Using repeaters and post object fields together

• mtm

• February 9, 2017 at 5:37 am

Apologies if this is a repeat of an existing question – I have found at least one similar thread but it’s not fixed the issue I’m having. I suspect it’s a basic error on my part but there are so many things nested here that I just can’t see it.

In brief: I have a site (very much in dev) which lists authors as one Custom Post Type and books as another. I need to be able to create links between these and am using post object fields to do so. All book posts have a single PO field (author) to designate their author post; all author posts have a repeater field (books) containing a single PO (title) so as to link to each of their books.

Examples:
An author post, featuring an author with 28 books attributed: http://wpb.matmartin.co.uk/authors/abie-longstaff/
A book post by this author: http://wpb.matmartin.co.uk/books/the-fairytale-hairdresser-and-aladdin/

As you can see, the author post returns all 28 books in the lower portion of the page. The book post should do the same, and I am trying to use the author PO field to access the repeater containing them.

Here’s my code, from the book post template. So far as I can see I’m using sub_field where I should but maybe I’m wrong about that?

<?php if(get_field('author')) { ?>
	<?php
	$post_object = get_field('author');
	if( $post_object ): 
		$post = $post_object;
		setup_postdata( $post ); 
		?>
		<div class="sep" id="lower"></div>
		<div class="posttitle">
			<h1>All Titles<span style="color:#777;"> &nbsp;·&nbsp; <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></span></h1>
		</div>
		<?php if( have_rows('books') ): ?>
		<div class="authbookfeed">
			<?php while ( have_rows('books') ) : the_row(); ?>
				<?php
				$post_object = get_sub_field('title');
				if( $post_object ): 
					$post = $post_object;
					setup_postdata( $post ); 
					?>
					<div class="abf-book">
					    <?php if ( get_the_post_thumbnail($post_id) != '' ) { ?>
							<div class="abf-cover">
								<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail('full'); ?></a>
							</div>
						<?php } else { ?>
							<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" class="noimagelink">
								<div class="noimage"></div>
							</a>
						<?php } ?>
						<div class="abf-cap">
							<h5 class="abf-title"><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h5>
							<?php if(get_field('publisher_display')) { ?>
								<p class="abf-meta"><?php the_field('publisher_display'); ?></p>
							<?php } else { ;?><?php } ;?>
							<?php if(get_field('category')) { ?>
								<p class="abf-meta"><?php the_field('category'); ?></p>
							<?php } else { ;?><?php } ;?>
						</div>
					</div>
				    <?php wp_reset_postdata(); ?>
				<?php endif; ?>			
    		<?php endwhile; ?>  
    	</div>
		<?php else : endif; ?>
	<?php endif; ?>	
<?php } else { ;?><?php } ;?>

• John Huebner

• February 19, 2017 at 4:17 am

You have a couple problems that are likely causing unpredictable results

For example, your using the variable name $post_object in both the parent and sub loops. wp_reset_postdata(); needs to be called at the end of your first if ($post_object) {. You’ve also got a couple of nested setup_postdata( $post ); calls that can cause unpredictable results that I explain here https://support.advancedcustomfields.com/forums/topic/nested-post-object-fields/#post-48227

• mtm

• February 28, 2017 at 5:33 am

thanks john, and apologies for not replying sooner. the client asking for this function changed their mind about needing it so this has become a self-improvement issue for me and thus has slipped in priority.

thanks for the pointers, i think i see what you mean and although i’ve not had a chance to test anything yet i’ll try and get it working as you suggest.