Block Bindings

Connect ACPT fields to core WordPress blocks using the native Block Bindings API

WordPress's own Block Bindings API lets you connect a supported block attribute — like a Paragraph's text, or an Image's URL — directly to a data source, without needing one of ACPT's own dedicated Gutenberg blocks. ACPT registers itself as a binding source (acpt/field), so any bindable meta field can be connected to a supported core block from WordPress's native Connect UI.

This is different from ACPT's own Basic fields block, Relational fields block, and Repeater & Flexible Content blocks. Block Bindings connect a field to an attribute of WordPress's own core blocks (Paragraph, Heading, Image, Button); ACPT's blocks are dedicated blocks in their own right.

Requirements

Block Bindings requires WordPress 6.7 or later. On older WordPress versions, the feature is simply unavailable — ACPT's other Gutenberg blocks are unaffected either way.

WordPress 6.5 introduced the server-side half of the Block Bindings API; the client-side function ACPT needs to register its own source in the editor's Connect UI landed two releases later, in 6.7 — that's why 6.7 is the practical minimum.

Connecting a field to a block

1. Add (or select) one of the supported blocks below.

2. Open the block's Attributes panel in the settings sidebar.

3. Click the attribute you want to connect.

4. Choose ACPT Custom Fields as the source, then pick a field from the list.

Only fields whose value can be represented as the attribute's own type are offered — WordPress itself filters the list, so you'll only ever see genuinely compatible fields for the attribute you're connecting.

Supported blocks and attributes

Block	Attribute(s)
Paragraph	Content
Heading	Content
Image	URL, Alt text, Title
Button	Text, URL

ACPT's own binding source doesn't restrict itself to this specific list of blocks — it's WordPress core that currently only exposes these attributes to the Block Bindings Connect UI. As WordPress core adds bindings support to more blocks/attributes, any compatible ACPT field automatically becomes connectable there too, with no ACPT update required.

Supported field types

The following field types can be used in a block binding: Text, Textarea, ID, Number, Email, Password, Select, Select Multi, Radio, Checkbox, List, Toggle, Date, Date Range, Time, Color, Editor, URL, Image, File.

Fields of other types — Repeater, Flexible Content, Gallery, and other structural/relational field types — can't be represented as a single attribute value, so they never appear as a connectable option.

Being in this list makes a field eligible for block bindings (and is what makes the Allow in block bindings toggle below appear on that field) — it doesn't guarantee the field can actually be connected to one of the blocks/attributes above today. Because Paragraph, Heading, Image, and Button's bindable attributes are all plain text, Number, Select Multi, Checkbox, List, Toggle, and Date Range fields won't currently show up as a connectable option for any of them, even though they're technically eligible. They'll become usable the moment WordPress core exposes a matching non-text attribute on a supported block.

For URL, Image, and File fields, only the underlying URL is bound by default — connecting one to the Image block's Alt text or Title attribute automatically supplies the image/file's alt text or title instead, not its URL.

Where a field is bindable

• Custom post type fields are only offered while editing a post of the matching post type — or, in the Site Editor, on a single-{post type}/archive-{post type} template.

• Taxonomy fields are only offered in the Site Editor, on a taxonomy-{taxonomy} template.

• Option page fields are always available, in every context.

Editing a bound field inline

Inline editing is newer and more experimental than the rest of Block Bindings support — expect rough edges.

For some bound fields, you can edit the value directly inside the block in the editor, the same way you'd edit any other block content — no need to go back to the field's own settings screen. The edit is saved immediately back to the underlying field's real stored value, independent of the post's own Update/Publish button.

Whether the inline-edit control actually appears for a given binding depends on all of the following:

• Field type — only Text, Textarea, Editor, Number, and Email fields can be edited inline. Every other bindable field type (including Select, Select Multi, Radio, Checkbox, List, Toggle, Date, Date Range, Time, Color, Phone, URL, Image, and File) remains read-only inside the block; use the field's own settings screen to change its value.

• Location — only custom post type and option page fields can be edited inline. Taxonomy fields are never editable inline — they can still be connected (read-only) on a Site Editor taxonomy-{taxonomy} template, same as before, but there's no reliable way for the editor to know which specific term to save an edit back to.

• Permission — you need the same capability required to manage WordPress Settings (Administrators, by default). Editors and Authors without that capability will see the bound value but can't edit it inline, even if the field type and location otherwise qualify.

• Whether WordPress core supports editing for that specific block/attribute — WordPress core, not ACPT, decides which bound block attributes get an inline-editing affordance at all (independent from which attributes are merely connectable, covered above). This can vary by WordPress version.

The Allow in block bindings toggle (below) still applies — a field disallowed there is neither connectable nor editable, regardless of its type.

Allow or disallow a field from block bindings

Every field of a supported type is bindable by default. To exclude a specific field, open its settings in the Meta Fields Manager and, in the Advanced options tab, turn off Allow in block bindings.

This toggle only appears for field types that support block bindings at all (see the list above) — it isn't shown for a field type that could never be bound in the first place.