Just so there’s a working solution posted for whomever might need it, here’s what I came up with. Thanks for your help.
$striptype = sanitize_text_field( get_query_var( 'striptype' ) ); // calls the striptype from the URL and sanitizes the input so we can have one archive page that brings up archives in different languages
$posts = get_posts(array(
'posts_per_page' => 25,
'post_type' => 'post',
'orderby' => 'date',
'order' => 'ASC',
'meta_query' => array (
array (
'key' => $striptype, //this queries the metadata on the strips, in this case the advanced custom fields, looking for any that are not empty
'value' => '',
'compare' => '!=',
),
),
));
and then further down to actually display the retrieved images there’s one of these code blocks for every language:
if ($striptype == 'spanish_strip') {
$image = get_field('spanish_strip');
$size = 'full'; // (thumbnail, medium, large, full or custom size)
if( $image ) {
//echo "<strong>Spanish Strip:</strong><br>";
echo wp_get_attachment_image( $image, $size );
echo "<br><br>";
}
Bump – still going on. If I deactivate ACF I can use the Add Media button again.
Thanks John – disabling ACF showed nothing, which then helped remind me that I’d coded a special plugin for this site, too, and lo and behold the custom function was in the plugin. I don’t normally use plugins, but this site is extra complex.
Resolved, and may it possibly be helpful to someone else later.