Publish post and create additional posts with same content

Question

I'm building a site which allows authors to create a custom post type, and optionally elect to create X amount of additional posts with the same content. In this case all the content is meta values.

The following code creates new additional posts with the same meta values, but it is also creating an additional unwanted post without any meta values.

For example, I create a post and set the option to create 3 additional posts with the same meta values. I will get 4 additional posts, the fourth of which has no data.

function kt_bulk_add_inventory( $ID, $post ) {

    // Bail if no Quantity provided
    if ( ! isset( $_REQUEST['acf']['field_55bb25125095a'] ) || empty( $_REQUEST['acf']['field_55bb25125095a'] ) ) {
        return;
    }

    $qty = $_REQUEST['acf']['field_55bb25125095a'];
    $item_data = array(
        'item_wood_type' => $_REQUEST['acf']['field_55795ed866432'],
        'item_thickness' => $_REQUEST['acf']['field_555be6e572883'],
        'item_width' => $_REQUEST['acf']['field_555be70972884'],
        'item_length' => $_REQUEST['acf']['field_555be73a72885'],
        'item_purchase_order' => $_REQUEST['acf']['field_55795fb753941'],
    );

    $wood_type_term = get_term_by( 'id', (int) $item_data['item_wood_type'], 'wood_type' );
    $tax = array(
        'wood_type' => $wood_type_term->name
    );
    $post_data = array(
        'post_status' => 'publish',
        'post_type' => 'inventory',
        'tax_input' => $tax
    );
    $new_items = 0;
    remove_action( 'publish_inventory', 'kt_bulk_add_inventory', 10, 2 );

    while ( 1 <= $qty ) {
        $item_id = wp_insert_post( $post_data );

        foreach ( $item_data as $key => $value ) {
            update_post_meta( $item_id, $key, $value );
        }

        $qty--;
        $new_items++;
    }
    add_action( 'publish_inventory', 'kt_bulk_add_inventory', 10, 2 );

}
add_action( 'publish_inventory', 'kt_bulk_add_inventory', 10, 2 );

Answer 1

The hook you choose is important here. I found success choosing the latest hook I could wp_insert_post. If other functions are hooked to the same action they need to be considered because if they create/update posts too these hooks will be called again.

The codex lists the Post, Page, Attachment, and Category Actions (Admin) in sequence.

Working code for those interested.

function kt_bulk_add_inventory( $ID ) {
    Global $typenow;

    if ( 'inventory' != $typenow ) {
        return;
    }

    // Bail if no Quantity provided
    if ( ! isset( $_REQUEST['acf']['field_55bb25125095a'] ) || empty( $_REQUEST['acf']['field_55bb25125095a'] ) ) {
        return;
    }

    $qty = $_REQUEST['acf']['field_55bb25125095a'];
    $item_data = array(
        'item_wood_type' => $_REQUEST['acf']['field_55795ed866432'],
        'item_thickness' => $_REQUEST['acf']['field_555be6e572883'],
        'item_width' => $_REQUEST['acf']['field_555be70972884'],
        'item_length' => $_REQUEST['acf']['field_555be73a72885'],
        'item_purchase_order' => $_REQUEST['acf']['field_55795fb753941'],
    );

    $wood_type_term = get_term_by( 'id', (int) $item_data['item_wood_type'], 'wood_type' );
    $tax = array(
        'wood_type' => $wood_type_term->name
    );
    $post_data = array(
        'post_status' => 'publish',
        'post_type' => 'inventory',
        'tax_input' => $tax
    );
    $new_items = 0;
    remove_action( 'wp_insert_post', 'kt_bulk_add_inventory', 12, 1 );

    while ( 1 < $qty ) {
        $item_id = wp_insert_post( $post_data );

        foreach ( $item_data as $key => $value ) {
            update_post_meta( $item_id, $key, $value );
        }

        $qty--;
        $new_items++;
    }

    add_action( 'wp_insert_post', 'kt_bulk_add_inventory', 12, 1 );
}
add_action( 'wp_insert_post', 'kt_bulk_add_inventory', 12, 1 );