Ultimate guide to using the WordPress Advanced Custom Fields plugin. Presented by Andrew Marks at the Brisbane Northside WordPress Meetup on 14th November 2018.

1. Advanced Custom Fields
WP Butler’s
Ultimate Guide To

2. What are Custom Fields?
• Custom fields are a form of meta data that
can be used to extend posts and pages (&
CPTs).
• An example of a custom field might be a Star
Rating plugin, which assigns a rating between
1 and 5 to your posts.

3. You Can Already Add Custom Fields

4. Custom Fields are Standard Functionality

5. Examples of Custom Fields
• Setting an expiration date for posts
• Reference Links and Contributors
• Adding a CSS Class for styling
• Location taxonomy (like Category / Tag)
• Who’s used Custom Fields (or ACF)?
• Uses?

6. How Does WP Handle Custom Fields?
• While editing a Page or Post,
you can add custom fields.
• Select a field (or enter a new
one) then enter the value
• Custom Fields are added on a
per-post basis
• You need to write code to
extract the value and display it.

7. How Does ACF Handle Custom Fields?
• Custom fields are pre-defined on a per-
post type basis
• There are more than 20 different fields to
choose from, not just a test box
• You still need to write code to
extract the value and display it.

8. Types of Custom Fields
• Text
• Text Area
• Number
• Email
• Password
• WYSIWYG
Editor
• Image
• File
• Select
• Checkbox
• Radio Button
• True / False
• Page Link
• Post Object
• Relationship
• Taxonomy
• User
• Google Map
• Date Picker
• Color Picker
• Message
• Tab
• Plus Premium fields…

9. How To Use The Plugin
1. Create A New Field Group

10. How To Use The Plugin
2. Add &Configure
Fields
Enter Label, Name, Type,
Instructions, Required,
Default Value, Placeholder,
Prepend, Append, Formatting
Character Limit, Conditional
Logic, Min / Max Value
and/or Step Size!

11. How To Use The Plugin
2. Add &Configure Fields (example)

12. How To Use The Plugin
3. Configure Field Location and Options
Options: Order number, Position, Style and Hide on Screen

13. How To Display Custom Fields
• In order to display custom fields on your site,
you need to call them in a template file.
• This will require coding, and a knowledge of
the WordPress template hierarchy…

14. How To Display Custom Fields

15. How To Display Custom Fields
For example:
• Check which template is available: single.php,
or singular.php, or simply index.php
• Copy the file to your Child theme, and rename if
necessary: single-post.php
• Add your code to this new file

16. Accessing the Custom Fields
• WordPress provides a function
get_post_meta()
$expirationtime = get_post_meta($post->ID,
"expiration", false);
• It’s recommended you use ACF’s function
the_field() instead
the_field('expiration');

17. For Example
<div class="book-meta">
<ul>
<li><strong>Author:</strong> <?php the_field('author'); ?></li>
<li><strong>Release Year:</strong> <?php the_field('release_year'); ?></li>
<li><strong>Book Rating:</strong> <?php the_field('book_rating'); ?>/10</li>
</ul>
</div>

18. The Result