Title: Use widget instance in custom functions
Last modified: August 31, 2016

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# Use widget instance in custom functions

 *  Resolved [jens_sj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jens_sj/)
 * (@jens_sj)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/use-widget-instance-in-custom-functions/)
 * Hi,
 * I am creating my own widget, which is displaying some information stored in the
   backend – just as all the “examples” on creating your own custom widget works.
 * I now would like to create a page, where I also display some of this information.
   My idea was to use a shortcode to display the output. In my plugin code I have
   done the following:
 *     ```
       class GM_Server_Status extends WP_Widget {
       (...)
           public function display_gm_status($atts) {
               extract(shortcode_atts(
                               array(
                   'gm' => '',
                               ), $atts)
               );
           }
       }
       add_shortcode('gmstatus', array('GM_Server_Status', 'display_gm_status'));
       ```
   
 * I would like to be able to get the $instance values inside the display_gm_status
   function… But how? Is it possible?

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/use-widget-instance-in-custom-functions/#post-6912222)
 * > get the $instance values inside the display_gm_status function
 * I don’t see any `$instance` in your function, plus, as this is the shortcode 
   handler function, you can of course get any values within it, so I’m not sure
   what you really want.
 * The actual widget instances are stored in global `$wp_widget_factory->widgets`
   but I suspect that is not what you really want. Your widget is getting values
   from somewhere outside of the widget instance. I’d recommend you locate that 
   source and have your shortcode get values directly from there.
 * I can help you find that if you post your widget code (use pastebin.com and post
   the link here) and give me a better idea of what values you actually need.
 *  Thread Starter [jens_sj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jens_sj/)
 * (@jens_sj)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/use-widget-instance-in-custom-functions/#post-6912224)
 * Hi Bcworkz,
 * Thank you for taking your time to have a look 🙂
 * I have pasted my widget file here: [http://pastebin.com/HUs1HpVC](http://pastebin.com/HUs1HpVC)
   
   On line 177, you can see where I would like to have the $instance variable.
 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/use-widget-instance-in-custom-functions/#post-6912237)
 * Thanks for doing that. I see now I could have mostly answered without the entire
   widget code, but I kinda needed it to get my head on straight, as well fill in
   a few details.
 * While you could probably still get at `$instance` from the widget factory, I’m
   leery of doing so, I’m unsure how reliable that source is when your shortcode
   handler executes, it’s usually before widgets are rendered. Best to go straight
   to the original source anyway. All widget settings are stored in the options 
   table. Your widget settings should be under ‘widget_gmserverstatus_widget’. Use
   phpMyAdmin or similar to verify this.
 * Use something like `$option = get_option('widget_gmserverstatus_widget');` to
   get all settings related to your widget. It will be in the form of an array. 
   var_dump the returned array to see the array structure and determine just how
   you would access each value. As a wild guess, it’ll probably be something like`
   $option[1][$gm]['status']`. The var_dump will tell you for sure.
 *  Thread Starter [jens_sj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jens_sj/)
 * (@jens_sj)
 * [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/use-widget-instance-in-custom-functions/#post-6912276)
 * That was EXACTLY what I was looking for – thank you so much for your help – much
   appreciated 🙂

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Use widget instance in custom functions’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [instance](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/instance/)
 * [shortcode](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/shortcode/)
 * [widget](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/widget/)

 * In: [Hacks](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/hacks/)
 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [jens_sj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jens_sj/)
 * Last activity: [10 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/use-widget-instance-in-custom-functions/#post-6912276)
 * Status: resolved

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