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Documentation > Containers > Post Meta

Post Meta

Custom Field containers are used to extend the post edit screens with additional fields. Field data is stored separately for each post as post meta (see add_post_meta).

Visibility options

Custom fields containers are very flexible in terms of display options. You can select specific post type they show on, as well as category, format, parent, etc. A list of all options is displayed below:

Post type

->show_on_post_type('page')

You can also show a single container on multiple post types, as seen below:

->show_on_post_type(array('page', 'my_custom_post_type', 'post'))

Categories and custom taxonomies

Containers may be assigned to posts from specific categories or taxonomies:

->show_on_category($category_slug)

->show_on_taxonomy_term($term_slug, $taxonomy)

Pages and subpages

Show container on a specific page, identified by path or ID, for example: "parent-page/sub-page":

->show_on_page($page_path|$page_id)

Show container on all subpages of a specific page, identified by path, for example: "parent-page":

->show_on_page_children($parent_page_path)

Page templates

Containers may be assigned to pages using specific template:

->show_on_template($template_path)

The $template_path is the name of the template file (or array of template file names), for example: "about_us.php" or array("templates/contact.php", "about_us.php")

You can also hide the container from pages using specific template:

->hide_on_template($template_path)

where the $template_path is the name of the template file (or array of template file names), as in show_on_template() above.

Post formats

To display a container on posts with specific post format, use:

->show_on_post_format($post_format)

Level

To display a container on hierarchical posts from a specific level, use:

->show_on_level($level)

where $level is the level of hierarchy depth, starting from 1 and increasing when going into further hierarchy depth.

Container position

More information about the position options can be found in the add_meta_box() function.

Context

The part of the page where the container should be shown ('normal' (default), 'advanced', or 'side')

->set_context('normal')

Priority

The priority within the context where the container should show ('high' (default), 'core', 'default' or 'low')

->set_priority('high')

Accessing field values

To access field values you need to use the function carbon_get_post_meta($id, $name, $type = null), where:

Parameter Description
$id Post ID where your value was entered.
$name The name of the field to be retrieved.
$type (optional) If the field you want to retrieve is of type complex, you need to pass "complex".
<!-- Simple field -->
<p>Article was published in: <?php echo carbon_get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), 'crb_location'); ?></p>

<!-- Complex field -->
<?php 
$slides = carbon_get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), 'crb_slides', 'complex');
if ( $slides ) {
    foreach ($slides as $slide) {
        echo $slide['image'];
    }
}
?>

You can also use carbon_get_the_post_meta($name, $type = null) to access the values for the current post in The Loop.

<p>Article was published in: <?php echo carbon_get_the_post_meta('crb_location'); ?></p>

<?php $slides = carbon_get_the_post_meta('crb_slides', 'complex'); ?>

After saving, the carbon_after_save_post_meta hook is called, which allows you to hook additional functionality after saving. It accepts the $post_id parameter, which is the ID of the post being updated. Example:

add_action('carbon_after_save_post_meta', 'crb_after_save_event');
function crb_after_save_event($post_id) {
    if ( get_post_type($post_id) !== 'crb_event' ) {
        return false;
    }

    $event_date = carbon_get_post_meta($post_id, 'crb_event_date');
    if ( $event_date ) {
        $timestamp = strtotime($event_date);
        update_post_meta($post_id, '_crb_event_timestamp', $timestamp);
    }
}

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