“update_post_meta” does not work when “Enable compatibility mode” is enabled

Hi @tccand

The “Enable compatibility mode” is generally used when you’re transitioning from an older version of WooCommerce, where orders are stored as posts. If your orders are already being stored as pages, there is typically no need to enable this setting.

However, it’s unusual that enabling this option along with the high performance order storage is causing the update_post_meta function to behave abnormally. This might be an issue specific to your client’s setup or could potentially be a bug.

As a workaround, you can advise your clients to disable the “Enable compatibility mode” if they’re experiencing this issue. But, we’d like to investigate this further to understand the root cause.

Could you please share a copy of the following:

• System Status Report: Navigate to WooCommerce → Status. Select Get System Report and then Download for Support.
• Fatal Error log: Share a copy of any fatal error log found under WooCommerce → Status → Logs.

You could copy and paste your reply or share it via Mozilla Community Pastebin and share the link here. This will help us investigate further and provide you with a more accurate solution.

Looking forward to helping you.

I’ve tested this on a fresh install.
There are no errors in the log files.

` WordPress Environment

WordPress address (URL): https://newoobill.lambda.brunomag.ro
Site address (URL): https://newoobill.lambda.brunomag.ro
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Complete: 8
Oldest: 2023-12-13 11:34:30 +0000
Newest: 2023-12-13 11:41:07 +0000

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Oldest: 2023-12-13 11:37:09 +0000
Newest: 2023-12-13 11:37:26 +0000

Pending: 1
Oldest: 2023-12-14 11:34:30 +0000
Newest: 2023-12-14 11:34:30 +0000 Status report information

Generated at: 2023-12-13 15:21:05 +00:00
`

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by tccand.

Hello @tccand,

From my understanding the compatibility mode should be enabled if the order was a post instead of a page in the past.

I believe there might be a misunderstanding here. With HPOS, orders aren’t considered wp_posts or a WordPress Page, as they’re stored in a separate database table.

Regarding your query about update_post_meta(), this behavior is expected. Most WordPress core APIs that interact with posts won’t work when HPOS is enabled.

You can replace this with the $order object:

$order->update_meta_data( $meta_key_1, $meta_value_1 );

You can find more details about this in the High Performance Order Storage Upgrade Recipe Book.

Hope this clarifies things!

That seems to solve the problem.
Thank you!