Automatic Set Category For A Custom Post Type

Question

I hope you can show me the way please. I will explain through an example which is easier. I have a custom post type "juicing_fruits", this post type has a few custom fields that are saved in an array:

custom 1 has a label "fruits" and contains the options: apple, pear, orange, cherry

custom 2 has a label "type" and contains the options: smoothie, juice, iced

custom 3 has a label "link" that is just a text for a URL.

The Categories available for the custom_type post are the merge of fruits and type, so: apple, pear, orange, cherry, smoothie, juice, iced.

The plugin that I am using for the custom type has a function that can return the custom fields values through an array in the following format

Array ( [fruits] => apple, orange[type] => juice, iced [link] => http://blablabla )

My aim is to automatically set the categories of a post, when this is saved/published, depending the fruits and type selected. So if for example the custom fields are like above (fruits: apple and orange, type: juice and iced) then the categories will be the same (apple, orange, juice, iced).

Hope this all make sense. Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Ok after some research and tests this is the solution I coded

function auto_set_event_categories ( int $post_ID ){
//Post Type of Tribe Events
$post_type = "tribe_events";

//If it is not an Event, exit
if( get_post_type($post_ID) != $post_type){
    return;
}

//Get the values of the custom fields
$customfields = tribe_get_custom_fields ( $post_ID );

//Extract the relevant custom fields
$dance_style = explode( ",", $customfields["Dance Style"] );
$event_type = explode( ",", $customfields["Event Type"] );

//Merge the arrays to have a unique, create the array for the ids
$post_categories = array_merge($dance_style, $event_type);
$post_categories_id = array();

//Scan the taxonomies and find the IDs for the custom categories
foreach( $post_categories as $catdesc){
    $term = get_term_by( "name", $catdesc, "tribe_events_cat" );
    $id = (int)$term->term_id;
    if( $id != 0 ){
        array_push( $post_categories_id, $id );
    }
}

//If no categories selected, exit
if( empty($post_categories_id) ){
    return;
}

//Set the Category

wp_set_post_terms( $post_ID, $post_categories_id, "tribe_events_cat" );

return $post_ID;

}

//Add hook to execute auto_set_event_categories when a post is created/saved
add_action( "save_post", "auto_set_event_categories", 100);

Any suggestion to improve the code will be appreciated Thank you