Simple Fields to ACF

• ajjp5o7

• December 27, 2016 at 3:45 am

I’ve inherited a site built almost entirely on simple fields and I’m working on updating it to ACF PRO.

I’m not experienced with PHP, (I’m an HTML, CSS guy!) so this is a major undertaking for me.

Right now I’m working on the hero section, the current code looks something like this:

$hero = simple_fields_fieldgroup('field-group');

$hero_field = (!empty($hero['value']) ? $hero['value'] : '');
$hero_field2 = (!empty($hero['value2']) ? $hero['value2'] : '');
$hero_field3 = (!empty($hero['value3']) ? $hero['value3'] : '');

//output follows

It looks like simple_fields_fieldgroup() is calling the array in a field group and assigning each value to a variable and then outputting the variables in the theme.

I want to avoid having to recode the entire site, if I can assign the the new ACF values to the current variables I think I would be able to simply add new custom fields using the same names and labels as the simple_fields.

In this particular example would I be able to use the same variables by using the acf_get_field_groups() function?

• ajjp5o7

• December 27, 2016 at 5:20 am

I think I’ve got something working close to what I need:

$hero = simple_fields_fieldgroup('field-group');

$hero_field = (!empty($hero['value']) ? $hero['value'] : '');
$hero_field =  (!empty($hero_field) ?: get_field('value'));

I think this should allow me to continue the simple field architecture while I slowly make the switch over to ACF.

• James

• December 27, 2016 at 1:47 pm

Hi @jorgepreble

I’m afraid I’m not familiar with Simple Fields, so I’m sorry if I can’t help you much.

I think your code looks OK, but please keep in mind that get_field('value') will get the value from a custom field with the name of “value”. This page should give you more idea about it: https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/resources/displaying-custom-field-values-in-your-theme/.

Thanks 🙂

• ajjp5o7

• December 27, 2016 at 10:19 pm

@James,

Thanks! This is the code that ended up working:

$hero = simple_fields_fieldgroup('hero');

if (!empty($hero['video'])) {
	$hero_video = $hero['video'];
} else if (empty($hero['video'])){
	$hero_video = get_field('video');
} else {
	$hero_video = '';
}

In simple fields first you have to call the field group array with simple_fields_fieldgroup()

Then I checked to see if simple fields is being used in the current post, if not then we move on the ACF, else leave it blank.

So far it works like a charm!