[Resolved] acfml after update above v2.0.5 empty postmeta fields are added to db

I updated our plugins on your staging site and ran further tests.

I created one post with WPML, translated this post, and created one original post without WPML active and I see the same results for all three posts on the database.

See screenshots.

Could you please test again and in case the issue persists, provide me with more detailed steps on how to replicate the issue?

Thank you for the provided details, as we need to know exactly which steps to take to be able to replicate the issue.

WPML was activated on my test and I even updated our plugins to the latest available version. Only I did not enter any values into any fields, apart from the page title.

Post ID 9336:
This is the original post. I see that inside the group "News Infos" you added "Autor", "Leistung" and "Teasertext".

Post ID 9338:
This is the translation of this post and the fields were translated as expected on Frontend.

I understand right, that the unexpected issue is the appearance of additional fields on the postmeta table, when translating the custom post manually, correct?

Here "link", "url" and "button".

Is it possible that your field groups use those field names more than ones?

If various field groups use the same field name, please take note that each field name in and between each group should be unique.

The next step I would take now is to revise the ACF Field Groups on the backend and verify which translation setting the groups are using, but I do not have access to ACF. Also, I do need this information to understand where the unexpected field entries are coming from.

I need to be able to see all your field groups to investigate this issue, which is why I deactivated "Admin Columns Pro" but I still can not see ACF on the backend.

Before I proceed I have a few questions:

1) Are you registering ACF here programmatically?

2) I see you are using custom addons for ACF, like "Advanced Custom Fields: Extended PRO // MUEVO extended" and "ACF Multisite Options // MUEVO Extended". Did you already make sure to test if the issue persists if you disable those plugins?

3) Is it possible to network-wide disable plugins on this site, so that I can run further tests?

4) Is it possible to install a File Manager PLugin so that I can take a look at the files?

Thank you for your message!

Here is the link to the test site:
hidden link

WPML plus Addons and ACF PRO are already installed.

Please leave me a quick message once the site is ready for testing.

Thank you for the provided example. I was able to recreate the issue with a new group that only includes a Flexible Content Group with a text field plus url and link fields.

We have now included a workaround on the test site.

Edit \sitepress-multilingual-cms\classes\custom-field-translation\class-wpml-copy-once-custom-field.php
on line 36 replace

$custom_fields     = get_post_meta( $post_id );

with

$custom_fields     = get_post_meta( $post_id );
$custom_fields_to_copy = array_intersect(array_keys((array) get_post_meta( $source_element_id )), $custom_fields_to_copy);

If I test now with a new post the issues seem solved.

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Could you please run another test and let me know if you can still replicate the issue?

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Please take note, that when working with ACF, each field name should be unique. You should not use the same field name more than once, or you will run into issues if you try to call the fields by PHP or try to translate them with the WPML Translation Editor.

A release for the fix is panned in the upcoming version of "Advanced Custom Fields Multilingual 2.1.4". I do not have a release date for this version.

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We do not recommend using the same field name twice, whether it is inside one group or between all groups.

Make sure each of the custom fields across your different field groups has a unique Field Name. If you use the same Field Name with more than one custom field, you may not see all your field values available for translation in the Advanced Translation Editor.

Source: https://wpml.org/documentation/related-projects/translate-sites-built-with-acf/

Another example:

Declaring a field name "title".

Calling the field in PHP:

the_field('title');

This can cause unexpected results and this is a reason why also the ACF-Team suggests using only unique names for each field.