dr_ironbeard

@mattyrob,

I’ve been going through the widget code since you advised me, looking for an appropriate place to place a wp_reset_query() to no avail. I was hoping you might have a minute to help me figure out how to reset the query data.

Even if you don’t have time to go through this, thanks for the prior responses.

<?php
/**
 * @package Academica
 */

 class WPZOOM_Featured_Posts_Gallery extends WP_Widget {

	function __construct() {
		$widget_ops = array(
			'classname'   => 'wpzoom-featured-posts-gallery',
			'description' => 'Special widget for the Sidebar. Shows posts from a category (or all categories).'
		);
		parent::__construct( 'wpzoom-featured-posts-gallery', 'WPZOOM: Featured Posts Gallery', $widget_ops );

		add_action( 'save_post',    array( &$this, 'flush_widget_cache' ) );
		add_action( 'deleted_post', array( &$this, 'flush_widget_cache' ) );
		add_action( 'switch_theme', array( &$this, 'flush_widget_cache' ) );
	}

	function widget( $args, $instance ) {
		$cache = wp_cache_get( $this->id_base, 'widget' );

		if ( ! is_array( $cache ) )
			$cache = array();

		if ( isset( $cache[ $this->id ] ) ) {
			echo $cache[ $this->id ];
			return;
		}

		ob_start();
		extract( $args, EXTR_SKIP );

		$title      = apply_filters( 'widget_title', $instance['title'], $instance, $this->id_base );
		$category   = absint( $instance['category'] );
		$amount     = absint( $instance['amount'] );
		$display    = ( 'grid' == $instance['display'] ) ? 'grid' : 'list';
		$count = 0;
		$query_args = array(
			// Get more posts than we need, in case there are not enough post thumbnails
			'posts_per_page' => $amount * 2,
			'no_found_rows' => true,
			'post_status' => 'publish',
			'ignore_sticky_posts' => true
		);

		if ( $category ) {
			$query_args['cat'] = $category;

			if ( ! empty( $title ) ) {
				$title = sprintf( '<a href="%1$s" title="%2$s">%3$s</a>',
					esc_url( get_category_link( $category ) ),
					esc_attr( get_cat_name( $category ) ),
					sprintf( _x( '%s &raquo;', 'Widget title link', 'wpzoom' ), $title )
				);
			}
		}

		$r = new WP_Query( $query_args );

		echo $before_widget;

		if ( $title )
			echo $before_title . $title . $after_title; ?>

		<ul class="posts">

			<?php while( $r->have_posts() && $count <= $amount ) : $r->the_post();
				if ( 'grid' == $display && '' == get_the_post_thumbnail() ) continue; ?>

			<li class="clearfix <?php echo ( 'list' == $display ) ? 'post' : 'grid'; ?>">

				<?php if ( '' != get_the_post_thumbnail() ) : ?>
				<div class="thumb">
					<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php echo esc_attr( sprintf( __( 'Permanent Link to %s', 'wpzoom' ), the_title_attribute( 'echo=0' ) ) ); ?>">
						<?php the_post_thumbnail();?>
					</a>
				</div>
				<?php
				endif;

				if ( 'list' == $display ) {
					the_title( '<h2><a href="' . esc_url( get_permalink() ) . '" title="' . esc_attr( sprintf( __( 'Permanent Link to %s', 'wpzoom' ), the_title_attribute( 'echo=0' ) ) ) . '" rel="bookmark">', '</a></h2>' );
					$excerpt = get_the_excerpt();
					if ( ! empty( $excerpt ) ) {
						echo '<p>' . wp_trim_words( $excerpt, 25 ) . '</p>';
					}
				} ?>
			</li>

			<?php $count++; endwhile; ?>
		wp_reset_query();
		</ul><!-- end .posts -->

		<?php
		// Reset the global $the_post as this query will have stomped on it
		wp_reset_postdata();

		echo $after_widget;

		$cache[ $this->id ] = ob_get_flush();
		wp_cache_set( $this->id_base, $cache, 'widget');
	}

	function update( $new_instance, $old_instance ) {
		$instance = $old_instance;
		$instance['title']    = strip_tags( $new_instance['title'] );
		$instance['category'] = absint( $new_instance['category'] );
		$instance['amount']   = absint( $new_instance['amount'] );
		$instance['display']  = ( 'grid' == $new_instance['display'] ) ? 'grid' : 'list';

		$this->flush_widget_cache();

		return $instance;
	}

	function flush_widget_cache() {
		wp_cache_delete( $this->id_base, 'widget' );
	}

	function form( $instance ) {
		$instance = wp_parse_args( (array) $instance, array( 'title' => '', 'category' => 0, 'amount' => 4, 'display' => 'list' ) );
		$title    = strip_tags( $instance['title'] );
		$category = absint( $instance['category'] );
		$amount   = absint( $instance['amount'] );
		$display  = ( 'grid' == $instance['display'] ) ? 'grid' : 'list';
		?>

		<p>
			<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'title' ); ?>"><?php _e( 'Title:', 'wpzoom' ); ?></label>
			<input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'title' ); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'title' ); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo esc_attr( $title ); ?>" />
		</p>
		<p>
			<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'category' ); ?>"><?php _e( 'Choose category:', 'wpzoom' ); ?></label>
			<?php wp_dropdown_categories( array(
				'show_option_all' => __( '- Recent in all categories -', 'wpzoom' ),
				'hide_if_empty' => true,
				'selected' => $category,
				'name' => $this->get_field_name( 'category' ),
				'id' => $this->get_field_id( 'category' ),
				'class' => 'widefat',
				'show_count' => true
			) ); ?>
		</p>
		<p>
			<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'amount' ); ?>"><?php _e( 'Number of posts to show:', 'wpzoom' ); ?></label><br />
			<input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'amount' ); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'amount' ); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo esc_attr( $amount ); ?>" size="3" />
		</p>
		<p>
			<label><?php _e( 'Display as:', 'wpzoom' ); ?></label><br />
			<label>
				<input name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'display' ); ?>" type="radio" value="<?php echo esc_attr( 'list' ); ?>" <?php checked( $display, 'list' ); ?> />
				<?php _e( 'Image list', 'wpzoom' ); ?>
			</label><br />
			<label>
				<input name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'display' ); ?>" type="radio" value="<?php echo esc_attr( 'grid' ); ?>" <?php checked( $display, 'grid' ); ?> />
				<?php _e( 'Image grid', 'wpzoom' ); ?>
			</label>
		</p>

		<?php
	}
}
register_widget( 'WPZOOM_Featured_Posts_Gallery' );

Wow, thanks for the swift reply. Actually, for some reason when I remove the widget from the sidebar my site layout breaks and the main content in the middle column disappears. I took out the sidebar on this page only: https://www.perrymangroup.com/subscribe/, and if you append the ?s2=0 it displays a message, but the page by itself should have a message that I created on the subscribe page (“Please consider one of the following options or continue to browse the website using the navigation bar above:”).

I had heard of similar problems with the_loop() while browsing through different issues people were having, is there something I could look for in the .php for my theme and replace for a workaround?

Thank you so much for your help.