Update a php variable within an array

Question

I'm not sure how to describe this, so sorry if the title isn't correct for this question.

I have a file with a bunch of metaboxes but i'm trying to reduce the duplicate entries. So what I'm trying to do is create a variable containing an array which creates the metabox, then trying to update a variable within this array when I call it later on.

The example below i'm trying to update the $title but have no idea how to achieve this or what it's called to google a solution?

<?php
$metabox = array(
        'name' => "{$title}",
        'id'   => "column_content",
        'type' => 'wysiwyg',
        'raw'  => false,
        'options' => array(
            'textarea_rows' => 3,
            'teeny'         => true,
            'media_buttons' => false,
        ),
    );

$meta_boxes[] = array(
    'id'         => 'page_builder', 
    'title'      => 'Metabox Example',
    'fields'     => array(
        // Output the above array here:
        $metabox,

     ),
);

Update

I'm not sure I completely explained how I would like to achive this, I wanted to update the $title for the $metabox within the $meta_boxes array()

<?php
$metabox = array(
        'name' => "{$title}",
        'id'   => "column_content",
        'type' => 'wysiwyg',
        'raw'  => false,
        'options' => array(
            'textarea_rows' => 3,
            'teeny'         => true,
            'media_buttons' => false,
        ),
    );

$meta_boxes[] = array(
    'id'         => 'page_builder', 
    'title'      => 'Metabox Example',
    'fields'     => array(
        // Output the above array here and update the title on the fly:
        $title = 'NEW TITLE';
        $metabox,

     ),
);

What do you mean by "update the $title? What keeps you from changing that static content within that static array? — Nico Haase
– Nico Haase, Commented May 13, 2019 at 7:51
That looks strange to me - there is nothing dynamic in that code — Nico Haase
– Nico Haase, Commented May 13, 2019 at 7:52
I have a file with a bunch of metaboxes but i'm trying to reduce the duplicate entries That single metabox is repeated through the file in multiple places, I don't want to keep duplicating that in the meta_boxes[] array below. So want to create the single field once and update some simple fields. @NicoHaase — Aaron
– Aaron, Commented May 13, 2019 at 7:55
If you need to pull the title and populate it into the fields, use a loop to populate it. — Ultimater
– Ultimater, Commented May 13, 2019 at 7:58

Cody604 · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-13 09:45:57Z

2

If I understand you correctly you could access the $title value ('name' field) like this:

<?php
$metabox = array(
        'name' => "initial title",
        'id'   => "column_content",
        'type' => 'wysiwyg',
        'raw'  => false,
        'options' => array(
            'textarea_rows' => 3,
            'teeny'         => true,
            'media_buttons' => false,
        ),
    );

$metaboxFields = array();

//this is an example for 5 metaboxes.
for ($i = 1; $i <= 5; $i++) {
    $metaboxFields['metabox'.$i] = $metabox;
}   


$meta_boxes = array(
    'id'         => 'page_builder', 
    'title'      => 'Metabox Example',
    'fields'     => $metaboxFields,
);

$newTitleForBox1 = 'NEW TITLE';
$meta_boxes['fields']['metabox1']["name"] = $newTitleForBox1;

This will access the "name" field in metabox1 in the "fields" array of the first item in the "$meta_boxes" array.

Though of course this is not a very pretty solution.

edited May 13, 2019 at 9:45

answered May 13, 2019 at 8:02

Cody604

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7 Comments

Nico Haase Over a year ago

Can you explain further how that single line updates something?

Cody604 Over a year ago

Well, of course you need to declare $newTitle. But this single line of code would replace the current value "{$title}" given to the 'name' field with the value given to the $newTitle variable.

Nico Haase Over a year ago

And what should one do with that variable afterwards? How can it be used to run a replacement like given in the question?

Cody604 Over a year ago

I see I made a mistake in my answer, not setting the title like the OP asked. I changed the answer so that it should work. Thank you for pointing this out.

Nico Haase Over a year ago

As far as I understand the question, there should be some kind of "template array" - that's why there is a value {$title} which should get replaced with the content of the current array's element title

|

eBourgess · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-13 07:50:36Z

1

It's actually easy, all you need to do is add this to your code.

$meta_boxes[$i]['title'] = 'NEW TITLE';

answered May 13, 2019 at 7:50

eBourgess

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3 Comments

Aaron Over a year ago

I do understand how arrays work @DarkBee, but I still don't get why I need the [$i]. Also Would this update the title from within the array? I feel like this would update the $title outside of the meta_box[] array(), no?

DarkBee Over a year ago

Because you have multiple metabox in the array metaboxes? You'd u need to target the right metabox of which you want to update the title

eBourgess Over a year ago

@Aaron as far as I can see you have a multi dimensional array, that's why I added the [$i] so here you are ordering each title of each element

Jalil · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-13 07:58:58Z

-1

You can do something like

foreach ($metabox as $box){
    $box['title'] = 'yourValue';
    //here you can change the values that you want
}

answered May 13, 2019 at 7:58

Jalil

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1 Comment

DarkBee Over a year ago

This won't work as the default behavior of a foreach on an array is to copy the array

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