Plugin Options not being output

Question

I've been making a plugin for wordpress that adds two simple text field options. The options are saved successfully in plugin options page but don't work, it doesn't output saved options.

Here's the code:

add_action( 'admin_menu', 'viptips_add_admin_menu' );
add_action( 'admin_init', 'viptips_settings_init' );


function viptips_add_admin_menu(  ) { 
  $icon       = 'dashicons-editor-table';
    add_menu_page( 'VIP Tips', 'VIP Tips', 'manage_options', 'vip_tips', 'viptips_options_page', $icon );

}


function viptips_settings_init(  ) { 

    register_setting( 'pluginPage', 'viptips_settings' );

    add_settings_section(
        'viptips_pluginPage_section', 
        __( 'Main plugin options', 'viptips' ), 
        'viptips_settings_section_callback', 
        'pluginPage'
    );

    add_settings_field( 
        'viptips_category_name', 
        __( 'Category name:', 'viptips' ), 
        'viptips_category_name_render', 
        'pluginPage', 
        'viptips_pluginPage_section' 
    );

    add_settings_field( 
        'viptips_postperpage', 
        __( 'Number of posts:', 'viptips' ), 
        'viptips_postperpage_render', 
        'pluginPage', 
        'viptips_pluginPage_section' 
    );


}


function viptips_category_name_render(  ) { 

    $options = get_option( 'viptips_settings' );
    ?>
  <input type='text' name='viptips_settings[viptips_category_name]' value='<?php echo $options['viptips_category_name']; ?>'>
  <p class="description" id="tagline-description">Name of the category that contains predictions</p>
    <?php

}


function viptips_postperpage_render(  ) { 

    $options = get_option( 'viptips_settings' );
    ?>
  <input type='number' name='viptips_settings[viptips_postperpage]' value='<?php echo $options['viptips_postperpage']; ?>'>
  <p class="description" id="tagline-description">Number of posts to be displayed in table.</p>
    <?php

}


function viptips_settings_section_callback(  ) { 

    echo __( 'Don\'t forget to use the <strong>[tabscat]</strong> shortcode, in the page you want the tips table to be displayed!*', 'viptips' );

}


function viptips_options_page(  ) { 

        ?>
        <form action='options.php' method='post'>

            <h1>VIP Tips</h1>

            <?php
            settings_fields( 'pluginPage' );
            do_settings_sections( 'pluginPage' );
            submit_button();
            ?>

        </form>
        <?php

}

To output saved options, I use:

$category_name = get_option('viptips_category_name');
$postperpage = get_option('viptips_postperpage');


    $args = array(
     'post_type' => 'post',
     'post_status' => 'publish',
     'category_name' => $category_name,
     'post_per_page' => $postperpage
     );

Where did I go wrong?

Answer 1

Basically, you're not using the correct option name.

In your viptips_settings_init() function, you use the name viptips_settings as the database option name when registering the setting:

// The syntax is: register_setting( '<settings group name>', '<database option name>' )
register_setting( 'pluginPage', 'viptips_settings' );

So WordPress will use that viptips_settings when saving the option (i.e. update_option( 'viptips_settings', '<value>' )) and therefore you would also use the same name when getting the option from the database, regardless if the option is an array of values or just a single value:

• The input with an array of values:

  <input type='text' name='viptips_settings[viptips_category_name]' ...>
  <input type='number' name='viptips_settings[viptips_postperpage]' ...>
  

• The input with a single value:

  <input type='text' name='viptips_settings' ...>
  

So for example without using the $category_name and $postperpage variables, you could do something like (but make sure the array keys/items are actually set):

$options = (array) get_option( 'viptips_settings' );

$args = array(
    'post_type'     => 'post',
    'post_status'   => 'publish',
    'category_name' => $options['viptips_category_name'],
    'post_per_page' => $options['viptips_postperpage']
);

And if you had these in your code:

• PHP

  // Here we've got two different database option names.
  register_setting( 'pluginPage', 'viptips_category_name' );
  register_setting( 'pluginPage', 'viptips_postperpage' );
  

• HTML (in the form)

  <!-- And here two different input names; both not array -->
  <input type='text' name='viptips_category_name' ...>
  <input type='number' name='viptips_postperpage' ...>
  

Then your code, or this, would work:

$category_name = get_option( 'viptips_category_name' );
$postperpage = get_option( 'viptips_postperpage' );

So I hope this (revised) answer helps you (more) and others as well. :)

Answer 2

You have to use viptips_settings option to get values. It will return array and you can get both value using below code.

$options = get_option('viptips_settings');
$category_name = $options['viptips_category_name'];
$postperpage = $options['viptips_postperpage'];


    $args = array(
     'post_type' => 'post',
     'post_status' => 'publish',
     'category_name' => $category_name,
     'post_per_page' => $postperpage
     );