Programmatically add terms to custom post types

Question

What I want to do is assign a hierarchical term to a custom post type:

function create_frontles_posts() {
  $x = 1;

  do {
    $post_id = wp_insert_post(array(
        'comment_status'  =>  'closed',
        'ping_status'   =>  'closed',
        'post_author'   =>  1,
        'post_name'   =>  'Tile'.$x,
        'post_title'    =>  'Tile',
        'post_status'   =>  'publish',
        'post_type'   =>  'frontiles',
      ));
wp_set_object_terms($post_id, array('mosaic-home'), 'tiles_categories', true);


    $x++;
  } while ($x <= 24);
}

I achieve making automatically that 24 custom posts but no way to assign them the term in that process. Before, I created the term with this function, with no problem:

function example_insert_category() {
  wp_insert_term(
    'Mosaic - Home',
    'tiles_categories',
    array(
      'description' => 'Add Tiles here to load in first term',
      'slug'    => 'mosaic-home'
    )
  );
}
  add_action('init','example_insert_category');

What I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

I find out the problem and the solution. I debugged the "wp_set_object_terms" by using "is_wp_error" and I got "Invalid Taxonomy" message, then I realized that when the posts was being created that term didn't exists. So I change the hook to "init" in the programmatically_create_post() function, and voila!

Below this line the code working:

    <?php
// TO DO WHEN THEME IS ACTIVATED ///////////////////////
if (isset($_GET['activated']) && is_admin()){

  // 3. Add term "mosaic-home" to custom taxonomy "tiles_categories"
    function example_insert_category() {
      wp_insert_term(
        'Mosaic - Home',
        'tiles_categories',
        array(
          'description' => 'Add Tiles here to load in first term',
          'slug'    => 'mosaic-home'
          )
        );
      }
    add_action('init','example_insert_category');

  // 4. Make loop for creating 24 posts
    function create_frontles_posts() {
      $x = 1;

      do {
        $post_id = wp_insert_post(array(
            'comment_status'  =>  'closed',
            'ping_status'   =>  'closed',
            'post_author'   =>  1,
            'post_name'   =>  'tile'.$x,
            'post_title'    =>  'Tile',
            'post_status'   =>  'publish',
            'post_type'   =>  'frontiles',
            // 'tax_input' =>   array('tiles_categories' => 2),
          ));
          wp_set_object_terms($post_id, 'mosaic-home', 'tiles_categories', true);

            $x++;
          } while ($x <= 24);
        }


// 5. add the loop to the function for create posts
  function programmatically_create_post() {

    // Initialize the page ID to -1. This indicates no action has been taken.
    $post_id = -1;
    $title='';
    // If the page doesn't already exist, then create it
    if( null == get_page_by_title( $title ) ) {
        create_frontles_posts();
        } else {
              // Otherwise, we'll stop
              $post_id = -2;
      } 
    } 
    add_filter( 'init', 'programmatically_create_post' );

} // end to do on activation
?>

Answer 2

Here is an example. I've tried to explain each process happening in each line. I hope this code can easily explain you how this is working.

<?php 
//creating a blank array to store the inserted terms ids
$terms = array();

//inserting the term "Kathmandu" in a custom taxonomy "region"
$tax_insert_id = wp_insert_term('Kathmandu','region' );

//if the term "Kathmandu" is inserted successfully, its term_id is returned and stored in $tax_insert_id
//the returned term_id is pushed in the array $terms
$terms[] = $tax_insert_id['term_id'];

//inserting the term "Banepa" in a custom taxonomy "region"
$tax_insert_id = wp_insert_term('Banepa','region' );

//if the term "Banepa" is inserted successfully, its term_id is returned and stored in $tax_insert_id
//the returned term_id is pushed in the array $terms
$terms[] = $tax_insert_id['term_id'];

//Creating a post array
$post = array(
    'post_title'      => 'Title',
    'post_content'      => 'This is a dummy text',
    'post_status'    => 'publish',
    'post_type'      => 'post',
);

//Inserting the post in WordPress using wp_insert_post()
//if the post is successfully posted, post_id is returned and stored in $the_post_id
$the_post_id = wp_insert_post( $post );

//assign the terms stored in $terms array to $the_post_id post
wp_set_post_terms( $the_post_id, $terms, 'region' );