Title: WP_Customize_Nav_Menu_Item_Setting::populate_value
Published: August 18, 2015
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# WP_Customize_Nav_Menu_Item_Setting::populate_value()

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/populate_value/?output_format=md#description)
    - [See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/populate_value/?output_format=md#see-also)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/populate_value/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/populate_value/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/populate_value/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/populate_value/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Ensure that the value is fully populated with the necessary properties.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/populate_value/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

Translates some properties added by [wp_setup_nav_menu_item()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_setup_nav_menu_item/)
and removes others.

### 󠀁[See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/populate_value/?output_format=md#see-also)󠁿

 * [WP_Customize_Nav_Menu_Item_Setting::value()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/WP_Customize_Nav_Menu_Item_Setting/value/)

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/populate_value/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    protected function populate_value() {
    	if ( ! is_array( $this->value ) ) {
    		return;
    	}

    	if ( isset( $this->value['menu_order'] ) ) {
    		$this->value['position'] = $this->value['menu_order'];
    		unset( $this->value['menu_order'] );
    	}
    	if ( isset( $this->value['post_status'] ) ) {
    		$this->value['status'] = $this->value['post_status'];
    		unset( $this->value['post_status'] );
    	}

    	if ( ! isset( $this->value['nav_menu_term_id'] ) && $this->post_id > 0 ) {
    		$menus = wp_get_post_terms(
    			$this->post_id,
    			WP_Customize_Nav_Menu_Setting::TAXONOMY,
    			array(
    				'fields' => 'ids',
    			)
    		);
    		if ( ! empty( $menus ) ) {
    			$this->value['nav_menu_term_id'] = array_shift( $menus );
    		} else {
    			$this->value['nav_menu_term_id'] = 0;
    		}
    	}

    	foreach ( array( 'object_id', 'menu_item_parent', 'nav_menu_term_id' ) as $key ) {
    		if ( ! is_int( $this->value[ $key ] ) ) {
    			$this->value[ $key ] = (int) $this->value[ $key ];
    		}
    	}
    	foreach ( array( 'classes', 'xfn' ) as $key ) {
    		if ( is_array( $this->value[ $key ] ) ) {
    			$this->value[ $key ] = implode( ' ', $this->value[ $key ] );
    		}
    	}

    	if ( ! isset( $this->value['title'] ) ) {
    		$this->value['title'] = '';
    	}

    	if ( ! isset( $this->value['_invalid'] ) ) {
    		$this->value['_invalid'] = false;
    		$is_known_invalid        = (
    			( ( 'post_type' === $this->value['type'] || 'post_type_archive' === $this->value['type'] ) && ! post_type_exists( $this->value['object'] ) )
    			||
    			( 'taxonomy' === $this->value['type'] && ! taxonomy_exists( $this->value['object'] ) )
    		);
    		if ( $is_known_invalid ) {
    			$this->value['_invalid'] = true;
    		}
    	}

    	// Remove remaining properties available on a setup nav_menu_item post object which aren't relevant to the setting value.
    	$irrelevant_properties = array(
    		'ID',
    		'comment_count',
    		'comment_status',
    		'db_id',
    		'filter',
    		'guid',
    		'ping_status',
    		'pinged',
    		'post_author',
    		'post_content',
    		'post_content_filtered',
    		'post_date',
    		'post_date_gmt',
    		'post_excerpt',
    		'post_mime_type',
    		'post_modified',
    		'post_modified_gmt',
    		'post_name',
    		'post_parent',
    		'post_password',
    		'post_title',
    		'post_type',
    		'to_ping',
    	);
    	foreach ( $irrelevant_properties as $property ) {
    		unset( $this->value[ $property ] );
    	}
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/customize/class-wp-customize-nav-menu-item-setting.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/customize/class-wp-customize-nav-menu-item-setting.php#L353)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/customize/class-wp-customize-nav-menu-item-setting.php#L353-L438)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/populate_value/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [taxonomy_exists()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/taxonomy_exists/)`wp-includes/taxonomy.php` |

Determines whether the taxonomy name exists.

  | 
| [wp_get_post_terms()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_post_terms/)`wp-includes/post.php` |

Retrieves the terms for a post.

  | 
| [post_type_exists()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/post_type_exists/)`wp-includes/post.php` |

Determines whether a post type is registered.

  |

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_Customize_Nav_Menu_Item_Setting::value()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/value/)`wp-includes/customize/class-wp-customize-nav-menu-item-setting.php` |

Get the instance data for a given nav_menu_item setting.

  | 
| [WP_Customize_Nav_Menu_Item_Setting::__construct()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/__construct/)`wp-includes/customize/class-wp-customize-nav-menu-item-setting.php` |

Constructor.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_customize_nav_menu_item_setting/populate_value/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [4.3.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.3.0/) | Introduced. |

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