WP All Import & ACF Add-On - How to append data to repeaters | pmxi_saved_post

append_acf_repeater_data.md

Append ACF Repeater Data

It's not possible to append a row to an ACF repeater field without a custom code workaround that utilizes our API: http://www.wpallimport.com/documentation/developers/action-reference/.

The following is an example to show you how this can be done. You will almost certainly need to adjust the code snippet to make it work with your data/site.

1. Create a new "Manual Record Matching" import that updates the post(s): http://www.wpallimport.com/documentation/recurring/manual-record-matching/

2. Store the ACF data in your own dummy custom field: http://d.pr/i/3Si4ad.

3. Add some code in the Function Editor that grabs that data and appends it to the ACF field.

Example code:

add_action( 'pmxi_saved_post', 'soflyy_add_data', 10, 3 );

function soflyy_add_data( $id, $xml, $update ) {
	$selector = 'basic_repeater'; // The Parent field name
	$subfield1 = 'repeater_text'; // The repeating field you want to add data to
	
	if ( $value = get_post_meta( $id, 'my_repeater_data', true ) ) {
		$row = array( $subfield1 => $value );
		add_row( $selector, $row, $id );
	}
	delete_post_meta( $id, 'my_repeater_data' );
}

4. On step 4 of the import, choose to only update the custom field that you're importing: http://d.pr/i/WfZKAT.

Check for duplicates

Here's a different example snippet that shows how you could check for duplicates when appending repeater data:

add_action( 'pmxi_saved_post', 'my_update_results', 10, 3 );

function my_update_results( $id, $xml, $is_update ) {
	$year    = get_post_meta( $id, '_year', true );
	$results = get_post_meta( $id, '_results', true );
	
	$repeater_selector = 'yearly_results';
	$year_selector     = 'year';
	$results_selector  = 'results';
	
	$row = array( 
		$year_selector    => $year, 
		$results_selector => $results 
	);
	
	if ( ! my_is_duplicate_acf_row( $row, $repeater_selector, $id ) ) {	
		add_row( $repeater_selector, $row, $id );
	}
	
	delete_post_meta( $id, '_year' );
	delete_post_meta( $id, '_results' );
}

function my_is_duplicate_acf_row( $row, $selector, $id ) {
	$rows = array();
	if ( have_rows( $selector, $id ) ) {
		$i = 0;
		while ( have_rows( $selector, $id ) ) {
			$existing_row = the_row( TRUE );
			$existing_row = maybe_unserialize( $existing_row );
			$row          = maybe_unserialize( $row );
			if ( $row === $existing_row ) {
				return TRUE;
			}
		}
	}
	return FALSE;
}

Thanks for sharing this - I have a question on the approach;

I was previously using the ACF WPAI options to map my import fields, but after realising I was going to need to map data from multiple rows to singular entries I found this and other solutions.

I couldn't get these approaches working whilst having the ACF WPAI options turned on, as it always overrode the values with the final possible row. This did mean having to then use the standard custom fields to map everything.... However this then caused me a ton of issues with some data being skipped, despite the fields being set like so: https://d.pr/i/WfZKAT.

Did you have similar issues, or am I missing a trick with this?