Warning! This plugin has not been updated in over 2 years. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress.
As of version 2.3, Widget Wrangler requires PHP 5.3 or higher
Widget Wrangler is a plugin for WordPress that gives administrators a clean interface for managing widgets on a page by page basis. On each page, you can control what widgets appear where.
Widget Wrangler provides the following features:
Widgets as a post type
PHP in widgets
Custom Widget templates
Control Widget visibility on any page (or post type)
Control Widget visibility globally (Display Logic)
Alter WordPress Sidebar HTML
Shortcodes for Widgets
Compatible with almost any existing WordPress Widget
A Corral is an arbitrary group of widgets. WordPress calls them “sidebars”, but they are not ultimately limited by that terminology. You could have multiple Corrals appear within a single Sidebar if needed.
Where does a widget’s html come from?
With the new “Theme compatibility” setting, it is possible for the widget’s html to come from 2 places.
If Theme Compatibility is not enabled, then all the html for widgets come from Widget Wrangler’s widget template (widget.php).
With Theme Compatibility enabled, the outer html for the widget comes from the registered sidebar’s properties ($before_widget, $before_title, etc), while the inner content html comes from the widget template.
Be aware that on new Widget Wrangler installs, “Theme Compatibility” is enabled by default.
How do I display a single widget within a Page’s content?
Widget Wrangler comes with built in shortcode support for each widget. To show a single widget in a content area, use the shortcode pattern of [ww_widget id={post_id}].
ie. [ww_widget id=240] where 240 is the post_id of the widget.
How do I find out a widget’s post ID?
A widget’s post ID is displayed in the ‘Options’ panel when editing that widget.
How do I display my widgets?
The easiest way is to go to the standard Widget area under the Appearance admin menu item and drag the “Widget Wrangler – Corral” widget into the sidebar area where you want it, then select which Widget Wrangler corral should be shown from the widget options.
The other way requires you to edit your template files and find any instance of the dynamic_sidebar() function. Replace these functions with ww_dynamic_sidebar(‘corral_slug’).
How can I control the widget’s template (HTML)?
In the widget-wrangler directory there is a file named ‘templates/widget.php’. Copy this file to your theme’s root directory and rename it ‘widget.php’. You can edit the HTML in the file to have widgets defaultly appear as you want.
To template specific widgets, save a copy of templates/widget.php as widget-[widget ID].php in your theme directory. (eg. widget-121.php, where 121 is the widget’s ID)
Can I use existing WordPress widgets?
Mostly. Widgets designed for WordPress 3+ are able to be used with the ‘Copy WP Widget’ option in the Widget Wrangler menu. Widgets programmed for older versions of WordPress may not work.
What does it mean to Copy/Clone a widget?
When you Copy a WordPress widget, it creates a new widget post in the Widget Wrangler system with the settings for the original WordPress widget pre-filled. A copied widget will contain the original widget form for the WP widget.
Bug fix: Caused an issue with refactoring javascript load on presets page. Fixed.
2.1.2
Bug fix: Capability test on saving post type widgets caused an issue with custom post types.
Bug fix: Prevent loading of Widget Wrangler assets on inappropriate admin screens.
2.1.1
Bug fix: Display of cloned widgets broken in 2.1
2.1
Feature: Hide widget from sortable Wrangler
Bug fix: Alter sidebars array loop
Bug fix: Widget shortcode display
2.0.4
Bug fix: Unable to show title on cloned widgets
Improved preview HTML when corral context is set.
2.0.3
Bug fix: Fix issue with corrals and settings for users that upgrade from much older versions.
Bug fix: Retain theme copatibility setting during upgrade to 2.x
2.0.2
Bug fix: Saving settings without Pro License
2.0.1
Upgrade bug fix
2.0
New: Widget Diplay logic allows you to control a widget’s visibility globally
New: Customize WP Sidebar HTML
New: More granular template suggestions
New: Presets
1.5.4
Fix: Saving draft widgets correctly when wrangling
1.5.3
Fix: bug for cloned widget forms
Fix: bug on clone display when title hidden
Fix: bug on quick edit of widgets and posts
New: widgets only display if status is “publish”
1.5.2
Fix: bug with select elements on wrangler form
Fix: bug with defaults not being set for new posts
1.5.1
Fix: bug with shortcodes not working. Function was in wrong file.
1.5
Changed sidebars to corrals in UI
Template wrangler for future extended templating
Template suggestions and detection
Theme compatibility setting for using register_sidebar defined html
Fix: select and inputs not accessible on sortable widget forms
Feature: Real WP Widget instances. ie, Better cloned widgets.
Updated screenshots and setup screencast
1.4.6
Bug fix: Child theme template discovery
Bug fix: Escape dollar sign in content & title
Feature: Exclude from search
Feature: Template widget with widget-post_name.php
Added versioning
More WP_DEBUG friendly
1.4.5
Bug fix: Last bug fix caused new problem. Breaks widget save for advanced parsing area. Skip 1.4.4, or upgrade immediately.
1.4.4
Bug fix: Quickediting a widget lost some data.
1.4.3
Bug fix: Javascript not loading correctly on admin pages in the footer.
1.4.2
Bug fix: Posts page widgets not saving correctly
1.4.1
Bug fix: Forgot to add new images to svn
1.4
Feature: Preview Widget on the widget’s edit page
Feature: Add WW sidebars using WordPress’s standard widget system
Bug fix: Issue with cloning specific WordPress widgets
Bug fix: Images not showing up in non-standard install directories
1.3.2
Bug fix: upgrading to 1.3.1 had no post type settings. Trouble fixing.
1.3.1
Bug fix: upgrading to 1.3 had no post type settings. Grrr, sry.
1.3
Feature: Now use Widget Wrangler on any post type and the blog page (Posts page).
Feature: Use template with advanced parsed widget.
Feature: Set widgets for the home/frontpage when using WordPress’s ‘Reading Setting’ for ‘Front page displays’ as ‘Your latest posts’. Settings >> Reading >> Front page displays.
Programming: Refactored function names to standardize concepts and descriptors
1.2.1
Feature: Additional template options per widget (see FAQ: How can I control a widget’s template)
Fixed Cloned widgets now get templating
Fixed minor widget admin panel display bug
Fixed form content in advanced parsing area
Tested successfully with cloning Buddypress widgets
1.2
Official Release: Incremented version due to additional features
Feature: Reset a page’s widgets to default (checkbox on page)
Feature: Reset all pages to use default widgets (settings page)
Feature: Disable all widgets on a page (drag to disabled list)
1.1rc8
Fix for javascript with WordPress 3.2 update. Added option to reset all widgets on all pages.
1.1rc7
Fix for javacsript not loading correctly. Changed method to use script wp_enqueue_script.
1.1rc6
Fix for disappearing menu items with WordPress 3.1 update.
1.1rc5
IE 8 Bug fixes.
Clone Widget widget name now filling into advanced parse correctly.
1.1rc4
Bug fix from rc3 changes. Capability for access to submenus corrected.
1.1rc3
Added ‘Auto Paragraph’ checkbox for each widget
Added a basic level of capability control. Now possible to change capability type for use with other plugins.
1.1rc2
Found another important bug related to recent changes.
1.1rc1
Fixed bug where disabled widgets disappear
Fixed the need to save multiple times when enabling widgets
Fixed disappearance of widgets assigned to deleted sidebars
