WordPress function to get raw widget data for all of the widgets in a given sidebar

rh-get-widget-data-for-all-sidebars.php

<?php
function rh_get_widget_data_for_all_sidebars() {
	global $wp_registered_sidebars;

	$output = array();
	foreach ( $wp_registered_sidebars as $sidebar ) {
		if ( empty( $sidebar['name'] ) ) {
			continue;
		}
		$sidebar_name = $sidebar['name'];
		$output[ $sidebar_name ] = rh_get_widget_data_for( $sidebar_name );
	}
	return $output;
}

rh-get-widget-data-for.php

<?php
function rh_get_widget_data_for( $sidebar_name ) {
	global $wp_registered_sidebars, $wp_registered_widgets;

	// Holds the final data to return
	$output = array();

	// Loop over all of the registered sidebars looking for the one with the same name as $sidebar_name
	$sidebar_id = false;
	foreach ( $wp_registered_sidebars as $sidebar ) {
		if ( $sidebar['name'] == $sidebar_name ) {
			// We now have the Sidebar ID, we can stop our loop and continue.
			$sidebar_id = $sidebar['id'];
			break;
		}
	}

	if ( ! $sidebar_id ) {
		// There is no sidebar registered with the name provided.
		return $output;
	}

	// A nested array in the format $sidebar_id => array( 'widget_id-1', 'widget_id-2' ... );
	$sidebars_widgets = wp_get_sidebars_widgets();
	$widget_ids = $sidebars_widgets[ $sidebar_id ];

	if ( ! $widget_ids ) {
		// Without proper widget_ids we can't continue.
		return array();
	}

	// Loop over each widget_id so we can fetch the data out of the wp_options table.
	foreach ( $widget_ids as $id ) {
		// The name of the option in the database is the name of the widget class.
		$option_name = $wp_registered_widgets[ $id ]['callback'][0]->option_name;

		// Widget data is stored as an associative array. To get the right data we need to get the right key which is stored in $wp_registered_widgets
		$key = $wp_registered_widgets[ $id ]['params'][0]['number'];

		$widget_data = get_option( $option_name );

		// Add the widget data on to the end of the output array.
		$output[] = (object) $widget_data[ $key ];
	}

	return $output;
}

Hi, found this function, and I use this to detect changes made in widgets, if a new widget is added or one is removed, or if a setting inside the widget has changed. And it works great for this. But would it be possible to rewrite this to include all sidebars instead of the specified one? Or maybe make it possible to list more than one sidebar in this function?

@joq3 I updated the gist to include a function to get widget data for all of the registered sidebars. It returns an array keyed by the name of the sidebar.

you rock! 👍

One typo though, in rh_get_widget_data_for():

$sibebar_id = false;

should be
$sidebar_id = false;

Cool! unfortunately the page with the widgets hasn't the customizer (with the widgets) available, this is because the widget are display with the function.. there is a way to work around this?

Many thanks man!
;-)

Great functions! Saved me some time in a tight schedule. Thanks for sharing.

@EdisonSM Thanks for leaving a comment!

+1, Working

Could someone explain how to use it pls? I am getting an empty array :(

@mehmet-demir When you register a sidebar, you give it a name like Footer. See https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/register_sidebar/

To get all of the raw widget data for the Footer sidebar, do rh_get_widget_data_for( 'Footer' ); which will give you an array of widget data.

Thanks so much for this! I do see a tiny typo: https://gist.github.com/kingkool68/3418186#file-rh-get-widget-data-for-php-L9

Probably should be $sidebar_id = false;

@jamesfacts You're welcome. Thanks for spotting the typo. You rock!