT VALUE';
}