Title: Problem adding custom meta data
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# Problem adding custom meta data

 *  Resolved [jakemc](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jakemc/)
 * (@jakemc)
 * [20 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-custom-meta-data/)
 * Hi.
 * I’m trying to create a plugin that will allow users to associate posts from a
   particular category with a post they’re editing by selecting from a dropdown.
   I want to do this by storing the id of the associated post as a meta value.
 * When I add a meta data association with the code I have, it is added 3 times.
   Can anyone tell me why and how to stop this? Here’s the code:
 * HTML:
    ` <select name="professional_speciality"> <option value="#NONE#">-select-
   </option> <option value="7">Endocrine</option> <option value="4">Gastrointestinal
   </option> <option value="3">General</option> [... etc ...] </select> <input type
   ="submit" name="save" value=" Save changes and add " />
 * The select options’ values are IDs of other posts.
 * My plugin has the following:
    ` add_action( 'edit_post', 'jm_edit_meta_value');
   add_action( 'save_post', 'jm_edit_meta_value' ); add_action( 'publish_post', '
   jm_edit_meta_value' ); function jm_edit_meta_value ($id) { global $wpdb; if( !
   isset( $id ) ) { $id = $_REQUEST[ 'post_ID' ]; } $meta_value = $_REQUEST[ "professional_speciality"];
   if( isset( $meta_value ) && !empty( $meta_value ) && ( $meta_value != '#NONE#')){
   add_post_meta( $id, "professional_speciality", $meta_value ); } } Thanks in advance!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [maerk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maerk/)
 * (@maerk)
 * [20 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-custom-meta-data/#post-396844)
 * I notice that your plugin hook is called three times, for the three different
   functions `edit_`, `save_` and `publish_post`. That might be why it is added 
   three times.
 * The assumption there is that all three functions are called when a post is modified.
 *  [maerk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maerk/)
 * (@maerk)
 * [20 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-custom-meta-data/#post-396846)
 * One other thing to note, for security reasons it’s always best to choose either
   $_GET or $_POST (or $_COOKIE, if you’re using that) instead of $_REQUEST.
 *  Thread Starter [jakemc](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jakemc/)
 * (@jakemc)
 * [20 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-custom-meta-data/#post-396853)
 * Aha! I hunted down the hooks (in functions-post.php) and save_post is the catch
   all – the other two are called under special conditions (e.g., edit_post when
   another variable $update has been set) and so may be called *as well* as save_post.
 * Many thanks again, Maerk.
 *  [maerk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maerk/)
 * (@maerk)
 * [20 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-custom-meta-data/#post-396863)
 * Yeah, `edit_post`, I would presume, is for when you … well … edit a post 🙂

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Problem adding custom meta data’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [custom](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/custom/)

 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [maerk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maerk/)
 * Last activity: [20 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-adding-custom-meta-data/#post-396863)
 * Status: resolved

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