WooCommerce how to update product category description and thumbnail ID

Question

I've got an array of data with which I'd like to update my products categories (taxanomy) metadata. Specifically, I'm trying to update description as well as thumbnail url values. I tried to use multiple wordpress functions but none of them worked! I didn't get any error but those values didn't get updated either.

$row_data = array(
      'Term ID' => 150,
      'Name' => "my 1st category",
      'Slug' => "my-1st-category",
      'Term URI' => "",
      'Parent Term ID' => "",
      'Description' => "My best description on this category that would change your life forever!",
      'Display Type' => "",
      'Image' => "https://myexample.site/wp-content/"
    );

// This did not work!
wp_update_term($row_data['Term ID'], 'product_cat', $row_data);  

// This did not work either!
update_term_meta($row_data['Term ID'], 'description', $row_data['Description']);  

// This did not work either!
update_woocommerce_term_meta($row_data['Term ID'],  'thumbnail_id',  $row_data['Image']);

Is there something that i'm missing?

Is thumbnail_id the right field name that i'm using here?

Is update_woocommerce_term_meta the right function for updating the thumbnail url?

Thank you.

`update_term_meta($row_data['Term ID'], 'description', $row_data['Description']);` working fine for me. — Bhautik, Apr 07 '21 at 07:04
@Bhautik Thank you for taking a look at this. Is that right? hmmmmmm interesting! Can't get it to work on my end! What about the other one? Do you happen to know anything about the ```thumbnail url``` field? Can't find its field name in the database either, neither can i find the "right" function for updating that. — Ruvee, Apr 07 '21 at 12:03
@Bhautik I ran it on a page of my website (in development). i didn't hook it to any action/filter hook. — Ruvee, Apr 07 '21 at 13:32

LoicTheAztec · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-07T16:41:16.110

The main problem come from your array keys that are wrong to insert or update a term.

From your custom array (updated):

$row_data = array(
    'Term ID'        => 150,
    'Name'           => 'my 1st category',
    'Slug'           => 'my-1st-category',
    'Taxonomy'       => 'product_cat'
    'Parent Term ID' => 0,
    'Description'    => __("My best description on this category that would change your life forever!", "woocommerce"),
    'Display Type'   => "",
    'Image ID'       => "356",
);

To update term description, use WordPress wp_update_term() function as follows:

wp_update_term( $row_data['Term ID'], $row_data['Taxonomy'], array('description' => $row_data['Description']) );

To update the thumbnail ID (and not an Image URL), use update_term_meta() function as follows:

update_term_meta( $row_data['Term ID'], 'thumbnail_id', $row_data['Image ID'] );

Both are tested an works.

To insert a new term you will use WordPress wp_insert_term() function like:

$term_data = wp_insert_term( $row_data['Name'], $row_data['Taxonomy'], array(
    'description' => $row_data['Description'],
    'slug'        => $row_data['Slug'],
    'parent'      => $row_data['Parent Term ID'],
) );

if ( ! empty($row_data['Display Type']) ) {
    update_term_meta( $row_data['Term ID'], 'display_type', $row_data['Display Type'] );

if ( ! empty($row_data['Image ID']) ) {
    update_term_meta( $row_data['Term ID'], 'thumbnail_id', $row_data['Image ID'] );
}

Thanks so much for debugging this, I really appreciate it. For "description" it worked. I'm sure for the "'thumbnail_id'" would work too. But the problem is, I have the actual "url" to the thumbnail, I don't have the "id" of that thumbnail. I guess I have to find a way to find the ```thumbnail id``` using the ```thumbnail url```. — Ruvee, Apr 07 '21 at 16:37

WooCommerce how to update product category description and thumbnail ID

1 Answers1