Setting featured image upon form submit

Hello,

Thanks for the feedback!

You can simply use the “Set as Featured Image” setting in the Image field that is displayed on the front-end form, it will assign the selected image to the post. See documentation.

Hope it helps!

Have a nice day!

Regards.

Hello,

You should avoid using hidden fields when doing this kind of behind the scenes operations on the front-end, since hidden fields can be essentially altered by the visitor (which is not suitable). Instead you should write it in PHP.

If you’re using ACF Form, you can use the acf/submit_form hook (undocumented). Usage example:

add_action('acf/submit_form', 'my_acf_form_submit', 10, 2);
function my_acf_form_submit($form, $post_id){
    
    // Target "my-form" ID
    // Change this to your acf_form ID
    if($form['id'] !== 'my-form') return;
    
    // Your image attachment ID
    $attachment_id = 120;
    
    // Set post featured image
    update_post_meta($post_id, '_thumbnail_id', $attachment_id);

}

If you’re using ACFE Form, you can use the acfe/form/submit/post hook (See documentation). Usage example:

add_action('acfe/form/submit/post/form=my-form', 'my_acfe_form_submit', 10, 5);
function my_acfe_form_submit($post_id, $type, $args, $form, $action){

    // Your image attachment ID
    $attachment_id = 120;
    
    // Set post featured image
    update_post_meta($post_id, '_thumbnail_id', $attachment_id);
    
}

For further assistance with native ACF features like ACF Form, I would recommend to join the Official ACF Support forum. There is a large community of developers who may answer your questions here. You will also find useful topics & code snippets.

Hope it helps!

Regards.

Hello,

Yes those code snippets go into your theme functions.php file. ACF Form & ACFE Form are different solutions, if you already implemented 15 forms with one solution, I would recommend to stick to it.

If you’re using ACF Form, the form has to be targeted in the commented code:

// Target "my-form" ID
// Change this to your acf_form ID
if($form['id'] !== 'my-form') return;

If you’re using ACFE Form, the form has to be targeted in the hook name:

add_action('acfe/form/submit/post/form=my-form-name-here', 'function', 10, 5);

You can also use a wildcard hook like: acfe/form/submit/post and just add conditions in it to avoid having 15 different functions. Usage example:

// Wildcard hook: acfe/form/submit/post
add_action('acfe/form/submit/post', 'my_acfe_form_submit', 10, 5);
function my_acfe_form_submit($post_id, $type, $args, $form, $action){

    if($form['name'] === 'my-form-1'){

        $attachment_id = 120;
        update_post_meta($post_id, '_thumbnail_id', $attachment_id);

    }elseif($form['name'] === 'my-form-2'){

        $attachment_id = 140;
        update_post_meta($post_id, '_thumbnail_id', $attachment_id);

    }

    // ...
    
}

As a side note, I would like to add that front-end form is an advanced & sensible web development concept. Far more complex that just publishing a web blog. As you’re not a developer, I would strongly recommend to read some beginners guides to PHP/WordPress development, since you need to understand important concepts like hooks or PHP conditions.

You shouldn’t blindly copy/paste code from forums (we all started there). Try to become a little more independent to be able to tweak & customize the code you found. It’s nothing impossible really, it just takes some trial & error, and all the knowledge is available for free on Internet!

Here are some resources you can begin with:

• Actions – WordPress Hooks Tutorial For Beginners
• Guide: All about Hooks in WordPress
• PHP Beginners Guide

You can also join the Stackoverflow WordPress community which will help you with most common WordPress & PHP questions.

If you don’t have the time to learn more about web development, and need quick answers, you could get in touch with an indie PHP developer who could mentor you with common questions and do the most advanced tasks you couldn’t achieve. There’s plenty of marketplaces with experienced developers who could fulfill that purpose, like Upwork or Codable.io to name a few.

Trust me, it’s for your good. I’m a self-taught developer myself 🙂

Have a nice day!

Regards.

I’m glad to hear it now works!

Nice jump! I encourage you to keep going that way. PHP/WordPress dev is really a wonderful world, full of opportunities.

Godspeed Suz!