Duplicate Widget vs Widget Alias

A widget that can act as a duplicate of another widget (for synchronized use in another sidebar) Define a widget once, use it in multiple sidebars. This saves you from having to manually configure each copy of the widget and later having to worry about keeping them in sync should you ever need to make any changes. Particularly useful for those who define logic in their themes to conditionally include different versions of a sidebar depending on what template is being shown. Depending on use, it is an alternative to plugins that introduce in-widget logic to determine when widgets should be visible (Widget Logic, Section Widget, Conditional Widgets, etc). Quick overview of what this plugin does: Adds a widget called “Duplicate”. The widget’s only setting is a dropdown listing all active widgets. The selected widget will be the widget duplicated by the duplicate widget. A duplicate widget shows the same title and content as its source widget, even if those values later get changed in the source widget. A widget can be duplicated any number of times and can appear multiple times within the same page. (Yes, even within the same sidebar, though why would you do that?) A duplicate widget will abide by the configuration of the sidebar it is placed in, not the configuration of the sidebar containing the source widget. So it uses ‘before_widget’, ‘after_widget’, ‘before_title’, ‘after_title’ values of its own sidebar. Widgets that are duplicated will have “[D]” prepended to their name in the widget titlebar in the admin to denote they have duplicates. Also, at the bottom of the widget’s configuration form (when the widget is expanded), a short blurb also explains that the widget has duplicate(s) and a count of how many duplicates it has. If a widget is deactivated or deleted, if it has any duplicates, they get deleted as well. The widget id and widget type of the source widget are included as HTML classes in the duplicate widget’s markup. Links: Plugin Homepage | Plugin Directory Page | Author Homepage Filters The plugin exposes four actions for hooking. Typically, customizations utilizing these hooks would be put into your active theme’s functions.php file, or used by another plugin. c2c_before_duplicate_widget (action) The ‘c2c_before_duplicate_widget’ hook allows you to output text, or perform some sort of action, just before the output of the duplicate widget. Arguments: $instance (array) : The settings for the widget instance (namely: title and widget_to_duplicate) $args (array) : The configuration for the widget and sidebar Example: // Output an opening before duplicate widget content add_action( 'c2c_before_duplicate_widget', 'my_c2c_before_duplicate_widget', 10, 2 ); function my_c2c_before_duplicate_widget( $instance, $args ) { echo ' ; } c2c_after_duplicate_widget (action) The ‘c2c_after_duplicate_widget’ hook allows you to output text, or perform some sort of action, just after the output of the duplicate widget. Arguments: $instance (array) : The settings for the widget instance (namely: title and widget_to_duplicate) $args (array) : The configuration for the widget and sidebar Example: // Output an closing after duplicate widget content add_action( 'c2c_after_duplicate_widget', 'my_c2c_after_duplicate_widget', 10, 2 ); function my_c2c_after_duplicate_widget( $instance, $args ) { echo ' ; } c2c_before_duplicate_widget_form (action) The ‘c2c_before_duplicate_widget_form’ hook allows you to output text, or perform some sort of action, just before the output of the duplicate widget’s configuration form (in the WP admin). Arguments: $instance (array) : The settings for the widget instance (namely: title and widget_to_duplicate) Example: // Display a message just before the duplicate widget settings form add_action( 'c2c_before_duplicate_widget_form', 'my_c2c_before_duplicate_widget_form' ); function my_c2c_before_duplicate_widget_form( $instance ) { echo ' Note: this is a note above the widget settings form. '; } c2c_after_duplicate_widget_form (action) The ‘c2c_after_duplicate_widget_form’ hook allows you to output text, or perform some sort of action, just after the output of the duplicate widget’s configuration form (in the WP admin). Arguments: $instance (array) : The settings for the widget instance (namely: title and widget_to_duplicate) Example: // Display a message just after the duplicate widget settings form add_action( 'c2c_after_duplicate_widget_form', 'my_c2c_after_duplicate_widget_form' ); function my_c2c_after_duplicate_widget_form( $instance ) { echo ' Note: this is a note below the widget settings form. '; }

Compatible with PHP 8.2 Widget Alias allows you to create an “alias” of any existing widget, effectively reproducing / duplicating it. This can be especially handy when you want the same widget to appear in multiple sidebars. Normally you would have to edit each widget independently, but Widget Alias means you’ll only have to edit one. A MIGHTYminnow plugin. Features This plugin is similar to Duplicate Widget, with a few key differences: Widget Alias gives you the option to override the aliased widget’s title. Widget Alias uses AJAX to update the drop-down menus on the fly, which means you see widget changes (adding widgets, deleting widgets, re-ordering widgets, etc) in real time. If you delete a widget that is being aliased, the aliased copies simply revert to “None”, instead of being deleted. This allows you to keep track of where you’ve used Widget Alias widgets, if need be. Usage Widget Alias can be used in one of two ways: 1. Widget In Appearances > Widgets you’ll see a new widget called “Widget Alias”, in which you can specify an override title if desired, and use the drop-down menu to choose the ID of the widget you would like to alias. 2. Shortcode Widget Alias also comes packaged with a shortcode that looks like this: [widget_alias id=”target-widget-id” title=”Override Title”] To use the shortcode simply enter the ID of the widget you would like to alias (id parameter), and an override title (title parameter) if you would like to change the aliased widget’s title. Widget IDs Widget Alias makes it super-easy for you to find the ID of any widget you would like to alias. In Appearance > Widgets, all active widgets now have their ID appended below the widget title. Note: these IDs are added using jQuery, and will not appear if JavaScript is disabled. Removing / Deleting Aliased Widgets Widget Alias makes it easy to tell which widgets are being aliased – each aliased widget has a note below its widget controls letting you know how many times it is aliased. If you delete an aliased widget, the Widget Alias widgets that previously pointed to it will revert to the default alias value of “None.” Banner photo by Susannah Kay.