I’m checking out how a particular plugin works and noticed that it stores its data for option_value in wp_options in this array format…
a:2:{i:20;a:2:{s:8:”original”;s:15:”20.original.jpg”;s:9:”thumbnail”;s:12:”20.thumb.jpg”;}i:8;a:2:{s:8:”original”;s:14:”8.original.png”;s:9:”thumbnail”;s:11:”8.thumb.png”;}}
I like this method, since it only uses a single row to hold my custom data, uninstall cleanup is easy. Is there a standard way to do a get/set operation on a custom field that results in this syntax?
Update: Thanks to Denis and the others who’ve added responses.
Here’s an excellent tutorial on this method in case anyone else has this question > http://striderweb.com/nerdaphernalia/2008/07/consolidate-options-with-arrays/
Just pass an array when updating your option. It will be serialized automatically.
The serialization is done automatically, but if you want to know how to do this manually the function to look at is called serialize()
As per other answers (un)serialization is performed automatically on more complex data formats (arrays, objects) when options are stored or retrieved. This also applies to transients and other functionality.
Technically this is performed by internal usage
maybe_serialize()andmaybe_unserialize()functions that try to determine if data needs to be processed or passed as is.