[Support request] dynamic_sidebar not working!!

[Mohamed]

Hi,

I had created a custom dynamic sidebar with this code but not working!!

register_taxonomy( 'product_cat', array('product'), array() );

$terms = get_terms( array ( 'taxonomy' => 'product_cat', 'hide_empty' => false, 'depth' => 0,'exclude'=> 15,'parent' => 0, 'orderby' => 'description', 'order' => 'ASC' ));

$product_categories = [];
    foreach ($terms as $k => $term) {
       $product_categories[$k]=  $term->name ;
    }
        
        function custom_sidebars() {
            
            if(!is_admin()) return;
            global $product_categories,$terms;
        Null !==($product_categories) ? $sidebars = ($product_categories) : $sidebars ='';

$product_categories = [];
    foreach ($terms as $k => $term) {
       $product_categories[$k]['name']=  $term->name ;
       $product_categories[$k]['id']=  $term->term_id ;
    }

            if((isset($product_categories) ) && (!empty($product_categories) ))
                foreach ($product_categories as $i => $sidebar) {
                //$sidebar_name = preg_replace('/\s+/', '_', $sidebar);
                    register_sidebar ( array(
                    'name' => $sidebar['name'],
                    'id'   => 'net_pb_widget_area_'.$sidebar['id'],  
                    'description' => __( 'net_pb_widget_area_'.$sidebar['id'] . '[products limit="3" columns="1" best_selling="true" category="'.$sidebar['id'].'" ]','ar2' ),
                    'before_widget' => '<div id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',
                    'after_widget' => '</div>',
                    'before_title' => '<h3 class="widget-title"><span>',
                    'after_title' => '</span></h3>'
                    ));
                    
                }
            
            
        }
        add_action( 'widgets_init', 'custom_sidebars' );
        add_action("admin_init", "sidebar_init");
        add_action('save_post', 'save_sidebar_link');
        function sidebar_init(){
            add_meta_box("sidebar_meta", "Sidebar Selection", "sidebar_link", array("post","page","product"), "side", "default");
        }
        
        function sidebar_link(){
            
                        if(!is_admin()) return;

            global $post, $sidebar,$product_categories;
            $custom  = get_post_custom($post->ID);
             $theSidebar  = get_post_meta($post->ID,'sidebar',true);
            if ( isset($theSidebar))
            $link    = $theSidebar;
            
            
            $sidebars = $product_categories ;

                    
            echo '<div class="link_header">';
            echo '<select name="link" class="sidebar-selection">';
            echo '<option value="primary-sidebar" style="font-weight:bold;">Default Sidebar</option>';
            if (!empty($sidebars)) {
                foreach ( $sidebars as $id => $list ){

                    if($link == 'net_pb_widget_area_'.$list["id"]){
                        echo '<option value="net_pb_widget_area_'.$list["id"].'" selected="true">'.$list['name'].'</option>';
                    }else{
                        echo '<option value="net_pb_widget_area_'.$list["id"].'">'.$list['name'].'</option>';
                    }
                }
            }
            echo '</select>';
            echo '<br /></div><p>Select sidebar to use on this page.</p>';
            
        }
        function save_sidebar_link(){
                        if(!is_admin()) return;

            global $post;
            if (defined('DOING_AUTOSAVE') && DOING_AUTOSAVE) {return $post->ID;}
            if ( isset( $_POST["link"] ) )
            update_post_meta($post->ID, "sidebar", $_POST["link"]);
        }
        add_action('admin_head', 'sidebar_css');
        function sidebar_css() {
            echo'
                        <style type="text/css">
                        .sidebar-selection{width:100%;}
                        </style>
                        ';
        }

and using this code to display it but it’s empty

 global $post;
     $postID= $post->ID;
     $sidebar  = get_post_meta($postID,'sidebar',true);
        if(in_array(get_post_type(), array('post','page'))){
        
                       if ('' != $sidebar ){
        		echo  '<div class="theSide">';	    
                       dynamic_sidebar('$sidebar ');
                       echo '</div>';   
                       }

Could you help?

[Elvin]

Hi,

I don’t see any function dynamic_sidebar(){} within your code for this dynamic_sidebar(‘$sidebar ‘); to do anything.

My bad. misread it a bit. It’s a core function.

Try changing dynamic_sidebar('$sidebar '); to dynamic_sidebar($sidebar);.

Adding '' makes whatever is enclosed within it, a string.

Since $sidebar is a variable, you don’t have to add ''.

[Mohamed]

My question because it was working before so, why it doesn’t now?

A wise man always said
” Yes I already cleared the cache”

[Mohamed]

Could you tell me why it doesn’t working?

[Elvin]

Bear with me as this is going to be pretty lengthy.

For starters, did you change anything within the code before it stopped working?

I believe you’ve added this to your functions.php and like most users, at some point accidentally removes/adds syntaxes that breaks the code.

Example:

 global $post;
     $postID= $post->ID;
     $sidebar  = get_post_meta($postID,'sidebar',true);
        if(in_array(get_post_type(), array('post','page'))){
        
                       if ('' != $sidebar ){
        		echo  '<div class="theSide">';	    
                       dynamic_sidebar('$sidebar ');
                       echo '</div>';   
                       }

This particular code of yours has few issues.

One is that it’s missing a closing } for the if(in_array(get_post_type(), array('post','page'))) condition.

Another one is, as mentioned previously, dynamic_sidebar('$sidebar '); is taking in a text literal string “$sidebar” rather than taking the variable value of $sidebar because of the '' that encloses it. To be honest, I find it weird that this worked at all because of this.

[Author]

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