Saving multiple fields as array

Question

I'm adding a settings section to a theme that will allow the user to enter testimonials which will be randomly displayed on the site. Each testimonial has 2 fields, author and testimonial, I've registered my settings as below:

register_setting( 'settings-website', 'option_testimonials', 'save_testimonials' );

And I want to store an array within that option like this:

array(3) {
  [0]=>
  array(2) {
    ["author"]=>
    string(8) "Person A"
    ["testimonial"]=>
    string(14) "Great website!"
  }
  [1]=>
  array(2) {
    ["author"]=>
    string(8) "Person B"
    ["testimonial"]=>
    string(15) "Excellent work!"
  }
  [2]=>
  array(2) {
    ["author"]=>
    string(8) "Person C"
    ["testimonial"]=>
    string(10) "Brilliant!"
  }
}

My options form looks like this:

<?php
$testimonials = get_option('option_testimonials');
if( !is_array($testimonials) )
    $testimonials = array();
?>
<div class="wrap">
<h2>Testimonials</h2>
<form method="post" action="options.php">
    <?php settings_fields( 'ddtheme-settings-testimonials' ); ?>
    <table class="form-table">
        <?php foreach( $testimonials as $testimonial ) { ?>
        <tr valign="top">
        <th scope="row">Testimonial</th>
        <td>
        </td>
        </tr>
        <?php } ?>
        <tr valign="top">
        <th scope="row">New testimonial</th>
        <td>
            <label>Author:</label><br/>
            <input type="text" name="author" style="width: 400px;" /><br/>
            <label>Testimonial:</label><br/>
            <textarea name="testimonial" style="width: 400px;"></textarea>
        </td>
        </tr>
    </table>
    <p class="submit">
    <input type="submit" class="button-primary" value="<?php _e('Save Changes') ?>" />
    </p>
</form>
</div>

So I thought I could grab the input from the author and testimonial fields inside save_testimonials, combine them into an array and append that to the existing array and save but the $_POST and $_REQUEST are both empty inside that callback.

How can I do this?

Answer 1

You'd probably be best to use add_settings_field and add_settings_section...

But in any case, save_testimonials is your validation / save callback function. It is given the data from the form and its job is to check it and then return the validated options. You shouldn't be touching $_POST or $_REQUEST - that's the point of the settings api.

save_callback{$array_of_data_from_form){

     //Validate the $array_of_data_from_form 

     $validated=array()//Your settings array after validation

    return $validated;
}`

But it will only recieve data with input name option_testimonials as registered in your register_setting. So your input fields will need names like option_testimonials[testimonial] and option_testimonials[author].

Best practise dictates that you should prefix your option names (option_testimonials is a bit too generic).

As far tutorials go concerning the settings API you can't go far wrong with this post.