Wp Custom Fields
WordPress has the ability to allow post authors to assign custom fields to a post. This arbitrary extra information is known as meta-data. This meta-data can include bits of information such as:
- Mood: Happy
- Currently Reading: Cinderella
- Listening To: Rock Around the Clock
- Weather: Hot and humid
With some extra coding, it is possible to achieve more complex actions, such as using the metadata to store an expiration date for a post.
Meta-data is handled with key/value pairs. The key is the name of the meta-data element. The value is the information that will appear in the meta-data list on each individual post that the information is associated with.
Keys can be used more than once per post. For example, if you were reading two different books (perhaps a technical book at work and a fiction at home), you could create a “reading” key and use it twice on the same post, once for each book.
Here is an example of what this information might look like on your post:
Currently Reading: Calvin and Hobbes
Today’s Mood: Jolly and Happy
Function Reference
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Usage
Based upon our example above, let’s put this into action. We’ll add two custom fields, one called “Currently Reading” and the other “Today’s Mood”. The following instructions will demonstrate how to add this information to a post using Custom Fields.
- After you have written your post, scroll down to the area titled Custom Fields.
- To create a new Custom Field called “Currently Reading”, enter the text “Currently Reading” (without the quotes) in the text entry field titled Key.
- The newly created Key should now be assigned a Value, which in our case is the name of the book currently being read, “Calvin and Hobbes”. Type “Calvin and Hobbes” in the Value field, again without the quotes.
- Click Add Custom Field button to save this custom information for that post.
To add your “Today’s Mood”, repeat the process and add “Today’s Mood” to the key and a description of your mood in the value text boxes and click SAVE to save this information with the post.
On your next post, you can add a new book and mood to your meta-data. In the Custom Fields section, the Key will now feature a pull down list with the previously entered Custom Fields. Choose “Currently Reading” and then enter the new book you are reading in the value. Click Add Custom Field and then repeat the process to add “Today’s Mood”.
You only need to create a new “KEY” once, after which you can assign a value to that key for every post, if you so desire. You can also assign more than one Value to a key, for a post. This will come in handy for people who read more than one book at a time.
Displaying Custom Fields
With a Custom Field added to the post, it’s time to display your books and mood to the world. To display the Custom Fields for each post, use the the_meta () template tag. The tag must be put within The Loop in order to work. Many people add the_meta() template tag to the end of their post or in their Post Meta Data Section. Here is a basic example of using the tag:
<?php the_meta(); ?>
It might look like this in the source code:
<ul class='post-meta'>
<li><span class='post-meta-key'>Currently Reading:</span> Calvin and Hobbes</li>
<li><span class='post-meta-key'>Today's Mood:</span> Jolly and Happy</li>
</ul>
The template tag automatically puts the entire meta-data into a CSS style called post-meta. The key is in a span called post-meta-key so you can style it in your style sheet. All of this is showcased in an unordered list.
To customize the look of the post-meta list, change the characteristics in your style sheet. For instance, let’s add some style to our example from the top. The style sheet elements would look like this:
.post-meta {font-variant: small-caps; color: maroon; }
.post-meta-key {color: green; font-weight: bold; font-size: 110%; }
- Currently Reading: Calvin and Hobbes
- Today’s Mood: Jolly and Happy