Adding Advanced Custom Fields to Related Posts in Wordpress - php

Question

I am trying to add a custom field value to related posts functionality, but am currently totally stuck at this:
<div class="relatedposts">
<h3>Related posts</h3>
<?php
$orig_post = $post;
global $post;
$tags = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);
if ($tags) {
$tag_ids = array();
foreach($tags as $individual_tag) $tag_ids[] = $individual_tag->term_id;
$args=array(
'tag__in' => $tag_ids,
'post__not_in' => array($post->ID),
'posts_per_page'=>4, // Number of related posts to display.
'caller_get_posts'=>1
);
$my_query = new wp_query( $args );
while( $my_query->have_posts() ) {
$my_query->the_post();
?>
<div class="relatedthumb">
<a rel="external" href="<? the_permalink()?>">
<?php
$image = wp_get_attachment_image_src(get_field('image'), 'full');
print_r( $image[0] ); ?>
<?php the_title(); ?>
<img src="<?php echo $image[0]; ?>" />
</a>
</div>
<? }
}
$post = $orig_post;
wp_reset_query();
?>
</div>
This mostly works as it is code found online, it is just where to put the reference to the custom field that I seem to be missing. I am unable to place the variable and print_r of this anywhere to see the results.

Answer 1

foreach($tags as $individual_tag) {
$meta_values = get_post_meta($post->ID,'');
if (in_array('VALUE SEARCHING FOR',$meta_values) {
$tag_ids[] = $individual_tag->term_id;
} // if
} // foreach
Fill in the appropriate blanks and this should filter your tags properly.
HTH,
=C=

Answer 2

With ACF, you can pass a post ID to the get_field and the_field functions:
$image_id = get_field( 'image', $post -> ID );
If you use the functions without a set post ID, the functions may return the field value of some other globally initialized post.
So your attachment image getter (inside the related posts WP_Query loop) would be something like
$image = wp_get_attachment_image_src(get_field('image', get_the_ID()), 'full');
Make sure your ACF field type is set to image and the wanted variant of it: ID, image object, or image URL. get_field will then return either the image's attachment ID, the image object or the image URL.
In your code example, returning an ID would be the correct choice, assuming wp_get_attachment_image_src expects an attachment ID.
EDIT:
I just realized, that the ACF image field may not be saving the images to the WP attachment system in a normal way WP does. Try returning the image as an object and var_dump the object's contents to see where the full size image URL resides there.
I could be wrong and the wp_get_attachment_image_src might work fine as is.

Answer 3

Ok, anyone who may find this useful, I have a solution for getting the ACF field to appear:
<div class="related grid clear">
<h2>Related posts</h2>
<?php
$orig_post = $post;
global $post;
$tags = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);
if ($tags) {
$tag_ids = array();
foreach($tags as $individual_tag) $tag_ids[] = $individual_tag->term_id;
$args=array(
'tag__in' => $tag_ids,
'post__not_in' => array($post->ID),
'posts_per_page'=>9,
'caller_get_posts'=>1
);
$my_query = new wp_query( $args );
if($my_query->have_posts()) {
while($my_query->have_posts()) {
$my_query->the_post();
$image = get_field('hero_image', get_the_ID());
$introduction = get_field('introduction');
?>
<article class="grid-item" data-permalink="<? the_permalink()?>">
<div style="background-image: url(<?php echo $image; ?>);"></div>
<h3><?php the_title(); ?></h3>
<p><?php echo $introduction; ?></p>
</article>
<?
}
}
$post = $orig_post;
wp_reset_postdata();
wp_reset_query();
}
?>
</div>