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Is it possible to make a meta box that attaches multiple images to a post?

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There is a complete tutorial for uploading several images adding meta-boxes to a post, page or custom post type at emenia.es/plugin-subir-imagenes-campo-personalizado-wordpress It's in Spanish, but I could get it running without problems. –  user11120 Dec 14 '11 at 12:43

4 Answers 4

up vote 6 down vote accepted

That depends entirely on what you mean by "attach."

Each WordPress post can already have multiple media attachments - photos, documents, etc. You upload these using the built-in uploader and they'll all be marked as "attached" to that specific post ID.

You can refer to these later programatically elsewhere. For example, the following code will list out all attachments for a specific post (code from Snipplr):

$args = array(
    'post_type' => 'attachment',
    'numberposts' => null,
    'post_status' => null,
    'post_parent' => $post->ID
$attachments = get_posts($args);
if ($attachments) {
    foreach ($attachments as $attachment) {
        the_attachment_link($attachment->ID, false);

All of this functionality is accessible via the default "Add Media" button to the far right of "Upload/Insert" on the new post screen. After you add one image, you can click "Select Files" again and upload a second image. Then a third. Then a fourth. As many as you want.

Each of these images will be "attached" to the post ... even if they're not inserted into the content.

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For some strange reason i can only get that code to output the first attachment in the template, even though the rest are attached. Any ideas? Here is the code... dl.dropbox.com/u/497583/code/wp-attactments.txt –  agileapricot Jan 12 '11 at 21:14
You need to use some different variables. You're using both $post and $args in at least two different contexts, which makes it very difficult to figure out exactly what it is you're trying to do at any one time. But I did test the code I posted above and it does work ... –  EAMann Jan 12 '11 at 21:30



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I second this. It works like a charm. –  Manny Fleurmond Jan 13 '11 at 5:05

I'd also recommend checking out http://www.wpalchemy.com . WPAlchemy is a kick ass "class" (near to a plugin) to easily add custom meta boxes to your site. I use it extensively and have been impressed by the ease of use and commitment of the developer and burgeoning community.

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Yes it's quite possible. See a response I got about metaboxes. Basically, you'll just want to add a hook for save_post and verify the nonce field.

function my_save_post_callback( $post_id, $post )
    if ( empty($_POST) || !isset($_POST['my_custom_metabox']) || !wp_verify_nonce( $_POST['my_custom_metabox'], plugin_basename( __FILE__ ) ) )
        return $post->ID;

    // Handle the upload here

add_action( 'save_post', 'my_save_post_callback', 1, 2);
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