Custom Fields Permalink Plugin not observing hyphens

Question

I will post the entire plugin code below.. here is the problem that I am having with it. I am using the values that are imported to custom fields in a custom post type to construct the URLs. On the edit post page it shows the permalink as I wish it to be..

site.com/real-estate/%postname%-%field_City%-%field_State%-%field_Zip_Code%/

as

site.com/real-estate/51-main-st-port-jefferson-ny-11777/

The permalink however is 404.. although if I remove the hyphens in the city name and search..

site.com/real-estate/51-main-st-portjefferson-ny-11777/

than the url works..

So I imagine the plugin is missing something with respects to fields with spaces.. strange that it shows properly in the permalink field within the post editor though.. any help will be much appreciated..

    <?php
/*
Plugin Name: Custom Fields Permalink 2
Plugin URI: http://athlan.pl/wordpress-custom-fields-permalink-plugin
Description: Plugin allows to use post's custom fields values in permalink structure by adding %field_fieldname%, for posts, pages and custom post types.
Author: Piotr Pelczar
Version: 2.0
Author URI: http://athlan.pl/
*/

class CustomFieldsPermalink {

    const PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_KEY = 'custom_field_key';
    const PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_VALUE = 'custom_field_value';

    public static $checkCustomFieldValue = false;

    public static function linkPost($permalink, $post, $leavename) {
        return self::linkRewriteFields($permalink, $post);
    }

    public static function linkPostType($permalink, $post, $leavename, $sample) {
        return self::linkRewriteFields($permalink, $post);
    }

    protected static function linkRewriteFields($permalink, $post) {
        $replaceCallback = function($matches) use (&$post) {
            return CustomFieldsPermalink::linkRewriteFieldsExtract($post, $matches[2]);
        };

        return preg_replace_callback('#(%field_(.*?)%)#', $replaceCallback, $permalink);
    }

    public static function linkRewriteFieldsExtract($post, $fieldName) {
        $postMeta = get_post_meta($post->ID);

        if(!isset($postMeta[$fieldName]))
            return '';

        $value = implode('', $postMeta[$fieldName]);

        $value = sanitize_title($value);

        return $value;
    }

    public static function registerExtraQueryVars($value) {
        array_push($value, self::PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_KEY, self::PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_VALUE);
        return $value;
    }

    public static function processRequest($value) {
        // additional parameters added to Wordpress
        // Main Loop query
        if(array_key_exists(self::PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_KEY, $value)) {
            $value['meta_key'] = $value[self::PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_KEY];

            // remove temporary injected parameter
            unset($value[self::PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_KEY]);

            // do not check field's value for this moment
            if(true === self::$checkCustomFieldValue) {
                if(array_key_exists(self::PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_VALUE, $value)) {
                    $value['meta_value'] = $value[self::PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_VALUE];

                    // remove temporary injected parameter
                    unset($value[self::PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_VALUE]);
                }
            }
        }

        return $value;
    }

    public static function rewriteRulesArrayFilter($rules) {
        $keys = array_keys($rules);
        $tmp = $rules;
        $rules = array();

        for($i = 0, $j = sizeof($keys); $i < $j; ++$i) {
            $key = $keys[$i];

            if (preg_match('/%field_([^%]*?)%/', $key)) {
                $keyNew = preg_replace(
                    '/%field_([^%]*?)%/',
                    '([^/]+)',
                    // you can simply add next group to the url, because WordPress
                    // detect them automatically and add next $matches indiceis
                    $key
                );
                $rules[$keyNew] = preg_replace(
                    '/%field_([^%]*?)%/',
                    sprintf('%s=$1&%s=', self::PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_KEY, self::PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_VALUE),
                    // here on the end will be pasted $matches[$i] from $keyNew, so we can
                    // grab it it the future in self::PARAM_CUSTOMFIELD_VALUE parameter
                    $tmp[$key]
                );
            }
            else {
                $rules[$key] = $tmp[$key];
            }
        }

        return $rules;
    }
}

add_filter('pre_post_link', array('CustomFieldsPermalink', 'linkPost'), 100, 3);
add_filter('post_type_link', array('CustomFieldsPermalink', 'linkPostType'), 100, 4);
add_filter('rewrite_rules_array', array('CustomFieldsPermalink', 'rewriteRulesArrayFilter'));
add_filter('query_vars', array('CustomFieldsPermalink', 'registerExtraQueryVars'), 10, 1);
add_filter('request', array('CustomFieldsPermalink', 'processRequest'), 10, 1);

I THOUGHT I FIGURED OUT A SOLUTION.. BUT... I thought that using the hex code for hyphen (%2D) in permalink settings was a solution.. but it turns out this only works in the chrome browser.. not in IE or Edge.. so I am still without a solution unfortunately :(

Answer 1

Use a underscore instead of a hyphen. You can see others are having the same issue. The underscore exchange fixes the problem.

Using underscores instead of hyphens in the permalink

Answer 2

NEVERMIND

It took me a while to get to this.. but the suggestion that the use of underscores as separators in the plugin instead of hyphens finally got me thinking. So, I decided to try using the hex code for hyphen (%2D) as a separator within the permalink settings and low and behold, it worked.

So, if there are any others looking for a solution to this problem, simply use %2D instead of - when separating custom field values on the permalink setting field.

TURNS OUT THIS ONLY WORKS IN CHROME.. doesn't work in firefox or edge :(