Title: Difference between useEntityProp and getEditedPostAttribute
Last modified: February 13, 2023

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# Difference between useEntityProp and getEditedPostAttribute

 *  Resolved [Fabian Todt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gaambo/)
 * (@gaambo)
 * [3 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/difference-between-useentityprop-and-geteditedpostattribute/)
 * When developing a custom sidebar for the block editor, a panel in the InspectorControls
   or a block, there are multiple ways to get the properties/fields for the post:
 * **1. getEditedPostAttribute**
   According to its doc block it “Returns a single
   attribute of the post being edited, preferring the unsaved edit if one exists,
   but falling back to the attribute for the last known saved state of the post.”
   When using it like `getEditedPostAttribute("meta")` it will get the whole meta,
   but it’s possible to also get other properties. Eg the featured image selector
   in the sidebar gets the attribute `featured_media`.
 * **2. useEntityProp**
   According to its doc block it “Hook that returns the value
   and a setter for the specified property of the nearest provided entity of the
   specified type.”In the [metabox to block guide](https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/how-to-guides/metabox/)
   it’s recommended to be used to get the meta like `useEntityProp(“postType”, postType,“
   meta”)”
 * I understand, that the second one is a react hook and the first one would have
   to be used in a `useSelect` select mapper.
 * But still, what exactly is the difference between these methods? 
   What is the
   preferred way and are there cases in which they don’t return the same data? As
   far as I can see, both return the current (maybe unsaved) state of the object.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  [janet4now](https://wordpress.org/support/users/janet4now/)
 * (@janet4now)
 * [3 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/difference-between-useentityprop-and-geteditedpostattribute/#post-16466085)
 * In most cases, the two methods return the same data, as they both retrieve the
   current (possibly unsaved) state of the object. However, there may be some cases
   where the two methods do not return the same data, for example if the data has
   been changed but not saved in the block editor, `useEntityProp` will return the
   updated value, while `getEditedPostAttribute` will return the last saved value.
 *  Thread Starter [Fabian Todt](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gaambo/)
 * (@gaambo)
 * [3 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/difference-between-useentityprop-and-geteditedpostattribute/#post-16466158)
 * Okay, thank you. But doesn’t the doc for `getEditedPostAttribute` “unsaved edit
   if one exists” suggest, that also unsaved edits will be returned?
 *  [janet4now](https://wordpress.org/support/users/janet4now/)
 * (@janet4now)
 * [3 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/difference-between-useentityprop-and-geteditedpostattribute/#post-16466541)
 * Yes, that’s correct. The `getEditedPostAttribute` function returns the unsaved
   changes if they exist, and if there are no unsaved changes, it returns the attribute
   from the last known saved state of the post. So it does take into account unsaved
   edits when returning the data. The `useEntityProp` hook and `getEditedPostAttribute`
   function can return different results if the data has been updated in the block
   editor but not yet saved. In that case, `useEntityProp` will return the updated
   value, while `getEditedPostAttribute` will return the last saved value.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Difference between useEntityProp and getEditedPostAttribute’ is closed
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 * In: [Developing with WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/wp-advanced/)
 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [janet4now](https://wordpress.org/support/users/janet4now/)
 * Last activity: [3 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/difference-between-useentityprop-and-geteditedpostattribute/#post-16466541)
 * Status: resolved

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