How can I add custom meta fields in categories?

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Does anyone have any idea how to add custom meta fields while making categories and fetch them in the loop in WordPress? I was wondering how to do that without hacking the WordPress core, but if I do รขย€ย“ it won’t become a hindrance to update WordPress in the future.

A plugin I have found that comes close is Wp-Category-Meta, but it doesn’t have the ability to add checkboxes as fields in Edit Categories.

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This will be very useful as users can make certain categories “featured”, and then the code can use that meta value in the loop to style “featured” categories differently.

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  1. The problem:
    Wordpress does not have a structure nor method to store “meta” values for taxonomies.

    UPDATE 2017: WP 4.4+ has “term meta”!

    For working with term metas use these:

    update_term_meta()

    get_term_meta()

    delete_term_meta()

    add_term_meta()

    The Actions below are still valid though! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Additional reading: 4.4 Taxonomy Roundup

    Solution for WP version <= 4.3.x and COMMON actions

    Actions:

    1. create_category and edit_category for category edit
    2. category_add_form_fields and category_edit_form for category form fields

    There are more actions than I’ve presented, but they seem to be deprecated (according to developer.wordpress.org).

    The reason I chose the actions that I chose:

    – They work on WordPress 4.4.2

    – Due to lack of documentation I assumed these are the new ones replacing the deprecated ones…

    Functions:

    1. get_option( $option, $default );
    2. update_option( $option, $new_value, $autoload );

    update_option has two great abilities:

    a) It craetes the option when such option does not exist yet

    Unless you need to specify the optional arguments of add_option(),
    update_option() is a useful catch-all for both adding and updating
    options.

    b) $new_value can be an integer, string, array, or object.

    You may ask, why to use array/object? …well, because each option = 1 database row => you probably want to store your category options in one row ๐Ÿ™‚

    The CODE

      function my_category_form_fields($tag_object){
    //output/display extra form fields, e.g. by echo ...
    //ADD EXTRA SPECIFIC FIELD TO LATER CHECK IF IT'S CATEGORY SAVE/EDIT!
    //(see note at 'edit_category' action...)

    if( !empty($tag_object['term_id']) ){
      //edit category form specific
      //...load existing options with get_option( $option, $default );
    } else {
      //create category form specific
    }
  }

  function my_category_save(){
    //CHECK FOR YOUR EXTRA SPECIFIC FIELD TO CHECK IF IT'S CATEGORY SAVE/EDIT
    //(see note at 'edit_category' action...)

    //SECURITY CHECK
    if( empty($_POST['EXTRA_SPECIFIC_FIELD']) || ! current_user_can('manage_categories') )
       return null;

    //save your form values using update_option()
    //Recommendation:
    //Add "category_" prefix and $category_id to your option name!
  }

  add_action( 'create_category', 'my_category_save', 10, 1 ); 

  //Runs when a category is updated/edited,
  //INCLUDING when a post or blogroll link is added/deleted or its categories are updated
  //(which causes the count for the category to update)
  add_action( 'edit_category',   'my_category_save', 10, 1 ); 

  add_action( 'category_add_form_fields', 'my_category_form_fields', 10, 1 ); 
  add_action( 'category_edit_form',       'my_category_form_fields', 10, 1 );

    Create or Edit?

    You might wonder whether you are creating or saving a category – this not documented yet (as far as I know), but from testing:

    1. Edit save => $tag_object is object and contains some properties, most notably:
      • term_id
      • taxonomy
      • filter
    2. Create save => $tag_object is just a regular string “category” – I guess this might change in the future…

    General taxonomy

    There are also actions like these for taxonomies in general – check these actions.