get_option intermittently fail WordPress - php

Question

This is my first question.
I have a custom taxonomy set up in a theme inside a functions.php file.
I've added some extra meta fields for the custom taxonomy (category), also set through the functions.php file.
I am using the update_option() function.
Here is the part that is saving the options to the DB:
<?php
// save extra category extra fields hook
add_action ( 'edited_artists', 'save_extra_category_fileds');
// save extra category extra fields callback function
function save_extra_category_fileds( $term_id ) {
if ( isset( $_POST['Cat_meta'] ) ) {
$t_id = $term_id;
$cat_meta = get_option( "category_$t_id");
$cat_keys = array_keys($_POST['Cat_meta']);
foreach ($cat_keys as $key){
if (isset($_POST['Cat_meta'][$key])){
$cat_meta[$key] = $_POST['Cat_meta'][$key];
}
}
//save the option array
update_option( "category_$t_id", $cat_meta );
}
}
?>
In my template file I am calling them like this:
<?php
$terms = wp_get_post_terms( $post->ID, 'artists');
foreach ($terms as $term){
$term_id = $term->term_id;
$term_name = $term->name;
$term_taxonomy_id = $term->term_taxonomy_id;
$term_slug = $term->slug;
//do you term meta stuff here
//print_r($term);
}
?>
This is where I use them (among other things), and it is of course inside the LOOP:
<div class="single-sculpture-artist-info">
<?php
$category_meta = get_option( "category_$term_taxonomy_id");
?>
<a href="<?php echo get_site_url(); ?>/artists/<?php echo $term_slug; ?>">
<img src="<?php echo $category_meta['artists_photo'] ?>" alt="<?php echo $term_name; ?>">
</a>
<h3>
<?php echo $term_name; ?>
</h3>
<p><?php echo $category_meta['artists_city_province'] ?></p>
<p><?php echo $category_meta['artists_bio_excerpt'] ?></p>
</div>
All of this code works perfectly.
I started adding the content, but then it suddenly started to fail. I think it started when I tried to use one of the category (taxonomy) names I used while developing this whole system (my guess is that it was cached somewhere or something), but then I tried using it with different name, and adding some other which were not there before, and it fails as well. My best guess is that somehow the options table is overloaded with data (limit or something).
Is that even possible? I dont have a lot, 56 working posts in that taxonomy, and 34 categories(taxonomy terms).
I tried my best to get my head around it but couldn`t find what was the problem.
When I insert like 2 or 3 more posts, it starts messing around. So, this:
<a href="<?php echo get_site_url(); ?>/artists/<?php echo $term_slug; ?>">
outputs correct link, but, this:
<img src="<?php echo $category_meta['artists_photo'] ?>"
doesnt. It outputs data from some other category (from the same CPT). I can provide additional info upon request.

Answer 1

Not answering to your question but do you know there’s a big change happening with WP 4.2+ where they’re going to be splitting taxonomy terms, so that taxonomy terms don’t share the same term id if their slugs match.
Please take a look at the links below for some details on how this can be addressed
https://make.wordpress.org/core/2015/02/16/taxonomy-term-splitting-in-4-2-a-developer-guide/
https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/taxonomy/working-with-split-terms-in-wp-4-2/

Answer 2

Through the help of my network I found the solution to the problem. The line where I am calling:
<?php
$category_meta = get_option( "category_$term_taxonomy_id");
?>
I switched to this:
<?php
$category_meta = get_option( "category_$term_id");
?>
This seems to have resolved the problem. However, here are some other solutions that might be more relevant in the similiar situation:
https://en.bainternet.info/tax-meta-class-faq/
also, be sure to read the things Joe Wilson posted above. Thanks again.