Transient not working for external data

Question

I am trying to make use of transients in order to load some data I am fetching from another website quicker but the data is not displaying at the moment. Code Below:

    <div class="col-sm-3 news-scroller">
  <div class="slick-slider pin-news-ticker">
        <?php if (have_posts()) : $counter = 1; $alternate = 1; while (have_posts()) : the_post();?>

        <!-- Carousel items -->
          <div class="slide">
              <div class="entry entry-smallest-list">
                    <a class="entry-thumb-wrapper" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                      <div class="entry-thumb">
                        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                          <div class="thumb-wrapper">
                            <?php the_post_thumbnail( 'post-small-rectangle-pin' );?>
                          </div>
                        </a>
                      </div>
                    </a>
                  <div class="entry-details">
                    <div class="entry-date">
                      <small><?php echo get_the_date('M jS, Y'); ?></small>
                    </div>
                    <h4 class="entry-title">
                      <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                        <?php echo mnr_shorten_title(get_the_title()); ?>
                      </a>
                     </h4>
                  </div>
                  <div class="clearfix"></div>
              </div> <!-- end .entry-small-list -->
            </div><!--/ .slide-->

             $trans_figures_id = 'portal_figures';
             $external_figures = get_transient( $trans_figures_id );

             if ( false === $external_figures ) {
               ob_start();

             $production_url = 'my-url';

             $production_request = wp_remote_get( $production_url );
             if(is_wp_error($production_request)) {
               return false;
             }

             $production_body = wp_remote_retrieve_body( $production_request );

             $production_data = json_decode( $production_body );


             if($counter++ % 2 == 0) :
              if($alternate++ % 2 == 1) : ?>
                <div class="slide pin-alternate-content">
                  <h3>$<?php echo esc_html( number_format_i18n( $production_data[10]->Average, 1)); ?></h3>
                  <h4>Kurdistan Blend Price per BBL</h4>
                  <small>Average of last 30 shipments</small>
                </div>
              <?php else : ?>
                <div class="slide pin-alternate-content">
                  <h3><?php echo esc_html( number_format_i18n( $production_data[9]->Average, 1 )); ?></h3>
                  <h4>Kurdistan Blend API</h4>
                  <small>Average of last 30 shipments</small>
                </div>
              <?php endif;
              endif;

                $external_figures = ob_get_clean();
                set_transient( $trans_figures_id, $external_figures, DAY_IN_SECONDS );
              }
              echo $external_figures;

           endwhile;
        endif;

        ?>

  </div>
</div><!-- end .col-sm-3 -->

Without the transient the content displays perfectly but it takes ages to load. With the transient the content simply does not display at all. How can i tweak this code in order to make it work with the transient?

Answer 1

You write "if ( false === $external_figures )" but forgot write "else" with echo $external_figures Example:

if ( false !== $external_figures ) {
echo $external_figures;
}else{
 ob_start();
 $production_url = 'my-url';
 ...