Updating Woo commerce checkout Page with Additional Form Data - php

Question

I am collecting an additional User Meta Data for my Woo commerce check out page.
woocommerce_form_field('myName', array(
'type' =>'text',
'class'=>array('my-field-class form-row-wide'),
'label'=>__('First Name'),
'placeholder'=>__('Please enter your name'),
), $checkout->get_value('myName'));
And I am updating to the database with this code:
/*Update the info with the checkout*/
add_action('woocommerce_checkout_field_update_order_meta','my_custom_checkout_field_update_meta');
function my_custom_checkout_field_update_meta($order_id){
if($_POST['MyName'])
update_post_meta($order_id, 'First Name',esc_attr($POST['MyName']));
}
Each time I submit, I get an internal server Error, even though I am working on a local machine. I need to collect that data and persist it into the order Database. Anybody help?

Answer 1

Update: Normally the postmeta meta_key should not use white spaces and capitals…
Also your additional field should need to be inside the checkout form, if not nothing will be submitted and nothing can be saved.
To display an custom text field and save it in the database once submitted, the best way is to use the following:
// Add checkout custom text field
add_action( 'woocommerce_before_order_notes', 'add_checkout_custom_field', 20, 1 );
function add_checkout_custom_field( $checkout) {
// Text field
woocommerce_form_field('my_name', array(
'type' => 'text',
'class' => array('my-field-class form-row-wide'),
'label' => __('First Name'),
'placeholder' =>__('Please enter your name'),
), $checkout->get_value('my_name') );
}
// Save the data to the order
add_action('woocommerce_checkout_create_order','my_custom_checkout_field_update_meta');
function my_custom_checkout_field_update_meta( $order ){
if( isset($_POST['my_name']) && ! empty($_POST['my_name']) )
$order->update_meta_data( '_my_name', sanitize_text_field($POST['my_name']) );
}
Code goes in function.php file of your active child theme (or active theme). Tested and works…
To get this data once saved in the order, use get_post_meta( $order_id, '_my_name', true ); where $order_id is the dynamic order ID…
Your additional text field will be located just before "Order notes" field:
Now your additional field is confusing as Billing and Shipping first name fields already exist in checkout page.