Magento2 Custom Widget Not Appearing - php

Question

I created a module with a Custom Widget. When logging into the admin, going to content->widgets, creating an instance, and setting that instance to appear on the homepage, the widget appears as expected.
I have removed this instance and am now trying to create the widget by going to content->pages, editing the homepage -> content section, and selecting insert widget. I created a new instance of the widget and added some additional text into the homepage -> content section.
When I load the homepage the widget does not appear, though the rest of the text does appear.
The block for the widget is being called ( I tested this with a var_dump and exit).
The template is not being rendered however.
Here is my Block:
<?php
namespace MyNamespace\Slider\Block\Widget;
use Magento\Framework\View\Element\Template;
use Magento\Catalog\Model\ResourceModel\Product\CollectionFactory;
use Magento\Catalog\Block\Product\Context;
class Slider extends Template
{
protected $_template = "Yamazaki_Slider::widget/slider.phtml";
/**
* #var CollectionFactory
*/
protected $_productCollectionFactory;
/**
* #var CollectionFactory
*/
protected $_imageHelper;
/**
* #param Context $context
* #param CollectionFactory $productCollectionFactory
*/
public function __construct(Context $context, CollectionFactory $productCollectionFactory)
{
$this->_imageHelper = $context->getImageHelper();
$this->_productCollectionFactory = $productCollectionFactory;
parent::__construct($context);
}
/**
* Retrieve featured products collection
*/
public function getProducts()
{
$collection = $this->_productCollectionFactory->create();
return $collection->addAttributeToSelect('*')->addAttributeToFilter('is_featured','1');
}
}
and my Template:
<?php $imageBlock = $block->getLayout()->createBlock('Magento\Catalog\Block\Product\ListProduct'); ?>
<?php foreach($this->getProducts() as $product): ?>
<?php $productImage = $imageBlock->getImage($product, 'product_page_image_large'); ?>
<?php echo $productImage->toHtml(); ?>
<?php endforeach ?>
The other files in my module are:
etc/widget.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<widgets xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:module:Magento_Widget:etc/widget.xsd">
<widget id="yamazaki_slider" class="MyNamespace\Slider\Block\Widget\Slider">
<label translate="true">My Image Slider</label>
<description>My Image Slider</description>
</widget>
</widgets>
module.xml and registration.php.
I do not have a etc/layout.xml file as I have noticed some widget/modules contain. Do I need this, or any other files?
Also, If I "Hide the Editor" inside content->pages->edit->content I see:
<p>{{widget type="MyNamespace\Slider\Block\Widget\Slider"}}</p>`
If I replace this with
{{block class="MyNamespace\Slider\Block\Widget\Slider" template="widget/slider.phtml"}}
The Content appears as expected

Answer 1

I managed to get the Block to Render
I had to add implements \Magento\Widget\Block\BlockInterface to MyNamespace\Slider\Block\Widget\Slider.
I'm not sure why this rendered, prior to adding the implements, using the first approach and not the second.
Magento is seriously lacking documentation!