ACF Repeater field not returning any fields from the data supplied in the frontend

Question

I just installed ACF Plugin. I have successfully created the fields I require. I have a repeater field called upload_documents .

Under the repeater field, I have three fields. I have a select field called document_type , a file upload field called file and a textfield called notes . For the rules, I have set it to display for a page called Upload Documents .

I am new to PHP. I know HTML and CSS. But either way, I have given it a go but I am stuck at this point. It seems something is off which I can't seem to find out. I tried var_dump but they return null. I have supplied the required details and uploaded to the fields. Here is what I have tried. Please assist me.

$user_id = get_current_user_id();
ob_start(); ?>
<?php if( have_rows('upload_documents',"user_{$user_id}" ) ): ?>

<table>
   <tr>
    <td>Column 1 header</td><td>Column 2 header</td><td>Column 3 header</td><td>Column 4 header</td>
   </tr>

<?php while ( have_rows('upload_documents', "user_{$user_id}" ) ) : the_row(); 

    // vars
    $var1 = get_sub_field('document_type');
    $var2 = get_sub_field('file');
    $var3 = get_sub_field('notes');
    $var4 = get_sub_field('subfield_4_name');

?>
    <tr>
        <td><?php echo $var1; ?></td><td><?php echo $var2; ?></td><td><?php echo $var3; ?></td><td><?php echo $var4; ?></td>
    </tr>


<?php endwhile; ?>

</table>
<?php else: echo '<span>No data</span>'; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php $output = ob_get_clean();
return $output;
}

add_shortcode('acf_repeater_shortcode', 'acf_repeater');

Answer 1

If you are new to PHP I can recommend this plugin https://hookturn.io/downloads/acf-theme-code-pro/ it will help you understand how ACF works.

Provided code it is output from act theme code pro for your repeater field upload_documents.

<?php if ( have_rows( 'upload_documents' ) ) : ?>
    <?php while ( have_rows( 'upload_documents' ) ) : the_row(); ?>
        <?php the_sub_field( 'document_type' ); ?>
        <?php $file = get_sub_field( 'file' ); ?>
        <?php if ( $file ) { ?>
            <a href="<?php echo $file['url']; ?>"><?php echo $file['filename']; ?></a>
        <?php } ?>
        <?php the_sub_field( 'notes' ); ?>
    <?php endwhile; ?>
<?php else : ?>
    <?php // no rows found ?>
<?php endif; ?>