Setting a title on a Custom Post Type that doesn't support titles

Question

I have a CPT called "profile" that only supports the editor and thumbnail. Each user is limited to posting just 1 profile.

I'm looking for a way to prefill the title and slug fields with the display name of the post author. As it is now, if I click on Publish, the post_status in the db is "Auto Draft" and the URL becomes "localhost/mytestsite/profile/auto-draft-1". It seems WP needs a title or else it won't be considered "Published".

I've checked several questions already posted here and this one seems like the one I need. Custom Post Type with Custom Title

But since I want the author's name and not values in a taxonomy or custom field, I don't know how to modify the code to reflect that.

I see that get_the_author() needs to be in The Loop.

Answer 1

You could add a hidden input into the page to pre-set the title field, because it won't be on the page(because the type doesn't support titles).

Slug is produced from the title, so you should only need add a title value.

Something like this should work(though untested)..

add_action( 'submitpost_box', 'hidden_type_title' );

function hidden_type_title() {
    global $current_user, $post, $post_type;

    // If the current type supports the title, nothing to done, return
    if( post_type_supports( $post_type, 'title' ) )
        return;

    ?>
    <input type="hidden" name="post_title"value="<?php echo esc_attr( htmlspecialchars( get_the_author_meta( 'display_name', $current_user->data->ID ) ) ); ?>" id="title" />
    <?php
}

Though i'd perhaps suggest adding further to the code and checking if the author display name is not empty, etc... it should be enough to work with..(or get you started at least).. :)

Answer 2

I tried the accepted answer but it only worked the second time I made a change to the post and saved. My code works the first time. Also I am using a custom field to replace the title.

add_action( 'submitpost_box', 'set_post_type_title_manaully' );

function set_post_type_title_manaully() {
global $post, $post_type;

// If the current type supports the title, nothing to done, return
if( post_type_supports( $post_type, 'title' ) )
    return;

$title = esc_attr(htmlspecialchars(get_field('advanced_custom_field')));
// $title = esc_attr(htmlspecialchars(get_post_meta($post->ID,'custom_field',true)));
wp_update_post( array( 'ID'=>$post->ID, 'post_title'=>$title ) );