Loop through categories - wordpress widget - php

Question

I want to create a widget which simply loop five posts from a category.
User can select the category from the widget options.
Right now I create widget and the loop with a hard coded value (Cat ID) successfully.
What I need and I'm stuck in is changing this hard coded value to dynamic select/option which pulls from the categories drop-down list so user choose from the widget options.
<?php
// Initiate roms_widget_menu ends here
class roms_widget_menu extends WP_Widget {
function __construct() {
parent::__construct(
// Base ID
'roms_widget_menu', __('Romaisa Mege menu widget', 'roms_menu_widget_domain'), array('description' => __('Designed to display a category post in mega menu (Widgets in Menus plugin must be installed)', 'roms_menu_widget_domain'),));
}
public function widget($args, $instance) {
$title = apply_filters('widget_title', $instance['title']);
$social_menu_title = apply_filters('widget_title', $instance['title']);
// before and after widget arguments are defined by themes
echo $args['before_widget'];
// Romaisa Widget user front Content
?>
<div class="row small-up-1 medium-up-5 large-up-5">
<?php
$args = array(
'cat' => 2,
'posts_per_page' => 5, //This is the hard coded value
);
$widget_module_menu_qry = new WP_Query( $args );
?>
<?php if ( $widget_module_menu_qry->have_posts() ) : while ( $widget_module_menu_qry->have_posts() ) : $widget_module_menu_qry->the_post(); ?>
<div class="column column-block">
<div class="megamenu-item">
<?php if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) : ?>
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>">
<?php the_post_thumbnail(array(230, 130)); ?>
</a>
<?php else: ?>
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><img src="<?php echo get_template_directory_uri(). '/romisa-assets/img/sample/230x130.png'; ?>" alt="">
</a>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="megamenu-item-typo text-left">
<h5 class="text-left">
<a class="megamenu-item-typo-title trans1" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><b><?php the_title(); ?></b></a>
</h5>
<p><?php echo excerpt(22); ?></p>
<h6 class="megamenu-item-date"><i class="fa fa-calendar"></i> <?php the_time('F j, Y'); ?> </h6>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
</div>
<?php
// /Romaisa Widget user front Content
echo $args['after_widget'];
}
// Widget Backend
public function form($instance) {
if ( isset( $instance[ 'title' ] ) ) { $title = $instance['title']; }
else { $title = __( 'Custom HTML for Menu', 'roms_menu_widget_domain' ); }
?>
<!-- Example for widget category select dropdown that need to be dynamic -->
<select>
<option>Category 1</option>
<option>Category 2</option>
</select>
<?php
}
// Updating widget replacing old instances with new
public function update($new_instance, $old_instance) {
$instance = array();
$instance['title'] = (!empty($new_instance['title'])) ? strip_tags($new_instance['title']) : '';
return $instance;
}
} // Class roms_widget_menu ends here

Answer 1

Please check the code below:
class roms_widget_menu extends WP_Widget
{
function __construct()
{
parent::__construct(
// Base ID
'roms_widget_menu', __('Romaisa Mege menu widget', 'roms_menu_widget_domain'), array('description' => __('Designed to display a category post in mega menu (Widgets in Menus plugin must be installed)', 'roms_menu_widget_domain'),));
}
public function widget($args, $instance)
{
$title = apply_filters('widget_title', $instance['title']);
$social_menu_title = apply_filters('widget_title', $instance['title']);
// before and after widget arguments are defined by themes
echo $args['before_widget'];
// Romaisa Widget user front Content
?>
<div class="row small-up-1 medium-up-5 large-up-5">
<?php
if ( ! empty( $title ) )
{
echo $args['before_title'] . esc_html($title) . $args['after_title'];
}
$q_args = array();
if (isset($instance['cat'])) {
$q_args["cat"] = $instance['cat'];
}
$q_args['posts_per_page'] = (isset($instance['number_of_posts']) ? (int)$instance['number_of_posts'] : 5);
$widget_module_menu_qry = new WP_Query($q_args);
?>
<?php if ($widget_module_menu_qry->have_posts()) : while ($widget_module_menu_qry->have_posts()) : $widget_module_menu_qry->the_post(); ?>
<div class="column column-block">
<div class="megamenu-item">
<?php if (has_post_thumbnail()) : ?>
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>">
<?php the_post_thumbnail(array(230, 130)); ?>
</a>
<?php else: ?>
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><img
src="<?php echo get_template_directory_uri() . '/romisa-assets/img/sample/230x130.png'; ?>"
alt="">
</a>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="megamenu-item-typo text-left">
<h5 class="text-left">
<a class="megamenu-item-typo-title trans1"
href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><b><?php the_title(); ?></b></a>
</h5>
<!-- <p>--><?php //echo excerpt(22); ?><!--</p>-->
<h6 class="megamenu-item-date"><i class="fa fa-calendar"></i> <?php the_time('F j, Y'); ?>
</h6>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<?php endwhile;
wp_reset_postdata();
endif; ?>
</div>
<?php
// /Romaisa Widget user front Content
echo $args['after_widget'];
}
// Widget Backend
public function form($instance)
{
if (isset($instance['title'])) {
$title = $instance['title'];
} else {
$title = __('Custom HTML for Menu', 'roms_menu_widget_domain');
}
if (isset($instance['cat'])) {
$cat = $instance['cat'];
} else {
$cat = '';
}
if (isset($instance['number_of_posts'])) {
$np = $instance['number_of_posts'];
} else {
$np = 5;
}
?>
<p>
<label for="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_id('title')); ?>"><?php esc_html_e('Title:', 'text-domain'); ?></label>
<input class="widefat" id="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_id('title')); ?>"
name="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_name('title')); ?>" type="text"
value="<?php echo esc_attr($title); ?>"/>
</p>
<p>
<label for="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_id('cat')); ?>"><?php esc_html_e('Categories:', 'text-domain'); ?></label>
<select class="widefat" id="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_id('cat')); ?>"
name="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_name('cat')); ?>">
<?php
$terms = get_terms('category', array(
'hide_empty' => false,
));
if (count($terms) > 0) {
foreach ($terms as $term) {
echo '<option value="' . $term->term_id . '">' . $term->name . '</option>';
}
}
?>
</select>
</p>
<script>
document.getElementById("<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_id('cat')); ?>").value =
"<?php echo $cat; ?>";
</script>
<p>
<label for="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_id('number_of_posts')); ?>"><?php esc_html_e('Number Of Posts:', 'text-domain'); ?></label>
<input class="widefat" id="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_id('number_of_posts')); ?>"
name="<?php echo esc_attr($this->get_field_name('number_of_posts')); ?>" type="text"
value="<?php echo esc_attr($np); ?>"/>
</p>
<?php
}
// Updating widget replacing old instances with new
public function update($new_instance, $old_instance)
{
$instance['title'] = strip_tags($new_instance['title']);
$instance['number_of_posts'] = $new_instance['number_of_posts'];
$instance['cat'] = $new_instance['cat'];
return $instance;
}
} // Class roms_widget_menu ends here