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I am currently trying to create a Wordpress plugin which create posts in the Wordpress database based on data from an external JSON API. As an example this NewsAPI feed could be used:

https://newsapi.org/v2/top-headlines?sources=techcrunch&apiKey=81143272da6c48d58bc38fe80dd110d6

The plugin I have written decodes the JSON data by using json_decode and loops through the article object in the JSON feed. Finally, the posts is being inserted programmatically using wp_insert_post:

<?php /** * Plugin Name: Automatic News Feed Importer * Version: 1.0.0 */ function news_importer() { $url = "https://newsapi.org/v2/top-headlines?sources=techcrunch&apiKey=81143272da6c48d58bc38fe80dd110d6"; $response = wp_remote_get( $url ); $data = json_decode( wp_remote_retrieve_body( $response ) ); foreach( $data->articles as $news ) { $post_title = $news->title; $post_content = $news->content; $post_date = $news->publishedAt; $post = array( 'post_title' => $post_title, 'post_content' => $post_content, 'post_date' => $post_date, 'post_status' => 'publish', 'post_type' => 'post' ); wp_insert_post( $post ); } }

My problem is that when the plugin is activated, no posts are creating and added to the database. When a new post is uploaded and appearing in the feed it has to be uploaded automatically (asynchronously).

Any ideas on why this isn't working?

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    Are you sure you're getting data back from the server? I tried your URL and got an error. (Also, if that's your personal API key, you'll probably want to get it changed, since these questions are publicly visible.)
    – Pat J
    CommentedFeb 3, 2023 at 16:56
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    How are you calling news_importer()? You've defined it in your plugin, where are calling it from?
    – darrinb
    CommentedFeb 3, 2023 at 21:12
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    I agree with @Pat and @darrinb. Are you sure the API actually returned a valid data containing the articles array - have you confirmed $data->articles is set, and that news_importer() and wp_insert_post() were both called? Also, you could try setting the 2nd parameter to true (e.g. $post_id = wp_insert_post( $post, true );), and check if an error is returned - see example here.
    – Sally CJ
    CommentedFeb 4, 2023 at 3:09

2 Answers 2

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By checking if the 'products' object exists in an if statement and looping through the objects (as in the code above), the function seems to be working:

function json_to_post() { $response = wp_remote_get('https://dummyjson.com/products'); $json_data = wp_remote_retrieve_body($response); $data = json_decode($json_data, true); if (isset($data['products'])) { $products = $data['products']; foreach ($products as $post) { $title = $post['title']; $content = $post['description']; $new_post = array( 'post_title' => $title, 'post_content' => $content, 'post_status' => 'publish', 'post_type' => 'post' ); wp_insert_post($new_post); } } } add_action('init', 'json_to_post');
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  • Can you instead add this as an additional info in your post/question? And add other details like, 1) How and when do you call news_importer() - have you confirmed the function is actually being called? 2) What exactly is the error the API in question returned? 3) Have you tried setting the $wp_error parameter to true - see my comment on your question. As for your code in this answer, though, if news_importer did run, then the problem was likely that post_category must be an array of category IDs.
    – Sally CJ
    CommentedFeb 4, 2023 at 13:51
  • Hi Sally. Thank you very much for your feedback. By using your suggestions, I have managed to come up with a solution which seems to be working. Kindly see the edited answer above.
    – Joachim
    CommentedFeb 4, 2023 at 16:23
  • Yes, that looks fine now, but you could do if ( ! is_array( $data ) || empty( $data['products'] ) ) { return; } foreach ... instead of if ( isset( $data['products'] ) ) { foreach ... }. However, this answer didn't answer your question.. But validating a data and checking for errors is always good, e.g. don't simply access the products without first validating it's set. Also, be sure to check the arguments accepted by wp_insert_post(), e.g. supply an array if the argument expects an array. And lastly, I assumed init was used just for testing...
    – Sally CJ
    CommentedFeb 4, 2023 at 16:47
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There's a ready built plugin that does exactly this:

https://wpgetapi.com/downloads/custom-post-import/

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