How to Get Custom Post Type Featured Image URL in WordPress

WordPress is a powerful content management system that allows users to create and manage various types of content. One of its key features is the ability to create custom post types, which enables you to organize and display different types of content on your website. When working with custom post types, it’s common to display a featured image associated with each post. In this article, we will explore the methods to retrieve the featured image URL of a custom post type in WordPress.

Method 1: Using the get_post_thumbnail_id() function

WordPress provides a handy function called get_post_thumbnail_id() that retrieves the ID of the featured image associated with a post. To obtain the URL of the featured image, you can combine this function with wp_get_attachment_image_src(). Here’s an example:

$post_id = get_the_ID(); // Get the ID of the current post
$featured_image_id = get_post_thumbnail_id($post_id); // Get the ID of the featured image
$featured_image_url = wp_get_attachment_image_src($featured_image_id, 'full')[0]; // Get the URL of the featured image

// Output the featured image URL
echo $featured_image_url;

Method 2: Using the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin

If you’re using the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin, you can make use of its built-in functions to retrieve the featured image URL. Here are the steps:

1. Install and activate the ACF plugin.
2. Create a new field group and add a “Featured Image” field of the “Image” type.
3. Assign the field group to the desired custom post type.
4. In your template file, you can use the following code to retrieve the featured image URL:

$featured_image_url = get_field('featured_image', get_the_ID()); // Get the URL of the featured image using ACF

// Output the featured image URL
echo $featured_image_url;

Conclusion:

Obtaining the featured image URL for a custom post type in WordPress is crucial for displaying relevant and visually appealing content on your website. By using the get_post_thumbnail_id() function combined with wp_get_attachment_image_src() or leveraging the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin, you can easily retrieve the featured image URL and incorporate it into your custom post type templates. Remember to customize the code according to your specific requirements and make sure to handle cases where a featured image might not be set for a particular post.