Title: Loop help?
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# Loop help?

 *  [angelakwong](https://wordpress.org/support/users/angelakwong/)
 * (@angelakwong)
 * [15 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/loop-help/)
 * I created some custom meta fields that have a background image attached to each
   field via the use of divs in css, however, when it posts, all the backgrounds
   show up even if there’s nothing entered in the fields.
 * Is it possible to write a loop that specifies a field to show up only if it has
   data in it, otherwise, nothing shows, not even the div?
 * I’m so confused!

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

 *  [David Gwyer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dgwyer/)
 * (@dgwyer)
 * [15 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/loop-help/#post-1679018)
 * I answered something similar in an earlier post:
 * [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/help-making-a-conditional-download-button?replies=2](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/help-making-a-conditional-download-button?replies=2)
 * However you may want to checkout the function that is closer to your needs which
   is get_post_custom().
 * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_post_custom](http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_post_custom)
 * Just add code to check the returned array has specific entries or not and use
   these results to either display divs or not. Once you have the custom post fields
   returned successfully it is fairly straightforward to do what you need.
 *  Thread Starter [angelakwong](https://wordpress.org/support/users/angelakwong/)
 * (@angelakwong)
 * [15 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/loop-help/#post-1679035)
 * hmm. i might be in over my head…
 * > Just add code to check the returned array has specific entries or not and use
   > these results to either display divs or not. Once you have the custom post 
   > fields returned successfully it is fairly straightforward to do what you need.
 * how do you check if the returned array has specific entries?
 *  [David Gwyer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dgwyer/)
 * (@dgwyer)
 * [15 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/loop-help/#post-1679046)
 * Well just as a test you can dump the results to the screen, for each post, just
   to check you are getting the correct values back from the post custom meta fields.
 * Add (probably to the single.php theme template page) something like:
 *     ```
       $custom_fields = get_post_custom(); // for the current post
       echo '<pre>';
       print_r($custom_fields);
       echo '</pre>';
       ```
   
 * If this is working and outputting the correct custom fields for each post (click
   on different posts to see the field output for each one) then you can then just
   use a loop (foreach) to go through all the custom fields and output as necessary.
 *  Thread Starter [angelakwong](https://wordpress.org/support/users/angelakwong/)
 * (@angelakwong)
 * [15 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/loop-help/#post-1679066)
 * So i ran the test, and this is what shows up….
 * > Array
   >  ( [_edit_last] => Array ( [0] => 1 ) [inks] => Array ( [0] => ) [adhesives]
   > => Array ( [0] => this is an adhesive ) [coatings] => Array ( [0] => ) [_edit_lock]
   > => Array ( [0] => 1284757365 ) )
   > Array
   >  ( [_edit_last] => Array ( [0] => 1 ) [_edit_lock] => Array ( [0] => 
   > 1284757232 ) [website_url] => Array ( [0] => ) [developers] => Array ( [0] 
   > => this would be the adhesive info ) [designers] => Array ( [0] => this would
   > be the ink info ) [producers] => Array ( [0] => this would be the coatings 
   > info ) [inks] => Array ( [0] => this is an ink ) [adhesives] => Array ( [0]
   > => adhesive info ) [coatings] => Array ( [0] => ) )
 *  [David Gwyer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dgwyer/)
 * (@dgwyer)
 * [15 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/loop-help/#post-1679074)
 * Well this means nothing to me really as I don’t know what format your custom 
   fields are in. You need to check this output against what has been entered in
   the custom field meta box in the post edit screen.
 * If it matches for each post, then great, you can then loop through the returned
   custom field array and check for a non-null value and output as you were doing
   before. But now you will have a conditional output. 🙂
 *  [Digital Raindrops](https://wordpress.org/support/users/adeptris/)
 * (@adeptris)
 * [15 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/loop-help/#post-1679082)
 * Ok lets say you created a custom field called custom_title, and on the posts 
   where you have set a calur you want to output the text
 * You could use inside the loop:
 *     ```
       <?php if(get_post_meta($post->ID, 'custom_title', true)) : ?>
       <h2>echo <?php get_post_meta($post->ID, 'custom_title', true) ;?></h2>
       <?php endif; ?>
       ```
   
 * Line one is a conditional if statement, does our custom field have a value : 
   = start, if it has a value then next line, else skip to endif.
 * $post->ID is the unique index number of the post
    ‘custom_title’ is the name 
   of our custom field true tells WordPress to only return the one field <h2> is
   heading style 2 </h2> echo outputs the value into the page endif; closes the 
   block of code.
 * You posted while I was typing!
 * developers
 *     ```
       <?php if(get_post_meta($post->ID, 'developers', true)) : ?>
       <b>Developers: </b><?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'developers', true) ;?>
       <?php endif; ?>
   
       <?php if(get_post_meta($post->ID, 'designers', true)) : ?>
       <b>Developers: </b><?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'designers', true) ;?>
       <?php endif; ?>
   
       <?php if(get_post_meta($post->ID, 'website_url', true)) : ?>
       <b>Website: </b><?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'website_url', true) ;?>
       <?php endif; ?>
       ```
   
 * Gives you just two lines as you did not have a value in website_url
    **Developers:**
   this would be the adhesive info **Designers:** this would be the ink info
 * This will give you more control where you may want a section header.
 * HTH
 * David
 *  [Digital Raindrops](https://wordpress.org/support/users/adeptris/)
 * (@adeptris)
 * [15 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/loop-help/#post-1679096)
 * If you need an example, this is [one I was playing with last year](http://digitalraindrops.net/demo/wordpress/car-dealer/?cat=238),
   contact me and I will send you the code to add a set of defaults to every post.
 * HTH
 * David
 *  Thread Starter [angelakwong](https://wordpress.org/support/users/angelakwong/)
 * (@angelakwong)
 * [15 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/loop-help/#post-1679120)
 * David, that would be awesome.
 * I’m trying to figure out how to target each of the custom fields via css…

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

The topic ‘Loop help?’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 8 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [angelakwong](https://wordpress.org/support/users/angelakwong/)
 * Last activity: [15 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/loop-help/#post-1679120)
 * Status: not resolved

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