Parsing PHP in Sidebar Issue - php

Question

I'm using the below funky bit of code in my functions.php to enable the execution of PHP in my sidebar:
// 12. Execute/Parse PHP in Sidebar Content
// =============================================================================
add_filter('widget_text','execute_php',100);
function execute_php($html){
if(strpos($html,"<"."?php")!==false){
ob_start();
eval("?".">".$html);
$html=ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
}
return $html;
}
I'm then using this code in my sidebar to reference a list of custom fields (related articles) that I want to list in the sidebar:
<?php $post_objects = get_field( 'related_article_list'); ?>
<?php if ( $post_objects) { ?>
<ul>
<?php foreach( $post_objects as $post): ?>
<?php setup_postdata($post); ?>
<li>
<?php the_title(); ?>
</li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
<?php wp_reset_postdata(); ?>
<?php } ?>
Now this code works fine in my page template and correctly lists the three related articles that I have set in each post, but in the sidebar it just generates the current post title three times.
Any ideas much appreciated!

Answer 1

It is generally not good practice to place PHP code directly in a sidebar textfield then parsing/executing its content is leaves open to many potential problem.
Instead you should place the code inside a shortcode and then place that shortcode tag inside the Widget in question. [my_related_article_list]
add_shortcode('my_related_article_list','my_related_article_list_func');
function my_related_article_list_func(){
$post_objects = get_field( 'related_article_list');
$html = '';
if ( $post_objects) {
$html = '<ul>';
foreach( $post_objects as $post):
$html .= '<li>'.get_the_title($post).'</li>';
endforeach;
$html .= '</ul>';
}
return $html;
}
Concerning the fact that you see the current post three time in the sidebar has todo with the loop not have been properly set and 3 times because you probably also pulled the revisions.(i suppose)
Maybe executing the code in a shortcode could help improve your predicament in solving parts of the problem or even the whole problem.
Edit: Using the setup_postdata is unecessary since calling get_* functions which returns data instead of outputting it straight based on the current loop data set by setup_postdata. Therefor calling the get_* with the $post argument will return the appropriate context.

Answer 2

Solved by #Musk using the following shortcode:
add_shortcode('my_related_article_list','my_related_article_list_func');
function my_related_article_list_func(){
$post_objects = get_field( 'related_article_list');
$html = '';
if ( $post_objects) {
$html = '<ul>';
foreach( $post_objects as $post):
$html .= '<li>'.get_the_title($post).'</li>';
endforeach;
$html .= '</ul>';
}
wp_reset_postdata();
return $html;
}