plugin development - Use a textarea for a custom post type|Programmer puzzle solving

I have a custom plugin, using a custom post type for data entry capabilities in the admin section. I would like to use a textarea form, along with the checkboxes, select and text input fields I am presently using. However when I update the bost, my call back receives all the other input fields, not not the textarea field.

The code is rather large, covering lots of different input types, this is a refinement of that draw and save call:

function  CustomInput()
{
add_meta_box( 'List_Group1',
           __( 'Lists - Card Records : Manual Input', 'myplugin_textdomain'  ),
              'DrawCallBack',
              'customlist',
               'normal',
               'high',
               $args
               );           
 }
 add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'CustomInput' );
 add_action( 'save_post', 'SaveFields');


function DrawCallBack($post)
{
$Record = GetDBRecord();
echo '<textarea id="bizdesc" rows="2" cols="50">';
echo $Record['BizDescp'];
echo  '</textarea>';

echo '<input type=text id="YourName" name="YourName"  value="' .$Record['Name'] .'"/>'
}


function SaveFields($post_id)
{
$screen = get_current_screen();
if(strcmp($screen->post_type, 'customlist') !=0)
   return;

$Desc = sanitize_text_field( $_POST[ 'bizdesc ' ] ); 
$Name = sanitize_text_field( $_POST[ 'YourName' ] ); 
}

The standard input field comes in nicely and correctly. The textarea field does not. Not sure why?

Any ideas?

The code is rather large, covering lots of different input types, this is a refinement of that draw and save call:

function  CustomInput()
{
add_meta_box( 'List_Group1',
           __( 'Lists - Card Records : Manual Input', 'myplugin_textdomain'  ),
              'DrawCallBack',
              'customlist',
               'normal',
               'high',
               $args
               );           
 }
 add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'CustomInput' );
 add_action( 'save_post', 'SaveFields');


function DrawCallBack($post)
{
$Record = GetDBRecord();
echo '<textarea id="bizdesc" rows="2" cols="50">';
echo $Record['BizDescp'];
echo  '</textarea>';

echo '<input type=text id="YourName" name="YourName"  value="' .$Record['Name'] .'"/>'
}


function SaveFields($post_id)
{
$screen = get_current_screen();
if(strcmp($screen->post_type, 'customlist') !=0)
   return;

$Desc = sanitize_text_field( $_POST[ 'bizdesc ' ] ); 
$Name = sanitize_text_field( $_POST[ 'YourName' ] ); 
}

The standard input field comes in nicely and correctly. The textarea field does not. Not sure why?

Any ideas?

Share Improve this question edited Mar 9, 2019 at 1:45 fuxia♦ 107k39 gold badges255 silver badges461 bronze badges asked Mar 9, 2019 at 1:09 Debbie Kurth 4323 silver badges14 bronze badges

3 Your textarea doesn't have a name. – Sally CJ Commented Mar 9, 2019 at 1:12
1 Is there code missing from SaveFields? All it does is assign variables, but I don't see any code that saves those variables to a database/file/etc – Tom J Nowell ♦ Commented Mar 9, 2019 at 2:21
Tom, no code is missing. The code that pulls the values is the _POST. – Debbie Kurth Commented Mar 9, 2019 at 18:17
Found the problem. Partially to Sally, who made me look at the input names more closely. Name mismatch in a another part of the code. Thanks for your help Sally. – Debbie Kurth Commented Mar 9, 2019 at 18:18

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2 Answers 2

Sorted by: Reset to default 5

You forgot to add name ="bizdesc" to your textarea, so this

function DrawCallBack($post)
{
  $Record = GetDBRecord();
  echo '<textarea id="bizdesc" rows="2" cols="50">';
  echo $Record['BizDescp'];
  echo  '</textarea>';

  echo '<input type=text id="YourName" name="YourName"  value="' .$Record['Name'] .'"/>'
}

should be

 function DrawCallBack( $post )
 {
  $Record = GetDBRecord();
  echo '<textarea name="bizdesc" id="bizdesc" rows="2" cols="50">';
  echo esc_textarea( $Record['BizDescp'] );
  echo  '</textarea>';

  echo '<input type="text" id="YourName" name="YourName"  value="' .esc_attr( $Record['Name'] ) .'"/>';
}

I hope this helps.

Problem solved. It was a field naming problem.

Programmer puzzle solving

plugin development - Use a textarea for a custom post type

2 Answers 2

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