Programatically add a featured image to a post (overwrite current featured image

I wanted to know how I could add a featured image automatically to a post after clicking update/publish post.

I wrote this code so far and it works if there is no featured image. If the post already has a featured image, I have to update the post twice to make it work.

Any clues?

Here is my code so far:

$yt_video_id is the var that gets the ID of the youtube video in the DB

add_action('save_post', 'set_WP_featured_image'); // Set post featured image from youtube video on save
add_action('publish_post', 'set_WP_featured_image'); // Set post featured image from youtube video on publish

// Get Youtube video image and assign it as post thumbnail
    function set_WP_featured_image () {

        $yt_video_id = get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), '_single_video_id', true); // Get jupiter field for video ID
        $post_thumbnail_id = get_post_thumbnail_id( get_the_ID() ); // Get the post thumbnail (if it has one)

        if ( ! empty( $yt_video_id ) ) { // If jupiter field not empty and post thumbnail empty

            $image_url = 'https://i.ytimg.com/vi/' . $yt_video_id  . '/maxresdefault.jpg'; // Url to get the image
            $image_name       = $yt_video_id . '.png'; // Set the name of the image
            $upload_dir       = wp_upload_dir(); // Set upload folder
            $image_data       = file_get_contents($image_url); // Get image data
            $unique_file_name = wp_unique_filename( $upload_dir['path'], $image_name ); // Generate unique name
            $filename         = basename( $unique_file_name ); // Create image file name

            $file_path = get_site_url() . '/wp-content/uploads/' . $image_name; // Get the futur file path of the image

            if( !file_exists($file_path) ){ // Check if image is already in upload_dir

                // Check folder permission and define file location
                if( wp_mkdir_p( $upload_dir['path'] ) ) {
                    $file = $upload_dir['path'] . '/' . $filename;
                } else {
                    $file = $upload_dir['basedir'] . '/' . $filename;
                }

                // Create the image file on the server
                file_put_contents( $file, $image_data );

                // Check image file type
                $wp_filetype = wp_check_filetype( $filename, null );

                // Set attachment data
                $attachment = array(
                    'post_mime_type' => $wp_filetype['type'],
                    'post_title'     => sanitize_file_name( $filename ),
                    'post_content'   => '',
                    'post_status'    => 'inherit'
                );

                // Create the attachment
                $attach_id = wp_insert_attachment( $attachment, $file, $post_id );

                // Include image.php
                require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/media.php');
                require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/file.php');
                require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/image.php');

                // Define attachment metadata
                $attach_data = wp_generate_attachment_metadata( $attach_id, $file );

                // Assign metadata to attachment
                wp_update_attachment_metadata( $attach_id, $attach_data );

                // And finally assign featured image to post
                set_post_thumbnail( $post_id, $attach_id );
            }

        }

    }

Thanks a bunch!

• This topic was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by cocosay.