How to correctly create Custom Post Type with custom fields through WP REST API V2

Question

How do I correctly create a custom post type record through the wp rest api v2 with custom fields? Unable to create custom fields or update them.

I have installed the superlist and superlist-child theme in a self hosted wordpress installation.

This theme uses Custom Taxonomies for categories, locations, Custom Post Types called businesses and custom fields in post meta for the Custom Post Type

I am trying to import data to site using rest api v2 and have successfully created the custom categories and locations. I used the REST API Enabler plugin to register the custom endpoints and the custom fields.

Using the businesses endpoint http://mysite/wp-json/wp/v2/businesses I can upload a new business through the api but the record created ignores all the meta keys

eg Given the following body

      body = {
        title: company_name,
        listing_address: [address], 
        listing_map_location_latitude: [c.lat],
        listing_map_location_longitude: [c.lon],
        content: c.description,
        email: c.email,
        facebook: [c.facebook],
        image_url: c.image_url,
        locations: [c.city.server_id],
        listing_categories: c.categories.pluck(:server_id),
        listing_street_view: ["on"]
        status:"publish"
      }
      request = HTTParty.post(POSTS_END_POINT, body: body, headers: headers)

Correctly attaches the business to the correct location and custom categories (listing_categories) previously created through the REST api however none of the custom fields (wp_postmeta table) are populated e.g. listing_locations lon and lat fields and listing_address

I can query the record uploaded through the rest api and I get a response like this

$ rake upload:test
Result: {"id"=>1749, "date"=>"2016-02-20T05:06:01", "date_gmt"=>nil, "guid"=>{"rendered"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/?post_type=business&p=1749"}, "modified"=>"2016-02-20T05:06:01", "modified_gmt"=>nil, "slug"=>"", "type"=>"business", "link"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/?post_type=business&p=1749", "title"=>{"rendered"=>"Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3DH"}, "content"=>{"rendered"=>"<p>A description</p>\n"}, "author"=>1, "featured_media"=>0, "comment_status"=>"open", "ping_status"=>"closed", "listing_categories"=>[3779, 4095, 4061], "locations"=>[330], "_links"=>{"self"=>[{"href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/businesses/1749"}], "collection"=>[{"href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/businesses"}], "about"=>[{"href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/types/business"}], "author"=>[{"embeddable"=>true, "href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/users/1"}], "replies"=>[{"embeddable"=>true, "href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/comments?post=1749"}], "https://api.w.org/attachment"=>[{"href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/media?parent=1749"}], "https://api.w.org/term"=>[{"taxonomy"=>"listing_categories", "embeddable"=>true, "href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/listing_categories?post=1749"}, {"taxonomy"=>"locations", "embeddable"=>true, "href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/locations?post=1749"}]}}

This totally ignores the meta keys. If in the admin area I manually hit the update button for the generated business I can then re-query through the api and get all the correct fields returned but an POST request to update (Surely should be a PUT) the record still won't set any of the custom fields

e.g.

rake upload:test
Result: {"id"=>1745, "date"=>"2016-02-20T04:53:17", "date_gmt"=>nil, "guid"=>{"rendered"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/?post_type=business&#038;p=1745"}, "modified"=>"2016-02-20T04:53:17", "modified_gmt"=>"2016-02-20T04:53:17", "slug"=>"", "type"=>"business", "link"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/?post_type=business&p=1745", "title"=>{"rendered"=>"Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3DH"}, "content"=>{"rendered"=>"<p>A description</p>\n"}, "author"=>1, "featured_media"=>0, "comment_status"=>"open", "ping_status"=>"closed", "listing_categories"=>[3779, 4095, 4061], "locations"=>[330], "listing_featured_image"=>[""], "listing_banner"=>["banner_featured_image"], "listing_opening_hours"=>["a:7:{i:0;a:4:{s:11:\"listing_day\";s:6:\"MONDAY\";s:17:\"listing_time_from\";s:0:\"\";s:15:\"listing_time_to\";s:0:\"\";s:14:\"listing_custom\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:4:{s:11:\"listing_day\";s:7:\"TUESDAY\";s:17:\"listing_time_from\";s:0:\"\";s:15:\"listing_time_to\";s:0:\"\";s:14:\"listing_custom\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:4:{s:11:\"listing_day\";s:9:\"WEDNESDAY\";s:17:\"listing_time_from\";s:0:\"\";s:15:\"listing_time_to\";s:0:\"\";s:14:\"listing_custom\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:4:{s:11:\"listing_day\";s:8:\"THURSDAY\";s:17:\"listing_time_from\";s:0:\"\";s:15:\"listing_time_to\";s:0:\"\";s:14:\"listing_custom\";s:0:\"\";}i:4;a:4:{s:11:\"listing_day\";s:6:\"FRIDAY\";s:17:\"listing_time_from\";s:0:\"\";s:15:\"listing_time_to\";s:0:\"\";s:14:\"listing_custom\";s:0:\"\";}i:5;a:4:{s:11:\"listing_day\";s:8:\"SATURDAY\";s:17:\"listing_time_from\";s:0:\"\";s:15:\"listing_time_to\";s:0:\"\";s:14:\"listing_custom\";s:0:\"\";}i:6;a:4:{s:11:\"listing_day\";s:6:\"SUNDAY\";s:17:\"listing_time_from\";s:0:\"\";s:15:\"listing_time_to\";s:0:\"\";s:14:\"listing_custom\";s:0:\"\";}}"], "listing_map_location"=>["a:2:{s:8:\"latitude\";s:0:\"\";s:9:\"longitude\";s:0:\"\";}"], "listing_street_view_location_latitude"=>["37.812405"], "listing_street_view_location_longitude"=>["-122.47607800000003"], "listing_street_view_location_heading"=>["-18"], "listing_street_view_location"=>["a:5:{s:8:\"latitude\";s:9:\"37.812405\";s:9:\"longitude\";s:19:\"-122.47607800000003\";s:4:\"zoom\";s:1:\"1\";s:7:\"heading\";s:3:\"-18\";s:5:\"pitch\";s:2:\"25\";}"], "listing_locations"=>["a:1:{i:0;s:10:\"birmingham\";}"], "listing_listing_category"=>["a:3:{i:0;s:7:\"museums\";i:1;s:10:\"coffee-tea\";i:2;s:13:\"art-galleries\";}"], "_links"=>{"self"=>[{"href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/businesses/1745"}], "collection"=>[{"href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/businesses"}], "about"=>[{"href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/types/business"}], "author"=>[{"embeddable"=>true, "href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/users/1"}], "replies"=>[{"embeddable"=>true, "href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/comments?post=1745"}], "https://api.w.org/attachment"=>[{"href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/media?parent=1745"}], "https://api.w.org/term"=>[{"taxonomy"=>"listing_categories", "embeddable"=>true, "href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/listing_categories?post=1745"}, {"taxonomy"=>"locations", "embeddable"=>true, "href"=>"http://highstreetbeacons.com/wp-json/wp/v2/locations?post=1745"}]}}

I have just created a plugin to register the custom fields rather than relying on REST API Enabler plugin with just one field to see if I can get that to work

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: Jamesc Register API Fields
 * Plugin URI: http://danielpataki.com
 * Description: This plugin exposes business meta data mfields to REST API.
 * Version: 1.0.0
 * Author: Smiler
 */


/**
 * Use arbitrary functions to add a field
 */
add_action( 'rest_api_init', 'register_something_random' );
function slug_register_something_random() {
    register_rest_field( 'business',
        'listing_address',
        array(
            'get_callback'    => 'get_meta_field',
            'update_callback' => 'update_meta_field',
            'schema'          => null,
        )
    );
}

/**
 * Handler for getting custom field data.
 *
 * @since 0.1.0
 *
 * @param array $object The object from the response
 * @param string $field_name Name of field
 * @param WP_REST_Request $request Current request
 *
 * @return mixed
 */
function get_meta_field( $object, $field_name, $request ) {
    return get_post_meta( $object[ 'id' ], $field_name );
}

/**
 * Handler for updating custom field data.
 *
 * @since 0.1.0
 *
 * @param mixed $value The value of the field
 * @param object $object The object from the response
 * @param string $field_name Name of field
 *
 * @return bool|int
 */
function update_meta_field( $value, $object, $field_name ) {
    if ( ! $value || ! is_string( $value ) ) {
        return;
    }

    return update_post_meta( $object->ID, $field_name, strip_tags( $value ) );

}

But this has no effect.

I am now totally stuck having tried everything I can think of.

Answer 1

There was a glaringly obvious problem with my wordpress plugin where the add action function name did not match the actual function name register_something_random and slug_register_something_random()

add_action( 'rest_api_init', 'register_something_random' );
function slug_register_something_random() {

Should be

add_action( 'rest_api_init', 'register_something_random' );
function register_something_random() {

Made this change and all is now ok