[theme-reviewers] WP_DEBUG notices with the_widget()

[Sayontan Sinha]

Justin,
I did notice this problem with your theme earlier, and IIRC it can be
replicated even in a dynamic sidebar. Here is how I could replicate it:

   1. Assume I am running version x of your theme. I have some widgets that
   I have added to the sidebar.
   2. I then switch to another theme. Obviously your widgets don't exist
   there, so I add this new theme's widgets.
   3. Now, you release version x+1 of your theme. When I activate it, I see
   the old Hybrid widgets I had added in the "Inactive Widgets" area.
   4. So I drag those widgets from my "Inactive Widgets" to the sidebars.
   This means I don't have to save anything on the sidebar: not even the old
   widgets. Following this if I refresh the front-end I get a bunch of notices.

I haven't tried this recently, so I am not sure if the problem can be
replicated in this manner.

Sayontan.

On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 12:07 PM, Justin Tadlock
<justin at justintadlock.com>wrote:

>  One thing I recently noticed with my themes that have widgets is that I
> get some undefined index/variable notices when using the_widget() function
> to output a widget created by my theme.  This wouldn't show up unless
> someone actually used the_widget() function.  Using it as a regular widget
> in a dynamic sidebar is fine because the variables always get set on widget
> save.
>
> This issue arises when you're building a widget with options.  Typically,
> you'd grab these options from the $instance parameter for the widget()
> method.  When calling the_widget( 'My_Widget_Class' ); in my theme,
> WP_DEBUG goes crazy.  The problem is simply that there's no checks if
> $instance['some_option'] has been set.
>
> I'm going through all my widgets right now to update them for this use
> case.  I don't think it's overly important because it's a pretty rare
> scenario and definitely one you wouldn't notice in a typical review, but I
> thought I'd post it here for you all.
>
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>


-- 
Sayontan Sinha
http://mynethome.net | http://mynethome.net/blog
--
Beating Australia in Cricket is like killing a celebrity. The death gets
more coverage than the crime.
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