How add meta fields to a user with the wp-api?

Question

How add, update and retrieve user meta fields with the wp api? I added a function to add a meta field phonenumber to a user. Is a function like this necessary to add meta values to the meta object? The function doesn't add the field to the meta object in the API response but adds it as a new field.

The function i have right now:

<?php
function portal_add_user_field() {
    register_rest_field( 'user', 'phonenumber',
        array(
            'get_callback'      => function( $user, $field_name, $request ) {
                return get_user_meta( $user[ 'id' ], $field_name, true );
            },
            'update_callback'   => function( $user, $meta_key, $meta_value, $prev_value ) {
                $ret = update_user_meta( array( $user, $meta_key, $meta_value );
                return true;
            },
            'schema'            => array(
                'description'   => __( 'user phonenumber' ),
                'type'          => 'string'
            ),
         )
    );
}
add_action( 'rest_api_init', 'portal_add_user_field' );

I also tried to add the phone number field to the user meta with ajax without a extra function like this: (this doesn't save the phone number field)

updateUser: function () {
                   var data = {
                       username: this.username,
                       email: this.email,
                       first_name: this.firstname,
                       last_name: this.lastname,
                       meta: {
                        phonenumber: this.phonenumber
                      }
                   };
                   console.log(data);
                   $.ajax({
                       method: "POST",
                       url: wpApiSettings.current_domain + '/wp-json/wp/v2/users/' + wpApiSettings.current_user.ID,
                       data: data,
                       beforeSend: function ( xhr ) {
                           xhr.setRequestHeader( 'X-WP-Nonce', wpApiSettings.nonce );
                       }
                   })
                   .done( $.proxy( function() {
                       alert('Account saved');
                   }, this ))
                   .fail( $.proxy( function( response ) {
                       alert('something went wrong');
                   }, this ));

Answer 1

I have managed to do this with hooking into rest_insert_user. I send an array like this:

var data = {
       first_name: user.first_name,
       last_name: user.last_name,
       name: user.display_name,
       email: user.email,
       description: user.description,
       meta: {
        'wpcf-phone': user.phone,
        'wpcf-institution': user.institution,
        'wpcf-birthday': Math.round(new Date(user.birthday).getTime()/1000)
      }
   };

And treat only the meta data through the hook as this:

function aa_user_update($user, $request, $create)
{
    if ($request['meta']) {
        $user_id = $user->ID;
        foreach ($request['meta'] as $key => $value) {
            update_user_meta( $user_id, $key, $value );
        }
    }
}
add_action( 'rest_insert_user', 'aa_user_update', 12, 3 );

The ordinary fields of the user are updated normally by the API.

Answer 2

found it, first yes for meta data on a user you'll need a custom function like this:

<?php
function portal_add_user_field() {
    register_rest_field( 'user', 'userfields',
        array(
            'get_callback'      => function( $user, $field_name, $request ) {
                return get_user_meta( $user[ 'id' ], $field_name, true );
            },
            'update_callback'   => function($meta_value ) {
                $havemetafield  = get_user_meta(1, 'userfields', false);
                if ($havemetafield) {
                    $ret = update_user_meta(1, 'userfields', $meta_value );
                    return true;
                } else {
                    $ret = add_user_meta( 1, 'userfields', $meta_value ,true );
                    return true;
                }
            },
            'schema'            => null
         )
    );
}
add_action( 'rest_api_init', 'portal_add_user_field', 10, 2 );

?>

after that with ajax send it like this:

updateUser: function () {
                   var data = {
                       userfields: {
                        somefield: this.somefield,
                        somefield2: this.somefield2
                      }
                   };
                   console.log(data);
                   $.ajax({
                       method: "POST",
                       url: wpApiSettings.current_domain + '/wp-json/wp/v2/users/' + wpApiSettings.current_user.ID,
                       data: data,
                       beforeSend: function ( xhr ) {
                           xhr.setRequestHeader( 'X-WP-Nonce', wpApiSettings.nonce );
                       }
                   })
                   .done( $.proxy( function() {
                       alert('Account saved');
                   }, this ))
                   .fail( $.proxy( function( response ) {
                       alert('something went wrong');
                   }, this ));
                }