WP Widget Control

Setup and curate WordPress widgets with code.

Installation

You can install the package via composer:

composer require alleyinteractive/wp-widget-control

Usage

WP Widget Control lets you programmatically manage WordPress sidebars and widgets. This can be useful for setting up default widget configurations, managing widget curation with code for end to end testing, or simply maintaining widget state in a more structured way.

When you have to manage widgets with code, WordPress doesn't provide a great way to do that. WP Widget Control fills this gap by providing a simple API for managing widgets programmatically.

Here are some common usage patterns:

Retrieve a Sidebar

use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Sidebar;

$sidebar = Sidebar::from( 'sidebar-1' );

Append a Widget to a Sidebar

use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Sidebar;
use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Widget;

$sidebar = Sidebar::from( 'sidebar-1' );

// Append a widget by its ID:
$sidebar->append( 'example_widget-4' );

// You can create a new widget instance from the base ID and append it to the sidebar:
$sidebar->append(
  Widget::from( 'example_widget' )->append( [ 'content' => 'Hello, World!' ] ),
);

// Or by referencing the widget's class:
$sidebar->append(
  Widget::from( \My\Custom\ExampleWidget::class )->append( [ 'content' => 'Hello, World!' ] ),
);

// Save the sidebar to persist changes.
$sidebar->save();

Insert Widgets Before or After Another Widget

use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Sidebar;
use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Widget;

$sidebar = Sidebar::from( 'sidebar-1' );

// Insert a widget "block-99" before "block-2":
$sidebar->insert_before( widget: 'block-99', before_widget_id: 'block-2' );

// Insert a widget "example_widget-6" after "example_widget-2":
$sidebar->insert_after( widget: 'example_widget-6', after_widget_id: 'example_widget-2' );

// Also supports inserting a widget instance directly.
// Inside a new widget instance before "example_widget-2":
$sidebar->insert_before(
	widget: Widget::from( 'example_widget' )->append( [ 'content' => 'Hello, World!' ] ),
	before_widget_id: 'example_widget-2',
);

// Save the sidebar to persist changes.
$sidebar->save();

Remove a Widget by ID or Index

use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Sidebar;
use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Widget_Instance;

$sidebar = Sidebar::from( 'sidebar-1' );

// Remove a widget by its ID:
$sidebar->remove( 'block-2' );

// Remove a widget by its index:
$sidebar->remove_index( 2 );

// Save the sidebar to persist changes.
$sidebar->save();

Set All Widgets in a Sidebar

use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Sidebar;
use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Widget;

$sidebar = Sidebar::from( 'sidebar-1' );

$sidebar->set( [
	// Use existing widget instances (they follow a widget_base-ID pattern).
	'nav_menu-1',
	'block-2',
	'example_widget-2',

	// You can also create a new widget instance and append it to the sidebar.
	Widget::from( 'example_widget' )->append( [ 'content' => 'Hello, World!' ] ),
	Widget::from( \My\Custom\ExampleWidget::class )->append( [ 'content' => 'Hello, World!' ] ),
] );

// Save the sidebar to persist changes.
$sidebar->save();

Filter Widgets in a Sidebar

Remove a specific widget from a sidebar while keeping others:

use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Sidebar;
use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Widget;
use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Widget_Instance;

$sidebar = Sidebar::from( 'sidebar-1' );

// Remove all widgets whose ID contains 'example_widget'.
$sidebar->filter_by_id( function( string $widget_id ) {
	return ! str_contains( $widget_id, 'example_widget' );
} );

// Keep only widgets of a certain type (using Widget_Instance).
$sidebar->filter( function( Widget_Instance $widget ) {
	return $widget->id_base === 'example_widget';
} );

// Save the sidebar to persist changes.
$sidebar->save();

Clear All Widgets from a Sidebar

use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Sidebar;

$sidebar = Sidebar::from( 'sidebar-1' );

$sidebar->clear();

// Save the sidebar to persist changes.
$sidebar->save();

Full Sidebar Curation Example

In this example, we will set the sidebar to contain an instance of ExampleWidget and another instance of the block widget:

use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Sidebar;
use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Widget;
use Alley\WP\Widget_Control\Tests\ExampleWidget;

$sidebar->set( [
	Widget::from( ExampleWidget::class )->append( [ 'content' => 'Hello, World! 1' ] ),
	Widget::from( 'block' )->append( [ 'content' => 'Hello, World! 2' ] ),
] );

// Save the sidebar to persist changes.
$sidebar->save();

These will be the only two widgets in the sidebar.

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information on what has changed recently.

Credits

This project is actively maintained by Alley Interactive. Like what you see? Come work with us.

• Sean Fisher
• All Contributors

License

The GNU General Public License (GPL) license. Please see License File for more information.