Title: Custom widget remember multiple select options
Last modified: August 21, 2016

---

# Custom widget remember multiple select options

 *  [wedideas](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wedideas/)
 * (@wedideas)
 * [12 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-widget-remember-multiple-select-options/)
 * I’m writing a custom widget for our site to display some chosen posts. In the
   admin part, I’ve got a multiple select box to let the admin choose multiple posts
   by their name. This is working fine, but when I select a few different posts 
   and save, nothing is getting saved.
 * Can anyone shed any light on this?
 * Here is my code…
 *     ```
       <?php
       /*
       Plugin Name: Hot Topics
       Plugin URI: http://www.weddingideasmag.com
       Description: Use this widget to choose an array of posts snippets to show
       Version: 1.0)
       Author: James Payne
       Author URI: http://www.bluntcreative.co.uk
       License: GPL2
       */
   
       class HotTopics extends WP_Widget {
   
       	// constructor
       	function HotTopics() {
       		$widget_ops = array( 'name' => 'Hot Topics','classname' => 'widget-hot-topics', 'description' => __( "Use this widget to choose an array of posts snippets to show in the sidebar." ) );
       		$this->WP_Widget( 'hottopics', __('Hot Topics'), $widget_ops);
       	}
   
       	// widget form creation
       	function form($instance) {
       		// Check values
       		if( $instance) {
       			$select = esc_attr($instance['select']); // Added
       		} else {
       			 $select ='';
       		}
       		?>
   
       		<select multiple="multiple" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('select'); ?>[]" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('select'); ?>" class="widefat" size="15" style="margin-bottom:15px;">
       			<?php
       			$args = array( 'offset'=> 1, 'orderby' => 'date', 'order' => 'DESC', 'posts_per_page' => 200, 'post_status' => 'publish' );
   
       			// The Query
       			query_posts( $args );
   
       			// The Loop
       			while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();
   
       			$title = get_the_title();
       			?>
       				<option value="<?php echo get_the_ID();?>" class="hot-topic" <?php $select == $title ? ' selected="selected"' : '';?> style="margin-bottom:3px;">
       			    	<?php echo $title;?>
       			    </option>
       				<?php
       			endwhile;
   
       			// Reset Query
       			wp_reset_query();
       			?>
       		</select>
   
       		<?php
       	}
   
       	// update widget
       	function update($new_instance, $old_instance) {
       	      $instance = $old_instance;
       	      // Fields
       	      $instance['select'] = strip_tags($new_instance['select']);
       	     return $instance;
       	}
   
       	// widget display
       	function widget($args, $instance) {
       		/* ... */
       		echo 'tetst';
       	}
       }
   
       // register widget
       add_action('widgets_init', create_function('', 'return register_widget("HotTopics");'));
   
       ?>
       ```
   

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [sandyy123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sandyy123/)
 * (@sandyy123)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-widget-remember-multiple-select-options/#post-4201103)
 * Hello sir ( wedideas )
 * I am sandeep ,
 * Sir i am requesting you if you have solved this problem then please provide me
   this code sir If possible , I really baldly need this. My E-mail id is ( [sandeepsingh9190@gmail.com](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-widget-remember-multiple-select-options/sandeepsingh9190@gmail.com?output_format=md))
 * I am very thanking full to you.
 *  Thread Starter [wedideas](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wedideas/)
 * (@wedideas)
 * [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-widget-remember-multiple-select-options/#post-4201104)
 * Hi Sandeep, here is the working code I’m using…
 *     ```
       <?php
       /*
       Plugin Name: Hot Topics
       Plugin URI: http://www.weddingideasmag.com
       Description: Use this widget to choose an array of posts snippets to show
       Version: 1.0)
       Author: James Payne
       Author URI: http://www.bluntcreative.co.uk
       License: GPL2
       */
   
       // register widget
       add_action( 'widgets_init', function() {
           register_widget( 'HotTopics' );
       });
   
       class HotTopics extends WP_Widget {
   
       ///////////////////////////
       // Initialise the widget //
       ///////////////////////////	
   
           function HotTopics() {
               $this->WP_Widget(
                   'hottopics',
                   __('Hot Topics'),
                   array(
                       'name' => 'Hot Topics',
                       'classname' => 'widget-hot-topics',
                       'description' => __( "Use this widget to choose an array of posts snippets to show in the sidebar." )
                   )
               );
           }
   
       	// The admin form for the widget
   
       ///////////////////////////
       // Setup the form fields //
       ///////////////////////////
   
           function form( $instance )
           {
               if( $instance ) {
       			$title = $instance['title'];
                   $select = $instance['select'];
       		} else {
       			$title ='';
                   $select ='';
       		} ?>
   
       		<p>
       			<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('title'); ?>"><?php _e('Widget Title:', 'wp_widget_plugin'); ?></label>
       			<input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('title'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('title'); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo $title; ?>" />
       		</p>
   
       	<?php
   
       		// Populate the select list with the post titles
               $get_posts = get_posts( array(
                   'offset'=> 1,
                   'orderby' => 'title',
                   'order' => 'ASC',
                   'posts_per_page' => -1,
                   'post_status' => 'publish'
               ));
   
       		// If there are posts, populate the select
               if( $get_posts ) {
   
       			echo '<p>There are <strong>' . count($get_posts) . '</strong> posts in the database. Choose the hot topics from the choices below&hellip;</p>';?>
   
       			<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('select'); ?>"><?php _e('Posts:', 'wp_widget_plugin'); ?></label>
   
       			<?php
                   printf (
                       '<select multiple="multiple" name="%s[]" id="%s" class="widefat" size="15" style="margin-bottom:10px">',
                       $this->get_field_name('select'),
                       $this->get_field_id('select')
                   );
   
       			// Each individual option
                   foreach( $get_posts as $post )
                   {
                       printf(
                           '<option value="%s" class="hot-topic" %s style="margin-bottom:3px;">%s</option>',
                           $post->ID,
                           in_array( $post->ID, $select) ? 'selected="selected"' : '',
                           $post->post_title
                       );
                   }
   
                   echo '</select>';
   
               } else {
   
       			// No posts were found
                   echo 'No posts found :(';
   
       		} // END: if( $get_posts ) {
   
           } // END: function form( $instance ) 
   
       //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
       // The update function to insert the chosen values in to the db //
       //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   
           function update( $new_instance, $old_instance )
           {
               $instance = $old_instance;
               $instance['select'] = esc_sql( $new_instance['select'] );
       		$instance['title'] = esc_sql( $new_instance['title']);
               return $instance;
           }
   
       /////////////////////////////////////////
       // The front end display of the widget //
       /////////////////////////////////////////
   
       	function widget($args, $instance) {
       	   extract( $args );
       	   // these are the widget options
       	   $title = apply_filters('widget_title', $instance['title']);
       	   $text = $instance['select'];
       	   echo $before_widget;
       		   // Display the widget
       		   echo '<div class="widget-text wp_widget_plugin_box">';
   
       		   // Check if title is set
       		   if ( $title ) {
       			  echo $before_title . $title . $after_title;
       		   }
   
       		   // Check if text is set
       			if( $text ) { ?>
   
       				<div class="sidebar-posts">
   
       					<?php query_posts(array('post_type' => 'post', 'post__in' => $text, 'orderby' => 'rand')); ?>
   
       					<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
   
       						<div class="sidebar-posts-entry">
   
       							<?php if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) {?>
   
       								<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail( array(75,75),array('class' => 'thumbnail'));?></a>
   
       							<?php } ?>
   
       							<h4><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h4>
   
       							<p><?php $excerpt = get_the_excerpt(); echo string_limit_words($excerpt,12).'&hellip; '; ?></p>
   
       						</div>
   
       						<div style="clear:both;" class="clearBoth"></div>
   
       					<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
   
       				</div> <?php // END: <div class="sidebar-posts">
   
       				// Reset Query
       				wp_reset_query();
   
       			 // print_r($text);
       		   }
       		   echo '</div>';
       	   echo $after_widget;
       	}
   
       } // END: class HotTopics
   
       ?>
       ```
   

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

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## Tags

 * [custom](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/custom/)
 * [multiple](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/multiple/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [wedideas](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wedideas/)
 * Last activity: [12 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-widget-remember-multiple-select-options/#post-4201104)
 * Status: not resolved

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