What is the correct way that when creating a custom post type assign values to custom fields created with pods framework?

Question

I am trying to create a custom post type input using the wp_insert_post function, this custom post type called game was created using the pods framework and contains a series of custom fields which I try to give values using the meta_input key as follows

Example using _pods_ prefix

$entry = [
    "post_title" => "{$post->post_title} - {$game->number}",
    "post_content" => "... {$id}",
    "post_type" => "game",
    "post_status" => "publish",
    "meta_input" => [
        "_pods_game_number" => $game->number,
        "_pods_game_date" => $game->date,
        "_pods_fields" => $fields,
        "_pods_league" => $id,
    ]
];
$game_id = wp_insert_post($entry, true);

Example with no prefix

$entry = [
    "post_title" => "{$post->post_title} - {$game->number}",
    "post_content" => "... {$id}",
    "post_type" => "game",
    "post_status" => "publish",
    "meta_input" => [
        "game_day_number" => $game->number,
        "game_day_date" => $game->date,
        "fields" => $fields,
        "league" => $id,
    ]
];
$game_day_id = wp_insert_post($entry, true);

For some reason the meta fields are not saved except for the fields field ... Investigating I read somewhere about using the _pods_ prefix in custom fields but although I can verify that the fields and their correct values are created in the postmeta table these are not listed in the form. If on the other hand I try to reference the custom fields without the prefix _pods_ they are not created, I confirm this by looking for them in the postmeta table.

What is the correct way that when creating a custom post type assign values to custom fields created with pods framework?

I appreciate your time

Answer 1

I have managed to solve using the add_post_meta function instead of the meta_input property of the $postarr argument of the wp_insert_post function, as follows

Instead of this

$entry = [
    "post_title" => "Some post title",
    "post_content" => "Some post content",
    "post_type" => "name_of_custom_post_type",
    "post_status" => "publish",
    "meta_input" => [
        "some_meta_key" => "Some value",
        "another_meta_key" => "Another value"
    ]
];

$post_id = wp_insert_post($entry, true);

I used this

$entry = [
    "post_title" => "Some post title",
    "post_content" => "Some post content",
    "post_type" => "name_of_custom_post_type",
    "post_status" => "publish",
];

$post_id = wp_insert_post($entry, true);

add_post_meta($post_id, "some_meta_key", "Some value");
add_post_meta($post_id, "another_meta_key", "Another value");

I do not understand the reason why it has not worked for me, when inspecting the result of $wp_error I do not get an error, but as I have described in the question when using meta_input no values are registered in postmeta table