WordPress Widget creation helper

2 comments

1. Here is a good starting point WordPress Widget Boilerplate, its updated often by a core contributor.

   This one here is somewhat more recent and has a web interface but based on the initial build by Tom McFarlin.

   Also here is a barebones version which is slightly improved from the one you posted.

   Cheers

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2. If you want to create a widget. Navigate to your plugins folder and create a blank file named as “sample.php” in “Sample” folder..

   Copy below code and paste in sample.php file.

   <?php
   /*
   Plugin Name: Widget
   Description: Widget Description
   */
   
   // Creating the widget
   // Create a class named as "sample_widget" that is a child class of "WP_Widget".
   class sample_widget extends WP_Widget
   {
       //Constructor of class
       public function __construct()
       {
           parent::__construct(
           // Id of our widget.
               'sample_widget', 
           // This is the widget name that will be visible to user
               __('Sample Widget'), 
           // Description of our widget
               array(
               'description' => __('Description of our widget.')
           ));
       }
   
       // Creating widget front-end
       // This is where the action happens
       // Creating function named as "widget", receiving two parameters.
       public function widget($args, $instance)
       {
           /*Getting and assigning our widget title to wordpress hook "widget_title"
           and passing its value to "$title" */
           $title = apply_filters('widget_title', $instance['title']);
           // Area, that is before the widget is diplayed
           echo $args['before_widget'];
           // Checking "$title" is empty or not
           if (!empty($title)) /* If "$title" is not empty, below code will execute.
           $args['before_title'] -> Displaying content before our widget title
           $title -> Display our widget title
           $args['after_title'] -> Displaying content after our widget title */ {
               echo $args['before_title'] . $title . $args['after_title'];
           }
   
           // Displaying text of our widget
           echo __('Hello, this is our widget text!');
           // Displaying content after our widget
           echo $args['after_widget'];
       }
   
       // This function naming our widget title
       public function form($instance)
       {
           // If title is already set.
           if (isset($instance['title'])) {
               // $title is getting already assigned title
               $title = $instance['title'];
           }
           // Otherwise our default title will be "Widget title"
           else {
               $title = __('Widget title');
           }
   
   ?>
   <!-- These are the settings and user interface that an admin will see -->
   <p>
   <!-- Already set title will be displayed at the top of our widget in admin panel -->
   <label for="<?php
           echo $this->get_field_id('title');
   ?>"><?php
           _e('Title:');
   ?></label>
   <input class="widefat" id="<?php
           echo $this->get_field_id('title');
   ?>" name="<?php
           echo $this->get_field_name('title');
   ?>" type="text" value="<?php
           echo esc_attr($title);
   ?>" />
   </p>
   <?php
       }
   
       // This function will replace old title with new title of our widget
       public function update($new_instance, $old_instance)
       {
           $instance          = array();
           $instance['title'] = (!empty($new_instance['title'])) ? strip_tags($new_instance['title']) : '';
           return $instance;
       }
   }
   
   // Function to register and load our newly widget
   function sample_widget_load()
   {
       // Registering our widget named as "sample_widget"
       register_widget('sample_widget');
   }
   // Calling our newly created function named as "sample_widget_load" to register our widget
   add_action('widgets_init', 'sample_widget_load');
   
   ?>
   

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