Sometimes we want to have a page with a unique widget area that won’t appear on all pages, like widgets in the sidebar do.
Read on to learn how I dynamically create a uniquely-named widget area per page.
I will be using the twentyfifteen page template as an example, but the code will work on any theme as long as you cup/paste the right snippet.
We will start by creating a new page template, let’s call it page_dynamic_widget.php
<?php
/**
* Template Name: Unique Widget Area
*/
get_header(); ?>
<div id="primary" class="content-area dynamic-widget">
<main id="main" class="site-main" role="main">
<?php
// Start the loop.
while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();
// Include the page content template.
get_template_part( 'content', 'page' );
// If comments are open or we have at least one comment, load up the comment template.
if ( comments_open() || get_comments_number() ) :
comments_template();
endif;
// End the loop.
endwhile;
?>
<!-- copy/paste this block where you want the widget to appear -->
<?php if ( is_active_sidebar( 'widget-area-'.$post->post_name ) ) : ?>
<div class="unique-widget-area page-<?php echo $post->post_name; ?>">
<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'widget-area-'.$post->post_name ); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
</main><!-- .site-main -->
</div><!-- .content-area -->
<?php get_footer(); ?>The relevant part of the code is this one:
<!-- copy/paste this block where you want the widget to appear -->
<?php if ( is_active_sidebar( 'widget-area-'.$post->post_name ) ) : ?>
<div class="unique-widget-area page-<?php echo $post->post_name; ?>">
<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'widget-area-'.$post->post_name ); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>Then we need to add this somewhere in the functions.php file
if (function_exists('register_sidebar')){
// get only published pages with our custom template file
$args = array(
'meta_key' => '_wp_page_template',
'meta_value' => 'page_dynamic_widget.php',
'status' => 'publish'
);
$pages = get_pages($args);
foreach($pages as $page){ // loop through all of them and register the sidebar
register_sidebar(array(
'name' => __($page->post_title." - widget area", 'twentyfifteen'),
'description' => __('Unique widget area for page '.$page->post_title, 'twentyfifteen'),
'id' => 'widget-area-'.$page->post_name,
'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="%2$s">',
'after_widget' => '</div>',
'before_title' => '<h3>',
'after_title' => '</h3>'
));
}
}And there you go, as soon as you create a page and assign it the correct template file, you will see a new widget area appear in the appearance > widgets page.