Title: Settings API Code Not Saving Options
Last modified: August 21, 2016

---

# Settings API Code Not Saving Options

 *  [Ren Ventura](https://wordpress.org/support/users/engagewp/)
 * (@engagewp)
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/settings-api-code-not-saving-options/)
 * Hello everyone. I am writing a WordPress plugin that makes use of the Settings
   API to register a few options. When I try to save my options, they do not save.
   The fields are blank when the page reloads and there is no message that the options
   saved. I’ve been racking my brain for hours and cannot find any answers. I would
   be very grateful for another set of eyes to take a look and point out what I’m
   missing. Here is the (slightly modified) start to my code for the options page:
 *     ```
       /**************************************** Register Settings Menu & Page ****************************************/
   
       add_action( 'admin_menu', 'rv_admin_menu' );
       function rv_admin_menu() {
   
       	/** // Menu Title, Page Title, Capability, Slug, Callback Function
       	add_theme_page( 'Misc.  Options', 'Misc.  Options', 'manage_options', 'rv-options-page', 'rv_options_create_page' ); **/
   
       	// Parent Slug, Page Title, Menu Title, Capability, Menu Slug, Callback Function
       	add_submenu_page('', 'Misc.  Options', 'Misc.  Options', 'manage_options', 'rv-options-page', 'rv_options_create_page');
       }
   
       /**************************************** Register Settings ****************************************/
   
       add_action( 'admin_init', 'rv_admin_init' );
       function rv_admin_init() {
   
       	/** Add the Settings Group **/
       	register_setting( 'rv-options-group', 'rv-settings' ); // Option Group & Options Name
   
       	/* Add Custom Footer Section & Fields */
       	// ID, Title, Callback, Menu Page
       	add_settings_section( 'footer-section', 'Custom Footer', 'custom_footer_section_callback', 'rv-options-page' );
       	// ID, Title, Callback, Menu Page, Associated Section
       	add_settings_field( 'custom-footer-enable', 'Enable Custom Footer', 'custom_footer_enable_callback', 'rv-options-page', 'footer-section' );
       	add_settings_field( 'footer-content', 'Footer Content', 'custom_footer_callback', 'rv-options-page', 'footer-section' ); 
   
       	/* Add Author Box Section & Fields */
       	add_settings_section( 'author-box', 'Author Box', 'author_box_section_callback', 'rv-options-page' );
       	add_settings_field( 'author-box-enable', 'Globally Enable Author Box', 'author_box_enable_callback', 'rv-options-page', 'author-box' );
       	add_settings_field( 'author-box-title', 'Author Box Title', 'author_box_title_callback', 'rv-options-page', 'author-box' );
   
       }
   
       /**************************************** Footer ****************************************/
   
       /** Custom Footer Section Intro **/
       function custom_footer_section_callback() {
       	echo "Add your footer's custom HTML.";
       }
   
       /* Custom Footer Enable */
       function custom_footer_enable_callback() {
       	$setting_footer_enable = get_option( 'rv-settings' );
       	$custom_footer_enable = esc_attr( $setting_footer_enable['footer_enable'] );
       	echo "<input type='checkbox' name='rv-settings[footer_enable]' value='$custom_footer_enable' />";
       	echo " The settings below will not work unless this option is enabled.";
       }
   
       /* Custom Footer Text Area */
       function custom_footer_callback() {
       	$setting_footer = get_option( 'rv-settings' );
       	$footer = esc_attr( $setting_footer['footer'] );
       	echo "<textarea rows='12' cols='100' name='rv-settings[footer]' value='$footer'></textarea>";
       }
   
       /**************************************** Author Box ****************************************/
   
       /** Author Box Section Intro **/
       function author_box_section_callback() {
       	echo "Customize the Author Box";
       }
   
       /* Globally Enable Author Box on Posts */
       function author_box_enable_callback() {
       	$setting_author_box_enable = get_option( 'rv-settings' );
       	$enable_author_box = esc_attr( $setting_author_box_enable['enable_author_box'] );
       	echo "<input type='checkbox' name='rv-settings[enable_author_box]' value='$enable_author_box' />";
       	echo " This will globally enable the author box on Posts.";
       }
   
       /* Custom Author Box Title */
       function author_box_title_callback() {
       	$setting_author_box_title = get_option( 'rv-settings' );
       	$author_box_title = esc_attr( $setting_author_box_title['author_box_title'] );
       	echo "<input size='100' type='text' name='rv-settings[author_box_title]' value='$author_box_title' />";
       	echo "<br/> This will modify the author box title. <em>Ex: '<h2>Meet the Author</h2>'";
       }
   
       /**************************************** Create Settings Page ****************************************/
   
       function rv_options_create_page() { ?>
           <div class="wrap">
               <h2>RV  Options</h2>
               <form action="options.php" method="POST">
                   <?php settings_fields( 'rv-options-group' ); // Options Group ?>
                   <?php do_settings_sections( 'rv-options-page' ); // Menu Page ?>
                   <?php submit_button(); ?>
               </form>
           </div>
           <?php
       }
       ```
   

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Moderator [Samuel Wood (Otto)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/otto42/)
 * (@otto42)
 * WordPress.org Admin
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/settings-api-code-not-saving-options/#post-5004946)
 * Your data is being saved to the database just fine, but you’re outputting it 
   incorrectly for the checkboxes and the textarea.
 * For the checkboxes, the value should be just a boolean value, like “1”, and you
   should use the checked() function to output the checked state to the input field.
   Like so:
 *     ```
       $custom_footer_enable = $setting_footer_enable['footer_enable'];
       echo "<input type='checkbox' name='rv-settings[footer_enable]' value='1' ";
       checked($custom_footer_enable, true);
       echo " />";
       ```
   
 * Same goes for the other checkbox.
 * For a textarea, it doesn’t have a value attribute, it simply contains the information
   inside the textarea html, and you should also escape it properly. Like so:
 *     ```
       $footer = esc_textarea( $setting_footer['footer'] );
       echo "<textarea rows='12' cols='100' name='rv-settings[footer]'>$footer</textarea>";
       ```
   
 *  Moderator [Samuel Wood (Otto)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/otto42/)
 * (@otto42)
 * WordPress.org Admin
 * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/settings-api-code-not-saving-options/#post-5004947)
 * Oh, additionally, you should add a validation function callback to the register_setting
   call, because the thing about checkboxes is that they only return the “on” state,
   not the “off” state. So you will never get data back of rv-settings[footer_enable]
   = 0.
 * Thus, in your validation function, you need to check if the rv-settings[footer_enable]
   is empty(), and then manually set that array value to zero there, so that the
   turning-it-off works properly. The validation function takes an array of values
   as input, and returns the array of validated/sanitized values as output. The 
   output will be what is saved to the database.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Settings API Code Not Saving Options’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Samuel Wood (Otto)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/otto42/)
 * Last activity: [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/settings-api-code-not-saving-options/#post-5004947)
 * Status: not resolved

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