Title: Duplicate Widgets
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# Duplicate Widgets

 *  [alexleonard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexleonard/)
 * (@alexleonard)
 * [19 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-widgets/)
 * I am aware that there is a plugin for this, but it’s not 2.2 compatible yet and
   regardless it seems funny to me that you can’t duplicate instances of widgets
   by default.
 * Especially in the case of someone who has multiple sidebars (eg I would like 
   to have the search widget available on all my sidebars).
 * Is there something I’m missing out on, or is it currently not possible?

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  Thread Starter [alexleonard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexleonard/)
 * (@alexleonard)
 * [18 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-widgets/#post-565042)
 * I might have answered my own question on this one.. taking lead from the default
   text widget bundled in widgets.php I noticed the “How many text widgets would
   you like?” question.
 * So I suppose it is just down to me creating/editing current widgets using:
 *     ```
       function wp_widget_text_page() {
       	$options = $newoptions = get_option('widget_text');
       ?>
       	<div class="wrap">
       		<form method="POST">
       			<h2><?php _e('Text Widgets'); ?></h2>
       			<p style="line-height: 30px;"><?php _e('How many text widgets would you like?'); ?>
       			<select id="text-number" name="text-number" value="<?php echo $options['number']; ?>">
       <?php for ( $i = 1; $i < 10; ++$i ) echo "<option value='$i' ".($options['number']==$i ? "selected='selected'" : '').">$i</option>"; ?>
       			</select>
       			<span class="submit"><input type="submit" name="text-number-submit" id="text-number-submit" value="<?php echo attribute_escape(__('Save')); ?>" /></span></p>
       		</form>
       	</div>
       <?php
       }
       ```
   
 * and a little more…!
 * Still it seems like a lot of coding, I wonder is this something that couldn’t
   be built in by default. Instead of people having to work out their for loops 
   etc 🙂
 *  [swift](https://wordpress.org/support/users/swift/)
 * (@swift)
 * [18 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-widgets/#post-565165)
 * I agree, I think I can figure it out using the current system, but WordPress 
   should have built-in functionality to easily let users have multiple instances
   of any widget, and there should be a simple way for developers to take advantage
   of this.
 * Can we get this into the next release please!
 *  Thread Starter [alexleonard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexleonard/)
 * (@alexleonard)
 * [18 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-widgets/#post-565166)
 * I’ve actually temporarily given up on widgets altogether. I found that it was
   taking me far too long to get them working, when I could quickly just set up 
   a few lines of code in my sidebar instead.
 * My main problem has been that there is no error reporting. All I get from Word
   Press is a message saying that the plugin can’t be activated. If only they had
   a developer mode that reported php/mysql errors. That would make life a little
   easier.
 *  [swift](https://wordpress.org/support/users/swift/)
 * (@swift)
 * [18 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-widgets/#post-565178)
 * alexleonard,
 * I haven’t had any real trouble working with widgets yet (and I’ve done a few 
   now), but I’m mostly just ‘wigitizing’ old features. In that case, it’s pretty
   simple.
 * So for you, I’d suggest doing the hard work of developing your functionality 
   when your tool is still just a regular old plugin working in the sidebar, and
   once you’ve got it working well, it’s a piece of cake to just dump it in a widget.
   That way, you get the best of both.
 *  Thread Starter [alexleonard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexleonard/)
 * (@alexleonard)
 * [18 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-widgets/#post-565181)
 * I have gotten the feeling in the last few days that I really need to learn more
   about PHP.. I just don’t think I fully understand it yet.
 * I’m self taught and have generally just been using it for useful tweaks and templating.
 * I’m so used to being corrected by the system telling me what line I’ve made an
   error on, and when the plugin fails to activate I feel a little like a blind 
   child stumbling around in a dark forest…. well, maybe it’s not that bad, but 
   you know what I mean.
 * I can definitely see that Widgets make way more sense from the point of view 
   of reusable code, easier adjustments in the future, and the option of letting
   non-coders change their sidebars easily. I think I just have a bit of a way to
   go yet. Time to talk to zend?

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘Duplicate Widgets’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

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

 * 5 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [alexleonard](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexleonard/)
 * Last activity: [18 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/duplicate-widgets/#post-565181)
 * Status: not resolved

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