Remove an action added within a class in a WordPress plugin

Question

I'm trying to replace a function in a WordPress plugin (Easy property listing) without success at the moment.

The action is added like that, in a class :

<?php
/**
 * Search Object
 *
 * @package     EPL
 * @subpackage  Classes/Search
 * @copyright   Copyright (c) 2016, Merv Barrett
 * @license     http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php GNU Public License
 * @since       3.0
 */
// Exit if accessed directly
if ( ! defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) {
    exit;
}
/**
 * EPL_Search_Fields Class
 *
 * @since      3.0
 * @author     Taher Atashbar <[email protected]>
 */
class EPL_Search_Fields {
    /**
     * Initialize hooks.
     *
     * @since  3.0
     * @return void
     */
    public function init() {
        // Initialize hooks for displaying search frontend fields.
        add_action( 'epl_frontend_search_field_text', array( $this, 'render_text' ), 10, 5 );
        add_action( 'epl_frontend_search_field_checkbox', array( $this, 'render_checkbox' ), 10, 5 );
        add_action( 'epl_frontend_search_field_select', array( $this, 'render_select' ), 10, 5 );
        add_action( 'epl_frontend_search_field_multiple_select', array( $this, 'render_multiple_select' ), 10, 5 );
        add_action( 'epl_frontend_search_field_number', array( $this, 'render_number' ), 10, 5 );
        add_action( 'epl_frontend_search_field_hidden', array( $this, 'render_hidden' ), 10, 5 );
        add_action( 'epl_frontend_search_field_radio', array( $this, 'render_radio' ), 10, 5 );
        add_action( 'epl_frontend_search_field_checkbox_multiple', array( $this, 'render_checkbox_multiple' ), 10, 5 );
    }

View the file on Github

The function I tried to replace is render_select. Further down in the file :

/**
     * Renders search frontend Select field.
     *
     * @since  3.0
     * @param  array  $field
     * @param  string $config
     * @param  string $value
     * @param  string $post_type
     * @param  string $property_status
     * @return void
     */
    public function render_select( array $field, $config = '', $value = '', $post_type = '', $property_status = '' ) {
        if ( isset( $field['wrap_start'] ) ) {
            echo '<div class="' . $field['wrap_start'] . '">';
        }
        ?>
        <div class="epl-search-row epl-search-row-select epl-<?php echo $field['meta_key']; ?> fm-block <?php echo isset( $field['class'] ) ? $field['class'] : ''; ?>">
            <label for="<?php echo $field['meta_key']; ?>" class="epl-search-label fm-label">
                <?php echo apply_filters( 'epl_search_widget_label_' . $field['meta_key'], $field['label'] ); ?>
            </label>
            <div class="field">
                <select
                    name="<?php echo $field['meta_key']; ?>"
                    id="<?php echo $field['meta_key']; ?>"
                    class="in-field field-width">
                    <option value="">
                        <?php echo apply_filters( 'epl_search_widget_option_label_' . $field['option_filter'], __( 'Any', 'easy-property-listings'  ) ); ?>
                    </option>
                    <?php
                    if ( isset( $field['options'] ) && ! empty( $field['options'] ) ) {
                        foreach ( $field['options'] as $k => $v ) {
                            echo '<option value="' . esc_attr( $k ) . '"' . selected( $k, $value, false ) . '>' . $v . '</option>';
                        }
                    }
                    ?>
                </select>
            </div>
        </div>
        <?php
        if ( isset( $field['wrap_end'] ) ) {
            echo '</div>';
        }
    }

I'm trying to remove the first option value in a select input in my search bar :

<option value="">
    <?php echo apply_filters( 'epl_search_widget_option_label_' . $field['option_filter'], __( 'Any', 'easy-property-listings'  ) ); ?>
</option>

So I just copied this render_select function without the "option" in a plugin, and I named it "render_select2" and it's working. I doubled my select input without the first option value.

Now i try to remove the initial action. I tried a lot of code (on this forum and in some post on Google) without success.

In my functions.php :

function remove_searchfield() {

    $class = 'EPL_Search_Fields'; // Name of class the method was built in.
    $tag = 'epl_frontend_search_field_select'; // the name of the hook
    $function = 'render_select'; // the function you wish to remove
    $priority = 10; // must be an integer

    global $class;
    remove_action ( $tag, array( $class, $function ), $priority);
}
add_action( 'init', 'remove_searchfield');

Do you guys have an idea how to do that? My PhP knowledge is limited and I'm going crazy ;).

Any tips any advice would be welcome.

Thank you.

Answer 1

I finally managed to make it work :

function remove_searchfield() {

    $tag = 'epl_frontend_search_field_select'; // the name of the hook
    $function = 'render_select'; // the function you wish to remove
    $priority = 10; // must be an integer

    remove_action ( $tag, array( Easy_Property_Listings::instance()->search_fields, $function ), $priority);
}
add_action( 'init', 'remove_searchfield');

Thanks Jacob for the help ;)