Fixing Your Deprecated Widget Constructors in WordPress 4.3

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As of WordPress 4.3 older versions of constructor functions are deprecated. Typically these are common in widgets, where you’re extending the parent WP_Widget class. I’ve recently updated a few of my older versions in my plugins and on client site’s, here’s the basics.

Older, now depreciated code (truncated to the first 20 lines):

<?php
/**
* Depreciated Method as of WordPress 4.3
* @see https://make.wordpress.org/core/2015/07/02/deprecating-php4-style-constructors-in-wordpress-4-3/
* @see http://codex.wordpress.org/Widgets_API
*/
class My_Widget extends WP_Widget {
/**
* Sets up the widgets name etc
*/
public function My_Widget() {
$widget_args = array( 'description' => __( 'A Foo Widget', 'text_domain' ) );
$this->WP_Widget(
'foo_widget', // Base ID
__( 'Widget Title', 'text_domain' ), // Name
$widget_args // Args
);
}
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Harder, better, faster, stronger: *

<?php
/**
* Correct method for WordPress 4.3
* @see https://make.wordpress.org/core/2015/07/02/deprecating-php4-style-constructors-in-wordpress-4-3/
* @see http://codex.wordpress.org/Widgets_API
*/
class My_Widget extends WP_Widget {
/**
* Sets up the widgets name etc
*/
public function __construct() {
$widget_args = array( 'description' => __( 'A Foo Widget', 'text_domain' ) );
parent::__construct(
'foo_widget', // Base ID
__( 'Widget Title', 'text_domain' ), // Name
$widget_args // Args
);
}
view raw correct-method.php hosted with ❤ by GitHub

It breaks down to being an older PHP method – naming the constructor function the same as the class and/or calling the parent constructor via the class name. Newer versions of PHP allow us to call parent classes via parent:: and utilize the __construct() function, which is now the preferred method for WordPress.

For more information, check out the WP Core Blog post on the subject and the Widgets API Documentation.

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