Title: Programmatically assign read permissions Last modified: March 19, 2019 --- # Programmatically assign read permissions * Resolved [doubleedesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/doubleedesign/) * (@doubleedesign) * [7 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/programmatically-assign-read-permissions/) * Hi, * I am building functionality where pages are created programmatically when certain steps are taken (this part is working fine). * Is it possible to assign read permissions on a page to a particular group programmatically? * Here’s what I have so far. Note that the page and the group’s slugs are, at this stage, assumed to match (as the page is created programmatically when the group is created). * ``` /** * When a new group is created, assign read capabilities to their page * (relies on doublee_create_group_page to create the page) * * @param $group_id */ function doublee_assign_group_page_access($group_id) { // Get the group name and slug for later use $group_name = doublee_get_group_name($group_id); $group_slug = doublee_build_title_slug($group_name); // Get the page ID from the group slug (assumes they match) $page_id = doublee_get_group_page_id($group_slug); // Set up array for the post meta. We can assume no-one is currently set to read this page because it'd brand new $can_read = array(); array_push($can_read, $group_id); // Update the post meta with the new read capability update_post_meta($page_id, 'groups-read', $can_read); } add_action('groups_created_group', 'doublee_assign_group_page_access', 10); ``` * …but it doesn’t work. Is `update_post_meta` the correct way to assign the read capability? Is there something that the plugin provides that could be used to do this? Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total) * [gtsiokos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gtsiokos/) * (@gtsiokos) * [7 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/programmatically-assign-read-permissions/#post-11339077) * Hi, * Yes, the group restriction is a post meta value. Although I haven’t run your code, the meta_value for meta_key groups-read should be the group id. If you are calculating the group_id and the page_id correctly, then it should work. * Hope it helps. George * Thread Starter [doubleedesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/doubleedesign/) * (@doubleedesign) * [7 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/programmatically-assign-read-permissions/#post-11454102) * Thank you for the quick reply George, and apologies that it has taken me so long to reply as I only just came back to this. * I had been trying to assign an array of IDs instead of one, which isn’t really necessary as I’m doing one group per page, I just wrongly thought that was the correct format. * I also combined this with the creation of the page, as I learnt that `wp_insert_post` returns the page ID if assigned to a variable, so the two functions (page creation and group permission assignment) do not need to be separate. * (I also believe that way is better as combining both steps into the one function removes the risk of the page ID being incorrect – as it’s been created immediately before the permission assignment with no opportunity for another function or user action to interfere.) * Here is the updated, working code – in terms of the specific problem this post was about, I just removed the step to create an array containing `$group_id` and popped that variable straight into the `update_post_meta` call. * ``` /** * When a new group is created, create their page * and assign read capabilities * @param $group_id */ function doublee_create_group_page($group_id) { // Get the group name $group_name = doublee_get_group_name($group_id); // Set up the page $post_data = array( 'post_title' => $group_name, 'post_type' => 'page', 'post_status' => 'publish', 'post_name' => doublee_build_title_slug($group_name), ); // Create the page and return its ID as $page_id $page_id = wp_insert_post($post_data, true); // Update the post meta with the read capability for the group update_post_meta($page_id, 'groups-read', $group_id); } add_action('groups_created_group', 'doublee_create_group_page', 5); ``` - This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by [doubleedesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/doubleedesign/). - This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by [doubleedesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/doubleedesign/). - This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by [doubleedesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/doubleedesign/). Reason: Clarity * [gtsiokos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gtsiokos/) * (@gtsiokos) * [6 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/programmatically-assign-read-permissions/#post-11711347) * I’m glad it’s working and thank you for sharing your code in case someone else finds it useful. * Cheers, George Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total) The topic ‘Programmatically assign read permissions’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/groups/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=983146) * [Groups](https://wordpress.org/plugins/groups/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/groups/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/groups/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/groups/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/groups/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/groups/reviews/) * 3 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [gtsiokos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gtsiokos/) * Last activity: [6 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/programmatically-assign-read-permissions/#post-11711347) * Status: resolved