Title: Advanced Custom Fields: Validated Field Author: doublesharp Published: Gwengolo 27, 2012 Last modified: Eost 19, 2015 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/validated-field-for-acf/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=1119508) This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress. ![](https://ps.w.org/validated-field-for-acf/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=1116693) # Advanced Custom Fields: Validated Field By [doublesharp](https://profiles.wordpress.org/doublesharp/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/validated-field-for-acf.1.7.7.zip) * [Details](https://bre.wordpress.org/plugins/validated-field-for-acf/#description) * [Reviews](https://bre.wordpress.org/plugins/validated-field-for-acf/#reviews) * [Installation](https://bre.wordpress.org/plugins/validated-field-for-acf/#installation) * [Development](https://bre.wordpress.org/plugins/validated-field-for-acf/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/validated-field-for-acf/) ## Description #### Validated Field Add-On The **Validated Field** add-on for [Advanced Custom Fields](https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/) provides a wrapper for other input types which allows you to provide client side input masking using the jQuery [Masked Input Plugin](http://digitalbush.com/projects/masked-input-plugin/), server side validation using either PHP regular expressions or PHP code, the option of ensuring a field’s uniqueness for all posts by `post_type` and `meta_key`, `post_type`, or site wide, or a single post by meta_key, as well as marking a field as read-only. Edit your fields in the ACF Field Group editor and update code using the ACE.js IDE with autocomplete and syntax validation. #### Features 1. **Input Masking** – easily set masks on text inputs to ensure data is properly formatted. 2. **Server-Side Validation** – validate the inputs using server side PHP code or regular expressions. 3. **Uniqueness** – ensure that the value being updated is not already in use. 4. **Repeater Fields** – validated fields within a [Repeater Field](http://www.advancedcustomfields.com/add-ons/repeater-field/). 5. **Read Only** – specify a field as read-only allowing it to be displayed but not updated. 6. **WordPress Multi Language** – compatible with multilingual sites using the WPML plugin. 7. **Conditional Logic** – show and hide validated fields based on the values of other“ switch” fields. #### Compatibility Requires [Advanced Custom Fields](https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/) version 4.0 or greater. ## Screenshots * [[ * Example configuration for input masking and regular expression checking of a telephone number field. * [[ * Example of client-side input masking on a telephone number field. * [[ * Example of failing to pass a regular expression check (phone number is incomplete). * [[ * Example of failing to pass a uniqueness check – the telephone number is already in use by post “Test 1”. * [[ * Example of PHP validation configuration. This code will fail if the request comes from “127.0.0.1” with the message “You cannot save from localhost!”. * [[ * Example of client side PHP validation failure. ## Installation 1. Download the plugin and extract to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory. 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress. 3. Configure validated fields within the Advanced Custom Fields menus. ## FAQ I’ve activated the Validated Field plugin, but nothing happens Ensure that you have [Advanced Custom Fields](https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/) installed and that it is activated. Validated Field will appear as a new input type in the field group editor. Configuration Options Global configurations for the Validated Field plugin can be found in the WordPress Admin under `Custom Fields > Validated Field Settings`. ## Reviews ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a19412b04521bfc6a1148a64d7a7e2e6cba87bfcfc6396799b6cf22a83e8cc63? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[does not work with 6.9](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/does-not-work-with-6-9/)󠁿 [quandt](https://profiles.wordpress.org/quandt/) Kerzu 17, 2025 Nope, crashes things. Be neat to update it. A simple regex on ACF (client side) fields would cover the 99% use case I can think of. Don’t see the point of upgrading to a pro version of ACF plus some other ‘free’ just for regex (after all regex has been around since the 60’s) ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b87644f25200be1605031513a75b9cd31cba292159b9942c7d5bec55b37b8f9c? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Doesn’t work in ACF Pro 5.6.2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/doesnt-work-in-acf-pro-5-6-2/)󠁿 [Jules Colle](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jules-colle/) Gwengolo 30, 2017 Adding my one star to inform people that this plugin is no longer working ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b38efc41cc224126770f8e6710ab0784a26c720d93a075dcd4000d369c661b67? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Doesn’t work with ACF 5.5](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/doesnt-work-with-acf-5-5/)󠁿 [BenM](https://profiles.wordpress.org/alysko/) Kerzu 13, 2016 It was a good plugin but unfortunately, it doesn’t work anymore. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e38681de00bc71d21fdcd7162975086f46f8433d82518277099d79ce17ad0dc9? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Still works](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/still-works-100/)󠁿 [plastisound](https://profiles.wordpress.org/plastisound/) miz Du 16, 2016 We use the extensión for custom develop and it’s a great surprise solve/fix/finish a part of code with this plugin. Thanks ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/241aec5dd577c986599aa49f4386a034ffb212e27eeac672b63fdc3c44366414? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Must have Powerfull acf addon!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/must-have-powerfull-acf-addon/)󠁿 [gino8080](https://profiles.wordpress.org/gino8080/) Gwengolo 3, 2016 Easy to use and powerfull addon for acf, you can validate with regex or php function! Must have! ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/efd60972670dbf86de6f105f405182d001b05b087530aaabc02cbadcb3519d52? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Straightforward to use](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/straightforward-to-use/)󠁿 [hectic](https://profiles.wordpress.org/hectic/) Gwengolo 3, 2016 Easy to implement validation. Essential for projects using ACF. [ Read all 22 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/validated-field-for-acf/reviews/) ## Contributors & Developers “Advanced Custom Fields: Validated Field” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ doublesharp ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/doublesharp/) [Translate “Advanced Custom Fields: Validated Field” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/validated-field-for-acf) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/validated-field-for-acf/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/validated-field-for-acf/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/validated-field-for-acf/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/validated-field-for-acf/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 1.7.7 * ACF4 - Update `json_encode()` to support PHP 5.2. #### 1.7.6 * ACF4 - Update for jQuery mask compatibility with ACF version 4.4.2+. - Improved support for use of single and double quotes within the validation pattern. - Use the same `eval()` implementation as ACF5 handler. - Derive add-on file basename for error handling. * ACF5 - Update for jQuery mask compatibility with ACF version 5.2.7+. - Derive add-on file basename for error handling. * Additional jQuery Masked Input options: - `Autoclear`: `Yes` or `No` – determine if a value should be automatically cleared if it does not match the mask. The previous default was `Yes`. - `Placeholder`: ‘char or string` – use a different character or string as a placeholder to be displayed as the user is entering their input. * Filters for future add-on support. * Updated Spanish translations. * Added Serbo-Croatian translations courtesy of Andrijana Nikolic / [WebHostingGeeks](http://webhostinggeeks.com/). #### 1.7.5 * Update for compatibility with ACF version 5.2.6+. #### 1.7.4 * Update CSS to properly handle visibility of validated fields via conditional logic when the default visibility is hidden for new entries. * Bug fix: Remove warning when trying to access the Post ID when it is not available, on Options pages for example. #### 1.7.3 * Replace call to `acf_render_field_settings()` with action `acf/render_field_settings/ type=?` to support ACF 5.2.3+. #### 1.7.2 * Allow `$message` to be returned from PHP code instead of `false` to fail validation. - Example code: `if ( !filter_var( $value, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL ) ) return 'You must use a valid URL.';` - Validation will fail if `$value` is not a URL, otherwise the default validation return is `true`. * Clean up handling of read only/hidden select fields. * Include additional default sub field values to prevent array index errors. * Update to work with the latest version of ACF JavaScript validation – requires nested `DIV` to properly append error message to the correct input field. #### 1.7.1 * Update for compatibility with new Repeater/select2 implementation in ACF. * Dynamically copy field from parent to sub field allowing for greater flexibility in sub field type support. * Remove old code/comments. * Bug fix: Only trigger “change” event on sub field type when the field is a clone, not an existing field. * Bug fix: Fix processing of sub field “name” to correctly trigger ACF filters. #### 1.6 * Show info/error message when input masking is used with the “number” field type as they are not compatible. * Upgrade to jQuery Masked Input version 1.4.1. * **ACF5 only:** - Include unique value options of “Post” and “Post + Key”. - Check submitted values for duplicates when the field type is unique. This fixes the issue where duplicate values are added to a unique repeater field, or the same value is entered for multiple meta_keys when the unique type is“ global”, “post type”, or “post”. * Bug fix: Correctly call `$wpdb->esc_like()` as instance method for “globally unique” fields. * Bug fix: Improve field/sub field handling and to correctly populate “id” for use in HTML CSS selectors. #### 1.5.1 * Bug fix: Use better supported PHP syntax for getting repeater field index, props @dnrms. #### 1.5 * Increase height of ACE editor. * Improve jQuery selectors for WordPress Admin functionality. * Replace deprecated `like_escape()` function with `$wpdb->esc_like()`. * Update read-only icon on edit screens. * Bug fix: Undefined array index errors. * Bug fix: Repeater field unique validation for post type and post type + key. * Bug fix: WPML field unique validation for post type and post type + key. * Bug fix: UI display controls for pattern/ACE editor. #### 1.4 * Support for Advanced Custom Fields 5.0. * The `$inputs` variable is now available using and index of `meta_key` and returning an array with the values “field”, “value”, and “prev_value”. * Fix for custom “post_id” string value instead of and integer value. * Host `ace.js` libraries locally and upgrade to version 1.1.7. - Increase size of PHP editor. - Support for PHP snippets and autocomplete. - New editor functions: Search (`Ctrl+F`/`Cmd+F`), Replace (`Ctrl+Alt+F`/`Cmd +Opt+F`), and Replace All (`Ctrl+Alt+Shft+F`/`Cmd+Opt+Shft+F`). * Host `fontawesome.css` CSS and fonts locally and upgrade to version 4.2. * Upgraded jQuery Masked Input plugin to version 1.4. * Better support for Relationship field settings – only load sub field when the action is `acf/fields/relationship/query_posts` (ACF4) or `acf/fields/relationship/ query` (ACF5). * For ACF 5+ only: - The new [`acf/validate_value`](http://www.advancedcustomfields.com/resources/acf-validate_value/) filter is used for better compatibility and performance. - Get rid of inline JavaScript in the WordPress Admin and leverage ACF JavaScript events. * For ACF 4 only: - Compatibility with tabbed layouts (natively supported in ACF 5) #### 1.3.1 * Bug Fix: Apply input masking to fields for new posts, not just editing existing ones. #### 1.3 * Support front end validation using [`acf_form()`](http://www.advancedcustomfields.com/resources/functions/acf_form/). * Support for WPML, props @gunnyst. * Move configuration to WordPress Admin under `Custom Fields > Validated Field Settings`. - Debug – enable debugging, defaults to off. - Drafts – enable draft validation, defaults to on. - Front End – enable front end validation, defaults to off. - Front End Admin CSS – enable `acf_form_head()` to enqueue an admin theme, defaults to on. * Improved SQL for unique queries to support Relationship fields – check both arrays and single IDs. * Fix conflicts with ACF client side validation (required fields, etc). * Fix reference to `$sub_field['read_only']` with `$field['read_only']` for jQuery masking, props @johnny_br. #### 1.2.7 * Bug Fix: Post Preview fix when WordPress ‘click’ event triggers a ‘submit’ before the clicked element can be tracked by the plugin. * Added comments to unpacked JavaScript. #### 1.2.6 * Critical Bug Fix: Fix compatibility issues with Firefox. #### 1.2.5.1 * Remove debug `error_log()` statement from v1.2.5. #### 1.2.5 * Finish text localization, include `es_ES` translation. * Pack and compress validation javascript. * Bug Fix: prevent PHP array index notice for non-repeater fields. * Code formatting. #### 1.2.3 * Support for globally bypassing Draft/Preview validation by setting `ACF_VF_DRAFTS` to `false`. * Support for bypassing Draft/Preview validation per field (defaults to validate). * Bug fixes: properly hide Draft spinner, cleaned up JavaScript. #### 1.2.2 * Properly include plugin version number on JavaScript enqueue for caching and PHP notices. * Use minified JavaScript unless `ACF_VF_DEBUG` is set to `true`. * Tested up to WordPress 3.9.1 #### 1.2.1 * Show ‘Validation Failed’ message in header as needed. * Mark form as dirty when input element values change. * Fix return of `$message` from field configuration to UI. #### 1.2 * Support for [Repeater Field](http://www.advancedcustomfields.com/add-ons/repeater-field/) Validated Fields. * Support for debugging with `ACF_VF_DEBUG` constant. * Clean up variable names, more code standardization. * Better handling of required fields with validation. #### 1.1.1.1 * Remove debug `error_log()` statement from v1.1.1. #### 1.1.1 * Clean up PHP to WordPress standards. * Fix PHP Notice breaking AJAX call. * Use defaults to prevent invalid array indexes. * Update JavaScript for UI Errors. * More localization prep for text. #### 1.1 * Add Read-only functionality (beta). * Use standard ACF error/messaging. * Correctly process “preview” clicks, fixes error where the post would be published. * Register CSS only in required locations. * Properly apply subfield filters for `acf/load_value/type=`, `acf/update_value/ type=`, `acf/format_value/type=`, `acf/format_value_for_api/type=`, `acf/load_field/ type=`, `acf/update_field/type=`. * Tested up to WordPress 3.9. #### 1.0.7 * Critical bug fix for selecting Validated Field type. #### 1.0.6 * Bug fix `$sub_field` properties not saving (use `acf/create_field_options` action). * Bug fix multiple Validated Fields in a set – correct to always use unique selectors. * Allow for unique query to be run on selected post statuses. * Set default statuses included in unique queries with filter of `acf_vf/unique_statuses`. * Remove redundant table wrapper on validated fields. * Clean up potential strict PHP warnings. #### 1.0.5 * Hide spinner for update if a validation error is encountered. * Allow for uniqueness queries to apply to only published or all post statuses. * Clean up debugging code writing to the error log for regex validations. #### 1.0.4 * Fix javascript error when including ace.js, props @nikademo. * Fix “Undefined index” PHP notice, props @ikivanov. #### 1.0.3 * Bug fix for unique field values per `post_type`. Props @ikivanov. #### 1.0.2 * Bug fix for editing a validated field. Ensure proper type is selected and UI refresh is triggered. Props @fab4_33. #### 1.0.1 * Clean up strict warnings #### 1.0 * Update for compatibility with Advanced Custom Fields 4+ * Implement ace.js for syntax highlighting #### 0.1 * Initial version. ## Meta * Version **1.7.7** * Last updated **11 years ago** * Active installations **200+** * WordPress version ** 3.0 or higher ** * Tested up to **4.3.34** * Language * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/validated-field-for-acf/) * Tags * [acf](https://bre.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/acf/)[advanced custom fields](https://bre.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/advanced-custom-fields/) [regex](https://bre.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/regex/)[validate](https://bre.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/validate/) [validation](https://bre.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/validation/) * [Advanced View](https://bre.wordpress.org/plugins/validated-field-for-acf/advanced/) ## Ratings 4.5 out of 5 stars. * [ 19 5-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/validated-field-for-acf/reviews/?filter=5) * [ 0 4-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/validated-field-for-acf/reviews/?filter=4) * [ 0 3-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/validated-field-for-acf/reviews/?filter=3) * [ 0 2-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/validated-field-for-acf/reviews/?filter=2) * [ 3 1-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/validated-field-for-acf/reviews/?filter=1) [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/validated-field-for-acf/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/validated-field-for-acf/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ doublesharp ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/doublesharp/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/validated-field-for-acf/)