How to write a widget

You will need to make the following files to make a widget.
1. Folder with the widget name and 2 files inside
-1a. widget.php
-1b. config.xml

Step 1

in the config.xml file write out your configurations

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<Widget>
  <className>HelloWorld</className>
  <name>Hello My World!</name>
  <description>This is my Hellow World</description>
  <version>1.1.1.1</version>
</Widget>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<className>HelloWorld</className>

<name>Hello My World!</name>

<description>This is my Hellow World</description>

</Widget>

is the name of the class in the widget file.
is your widget name.
is the description for this widget.
is the version for the widget.

Step 2

Once you have this done, open up your widget.php
You will need 3 functions in your widget.php class

get_content() – returns a value for the content to be displayed
get_config() – returns a value for the configuration to be displayed
update_config($values)

*NOTE* Do NOT have any ‘echo’ or ‘print’ inside the class as this will be detected before it launches the widget. Echo exclusion is because of formatting purposes.

Example

<?
class HelloWorld {
    //default content
    private $content = "<h1>HELLO WORLD!</h1>";
 
    //renders the content
    function get_content()
    {
        //use the property class to get content from db
        include_once("classes/Property.php");
        //name of the property
        $name = "Widget_HelloWorld_greetings";
 
        //create the property to get information
        $property = new Property_users($name);
 
        //if this property gets the information, show the information out
        if($propertyInfo = $property->get_property($name))
        {return "<h1>".addslashes($propertyInfo)."</h1>";}
        //if not give a default content
        else {return $this->content;}
    }
 
    //renders the configuration
    function get_config()
    {
        // the name of the property must follow the conventions Widget_<Classname>_<propertyName>
        // have the form post and make sure the submit button is named widget_update
        // make sure there is also a hidden value giving the name of this Class file
        return "<form id='configForm' method='post'>
            <input type='hidden' name='class' value='HelloWorld'></input>
            <select name='Widget_HelloWorld_greetings'>
                <option value='Hello World!'>Hello World!</option>
                <option value='Goodbye World!'>Goodbye World!</option>
            </select>
 
        <input type='submit' class='submitBut' name='widget_update' value='Update config'/>
        </form>";
    }
 
    //updates the configuration
    function update_config($values)
    {
        //calls on for the database class
        include_once("classes/Property.php");
        $property = new Property_users();
 
        //sets the properties to store them, use a switch statement to store different description based on different properties
        $property->set_property($values['name'],$values['value'], "The Hellow world property description");
    }
 
}
?>

class HelloWorld {

//default content

private $content = "<h1>HELLO WORLD!</h1>";

//renders the content

function get_content()

{

//use the property class to get content from db

include_once("classes/Property.php");

//name of the property

$name = "Widget_HelloWorld_greetings";

//create the property to get information

$property = new Property_users($name);

//if this property gets the information, show the information out

if($propertyInfo = $property->get_property($name))

{return "<h1>".addslashes($propertyInfo)."</h1>";}

//if not give a default content

else {return $this->content;}

}

//renders the configuration

function get_config()

{

// the name of the property must follow the conventions Widget_<Classname>_<propertyName>

// have the form post and make sure the submit button is named widget_update

// make sure there is also a hidden value giving the name of this Class file

return "<form id='configForm' method='post'>

<option value='Hello World!'>Hello World!</option>

<option value='Goodbye World!'>Goodbye World!</option>

</select>

</form>";

}

//updates the configuration

function update_config($values)

{

//calls on for the database class

include_once("classes/Property.php");

$property = new Property_users();

//sets the properties to store them, use a switch statement to store different description based on different properties

$property->set_property($values['name'],$values['value'], "The Hellow world property description");

}

It is important that you understand the naming convention of your properties names to be

Widget_<Classname>_<propertyName>

1	Widget_<Classname>_<propertyName>

.
Remember to have a submit button named ‘widget_update’ and a hidden value name class with your class filename inside or else your codes will NOT load.

Step 3

Put your folder with the files inside into the widgets folder and you’re set to go!