Overview

In this guide we’ll learn how to retrieve a parameter from the URL, pass it to the form and use it in the Post Action “Update Target”. The final result will be that the form dynamically update a post based on the URL.

In this example, the form page URL should look like /my-form?profile_id=42.

Passing Data

First, we retrieve the URL parameter using $_GET. Then, we pass our custom data during the form initialization by simply adding an argument to the acfe_form() settings array. Here, we’ll name it profile_id.

Note that when adding a custom argument you have to make sure it doesn’t already exists in the default parameter list, which can be found here.

// retrieve url parameter
$profile_id = (int) $_GET['profile_id'];

// make sure profile id exists
if($profile_id){
    
    // render form
    acfe_form(array(
        'name'       => 'my-form',
        'profile_id' => $profile_id
    ));

}

If you’re using the [acfe_form] shotcode to display the form, you can use the acfe/form/load hook (see documentation) to pass the custom data:

add_filter('acfe/form/load/form=my-form', 'my_form_settings', 10, 2);
function my_form_settings($form, $post_id){

    // retrieve url parameter
    $profile_id = (int) $_GET['profile_id'];
    
    // Add Current User ID
    $form['profile_id'] = $profile_id;
    
    // Return
    return $form;
    
}

Action Configuration

Now the data is passed to the form, we can use it anywhere in the Form UI using the Template Tag {form:profile_id}. In this example, we’ll use it as the Post Action “Update Target”, so the action will update the Post ID defined in the URL.

Dynamic Form

Add actions on form submission

Click the "Add action" button below to start creating your layout
0 Custom action

Set a unique action slug.

0 Email action
0 Option action

Fill inputs with values

0 Post action
Click to initialize TinyMCE

Fill inputs with values

0 Redirect action

The URL to redirect to. See "Cheatsheet" tab for all available template tags.

0 Term action
Click to initialize TinyMCE

Fill inputs with values

0 User action
Click to initialize TinyMCE

Fill inputs with values

1 Post action
Click to initialize TinyMCE

Fill inputs with values

Retrieve Data in a Hook

Our custom data can also be retrieve in any Form hook using $form['profile_id']. Here is a usage example within the Post Validation Hook:

add_action('acfe/form/validation/post/form=my-form', 'my_form_validation', 10, 3);
function my_form_validation($form, $post_id, $action){
    
    // retrieve profile id
    $profile_id = (int) $form['profile_id'];
    
    // add error if the profile id is 50
    if($profile_id === 50){
        acfe_add_validation_error('', 'Updating this profile is disallowed');
    }
    
}