Title: String Combine field
Last modified: December 30, 2025

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# String Combine field

 *  Resolved [Matt Knowles](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aestheticdesign/)
 * (@aestheticdesign)
 * [3 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/string-combine-field-2/)
 * The database we used to import our records has the date fields as 3 fields, month,
   day, and year. We’d like to display them as one date, such as 9/3/1881. I set
   up a string combine field, and entered the template, but I’m not getting any 
   data in the displayed field.
 * Is the field generated on the fly, or do I need to reimport the data so that 
   it gets generated?
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fstring-combine-field-2%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

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

 *  Plugin Author [rolandbarker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rolandbarker/)
 * (@rolandbarker)
 * [3 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/string-combine-field-2/#post-18771352)
 * You don’t need to reimport. When the template for the string combine field is
   changed and saved, the plugin attempts to update the field’s value in all the
   records. If it looks like that hasn’t happened, first, check that the template
   syntax is correct, and it correctly refers to the source fields. Also, if any
   of the source fields are empty, the string combine value may not be updated.
 * If it looks like things aren’t working like they should, you can use the [plugin’s debugger](https://xnau.com/using-the-participants-database-debugging-log/)
   to see the details as the field values are updated. To trigger an update, you
   will need to change the template (temporarily to something similar), then check
   the debugging log.
 *  Thread Starter [Matt Knowles](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aestheticdesign/)
 * (@aestheticdesign)
 * [3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/string-combine-field-2/#post-18778520)
 * I have 3 fields I’m trying to combine
   1. Burial_MO2. Burial_Day3. Burial_YR
 * I want to display them a 1 formatted date field such as mm/dd/yyyy
 * I added a field with type String Combine and a template of [Burial_MO]/[Burial_Day]/[
   Burial_YR]
 * I’ve tried it with and without the slashes in between the fields but either way
   the display ends up blank even though there is data in the fields
 * Here’s the log file info. Not sure what the records having to do with Nextgen
   Gallery have anything to do with it.
 * `[01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_fields\string_combine::replaced_string field: burial_date
   replacement data: Array
   ()[01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_fields\dynamic_db_field::update_record
   query: UPDATE wpvk_participants_database SET burial_date = NULL WHERE id = '7535'[
   01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_fields\string_combine::replaced_string field: burial_date
   replacement data: Array()[01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_fields\dynamic_db_field::update_record
   query: UPDATE wpvk_participants_database SET burial_date = NULL WHERE id = '7536'[
   01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_fields\string_combine::replaced_string field: burial_date
   replacement data: Array()[01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_fields\dynamic_db_field::update_record
   query: UPDATE wpvk_participants_database SET burial_date = NULL WHERE id = '7537'[
   01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_fields\string_combine::replaced_string field: burial_date
   replacement data: Array()[01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_fields\dynamic_db_field::update_record
   query: UPDATE wpvk_participants_database SET burial_date = NULL WHERE id = '7538'[
   01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_fields\string_combine::replaced_string field: burial_date
   replacement data: Array()[01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_fields\dynamic_db_field::update_record
   query: UPDATE wpvk_participants_database SET burial_date = NULL WHERE id = '7539'[
   01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_Manage_Fields_Updates::update_fields update fields: UPDATE
   wpvk_participants_database_fields SET title = 'Burial_Date', group = 'main', 
   form_element = 'string-combine', help_text = NULL, options = NULL, validation_message
   = NULL, default = '[Burial_MO] [Burial_Day] [Burial_YR]', attributes = 'a:0:{}',
   signup = '0', csv = '0', readonly = NULL, sortable = '0', persistent = NULL WHERE
   id = '44'[01/08/26 2:48am UTC]file_put_contents(/tmp/pope_cache): Failed to open
   stream: Permission deniedin /home/ferndalecemetery/public_html/wp/wp-content/
   plugins/nextgen-gallery/vendor/imagely/pope-framework/lib/class.pope_cache.php
   on line 227[01/08/26 2:48am UTC]PDb_List::_setup_iteration list query: SELECT
   p.id, p.last_name, p.first_name, p.section, p.block, p.lot, p.burial_yr, p.burial_mo,
   p.burial_day, p.nativity, p.age, p.burial_id FROM wpvk_participants_database 
   p ORDER BY p.last_name ASC[01/08/26 2:51am UTC]file_put_contents(/tmp/pope_cache):
   Failed to open stream: Permission deniedin /home/ferndalecemetery/public_html/
   wp/wp-content/plugins/nextgen-gallery/vendor/imagely/pope-framework/lib/class.
   pope_cache.php on line 227
 *  Plugin Author [rolandbarker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rolandbarker/)
 * (@rolandbarker)
 * [3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/string-combine-field-2/#post-18779406)
 * The field names in your template look incorrect, shouldn’t be any upper case 
   letters in those. Take a look at the field name (not the title) as defined on
   the Manage Database Fields page.
 * In the error log, you see:
 * `PDb_fields\string_combine::replaced_string field: burial_date replacement data:
   Array()`
 * This is telling you it’s not finding the source data, most likely because the
   names in the template don’t match the field names..
 *  Thread Starter [Matt Knowles](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aestheticdesign/)
 * (@aestheticdesign)
 * [3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/string-combine-field-2/#post-18779538)
 * So I fixed that and now the log shows the field being populated, but it’s still
   not showing up on the screen display.
 * Log:
 * [01/08/26 7:17pm UTC]PDb_fields\string_combine::replaced_string field: burial_date
   replacement data: Array
   (  [burial_mo] => 11  [value:burial_mo] => 11  [burial_day]
   => 27  [value:burial_day] => 27  [burial_yr] => 1920  [value:burial_yr] => 1920)[
   01/08/26 7:17pm UTC]PDb_fields\dynamic_db_field::update_record query: UPDATE `
   wpvk_participants_database` SET `burial_date` = ’11/27/1920′ WHERE `id` = ‘7301’
 * Screen Display:
 * [https://ferndalecemetery.com/census-detail/?pdb=7301](https://ferndalecemetery.com/census-detail/?pdb=7301)
 *  Plugin Author [rolandbarker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rolandbarker/)
 * (@rolandbarker)
 * [3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/string-combine-field-2/#post-18779553)
 * So, the string combine value is in the database, you can see that in the write
   query, so what you’re seeing is likely a caching issue.
 *  Thread Starter [Matt Knowles](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aestheticdesign/)
 * (@aestheticdesign)
 * [3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/string-combine-field-2/#post-18779596)
 * I’ve tried going to detail pages I haven’t visited before, and tried my phone,
   which is on a different network, and the field still isn’t showing even when 
   there is data in the three fields. I do not have any caching plugins installed
   on this site.
 * So it’s not a caching issue. Any other ideas?
 * I double checked using phpMyAdmin and the string combine fields have the data.
 *  Plugin Author [rolandbarker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rolandbarker/)
 * (@rolandbarker)
 * [3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/string-combine-field-2/#post-18779601)
 * Try saving the record, the plugin has its own cache and that will clear it.
 *  Thread Starter [Matt Knowles](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aestheticdesign/)
 * (@aestheticdesign)
 * [2 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/string-combine-field-2/#post-18795288)
 * I finally got a chance to work on the issue some more and the combined fields
   were now displaying. So the plugin cache must have been the issue since I had
   flushed all the other caches and using new devices/browsers didn’t work either.

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

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 * 8 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Matt Knowles](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aestheticdesign/)
 * Last activity: [2 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/string-combine-field-2/#post-18795288)
 * Status: resolved