How to Upload Multiple Images with <MediaUpload>

Now so long ago I published a tutorial about creating a custom image control component for plugin sidebars. The very first question in the comments was “How to select multiple files”?

So let’s dive into it now.

First things first let me show you what we are going to create here.

This feature is also a part of my plugin and once the plugin is installed on your website, you can easily create a gallery in Gutenberg sidebars with a small PHP snippet below.

add_filter( 'simple_register_sidebars', function( $sidebars ) {

	$sidebars[] = array(
		'id' => 'misha-test',
		'post_type' => 'page',
		'name' => 'Misha Test',
		'icon' => 'format-gallery',
		'fields' => array(
			array(
				'id' => 'my_gallery',
				'label' => 'Gallery',
				'type' => 'gallery',
			)
		)
	);

	return $sidebars;

} );

But now let’s do it without any plugins step by step.

I recommend to begin with registering meta for our custom field. In order to do so we have to use register_meta() function. I recommend to store an array of image IDs as a meta value, which means that we have to provide the following parameters into the function.

register_meta(
	'post', 
	'misha_gallery', 
	array(
		'type' => 'array',
		'single' => true,
		'show_in_rest' => array(
			'schema' => array( 
				'type'  => 'array', 
				'items' => array( 
					'type' => 'integer' 
				)
			)
		)
	)
)

A little bit more explanation of show_in_rest and schema you can find here.

And the component itself:

const { Button, BaseControl } = window.wp.components
const { MediaUpload, MediaUploadCheck } = window.wp.blockEditor
const { useSelect, useDispatch } = window.wp.data

const RudrGalleryControl = ( props ) => {

	const { imageIds, images } = useSelect( select => {

		const ids = select( 'core/editor' ).getEditedPostAttribute( 'meta' )[ props.metaKey ];
		const images = [];
		
		ids.forEach( ( id ) => {
			const img = select( 'core' ).getMedia( id )
			if( img ) {
				images.push( img )
			}
		} );

		return {
			imageIds: ids,
			images: images,
		}
	})

	const { editPost } = useDispatch( 'core/editor', [ imageIds ] )

	return(
		<BaseControl label={ props.label }>
			<MediaUploadCheck>
				<MediaUpload
					onSelect={ ( media ) =>
						editPost( { meta: { [props.metaKey]: media.map(({ id }) => id ) } } )
					}
					allowedTypes={ [ 'image' ] }
					multiple="add"
					value={ imageIds }
					render={ ( { open } ) => (
						<div>
							{ !! images && images.length > 0 &&
								images.map( image => <img src={ image.source_url } /> )
							}
							<Button variant="secondary" onClick={ open }>Add images</Button>
						</div>

					) }
				/>
			</MediaUploadCheck>
		</BaseControl>
	)
}

export default RudrGalleryControl

Some notes:

• You can see props.metaKey (lines 9, 32) and props.label (line 28), both of them are the properties we pass into <RudrGalleryControl> at the moment we use it:

<RudrGalleryControl 
	metaKey="misha_gallery" 
	label="Gallery"
/>

• The useSelect part may seem a little bit complicated, it is because we store only attachment IDs in post meta, but in sidebars we have to display the images themselves. So for each attachment ID we use getMedia() function to get the whole image object. Then we are using source_url property of this object on line 40.
• And of course a couple words about multiple parameter. In the official documentation of <MediaUpload> at the moment of writing this tutorial, its multiple parameter was documented only as boolean type. If you set it to true value, you can select multiple images with SHIFT or CMD/CTRL keys. But you can also set the value of multiple parameter to add, which allows you to select multiple images without pressing SHIFT or CMD keys. You can decide for yourself which mode is more convenient to use for you.
• The last but not least, take a look at line 32 where we extract specific object key values into a new JavaScript array, just with media.map(({ id }) => id ). You can console.log( media ) to see what’s inside.

# Gutenberg, Metadata

Misha Rudrastyh

Hey guys and welcome to my website. For more than 10 years I've been doing my best to share with you some superb WordPress guides and tips for free.

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