Metabox Not saving data

Question

I've just created a metabox for some custom text on a website I'm developing.

However when I input something into it and click update it doesn't seem to save it. Also its not saving on the MYSQL DB either.

here is the code for my metabox below.

<?php

add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'dd_hctb_create' );

function dd_hctb_create() {

add_meta_box ( 'dd_meta', 'Heading Content Text Box', 'dd_hctb_function', 'page', 'normal', 'high' );

}

function dd_hctb_function( $post ) {

echo '<input type="hidden" name="dd_mbe_content_nonce" value="'.wp_create_nonce(basename(__FILE__)).'" />';

//retrieve the metadata values if they exist

$dd_mbe_content = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'dd_mbe_content', true );

echo 'Write any content in here that you want to appear above the main text.';

echo '<textarea name="middle" id="dd_mbe_content" value="" cols="100%" rows="10">'.$dd_mbe_content.'</textarea>';

}

function dd_hctb_save($post_id) {


    //attempt to verify nonce
    if (!wp_verify_nonce($_POST['dd_mbe_content_nonce'], basename(__FILE__)))
        return $post_id;
    // check the autosave
    if (defined('DOING_AUTOSAVE') && DOING_AUTOSAVE)  
        return $post_id; 
       // check permissions  
    if ('page' == $_POST['post_type']) {  
        if (!current_user_can('edit_page', $post_id))  
            return $post_id;  
        } elseif (!current_user_can('edit_post', $post_id)) {  
            return $post_id; 
        }
    //finally verify the postmeta is set

            if (isset ( $_POST['dd_mbe_content'] ) ) {
                //now save if if the data exists
                update_post_meta( $post_id, 'dd_mbe_content', strip_tags( $_POST['dd_mbe_content']));
            }

    }  // end save function

 add_action('save_post', 'dd_hctb_save' );

?>

thanks for any help guys - I'm sure this is a typo somewhere or something overriding a setting. I'm new to using wp_nonce aswell so any help or advice is taken on board.

Answer 1

I optimized your function.

<?php
function dd_hctb_create() {
    add_meta_box ('dd_meta', 'Heading Content Text Box', 'dd_hctb_cb', 'page', 'normal', 'high');
} // function dd_hctb_create
add_action('add_meta_boxes', 'dd_hctb_create');

function dd_hctb_cb($post) {
    wp_nonce_field(basename(__FILE__), 'dd_mbe_content_nonce');

    //retrieve the metadata values if they exist
    $value = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'dd_mbe_content', true);
    ?>
    <p>
        Write any content in here that you want to appear above the main text.
    </p>
    <textarea id="dd_mbe_content" name="dd_mbe_content" cols="100%" rows="10"><?php echo wp_kses_post($value); ?></textarea>
    <?php
} // function dd_hctb_cb

function dd_hctb_save($id, $post) {
    // check the autosave
    if (defined('DOING_AUTOSAVE') && DOING_AUTOSAVE)  
        return $id; 

    if (
        'page' == $post->post_type
        && current_user_can('edit_page', $id)
        && wp_verify_nonce($_POST['dd_mbe_content_nonce'], basename(__FILE__))
        && isset($_POST['dd_mbe_content'])
    ) update_post_meta($id, 'dd_mbe_content', strip_tags($_POST['dd_mbe_content']));
} // function dd_hctb_save
add_action('save_post', 'dd_hctb_save', 1, 2);

The problem was that your textarea was given id="dd_mbe_content" and name="middle", which took precedence.