add_action not working within widget() of WP_Wdiget

Question

I have a function in functions.php

function test(){
   do_action('before_test_action');
   echo 'in test';
}

Then within my Widget, in the widget( $args, $instance ) function i use:

$boolean = (isset($instance['boolean'])) ? $instance['boolean'] : '';
if ($boolean == 'on'){
   add_action('before_test_action', array($this, 'widget_test_func'));
}

After widget() function i have the widget_test_func function:

public function widget_test_func(){
   echo 'within widget test func';
}

The action does not run and i don't see anything on the browser. If i add the add_action within the widget constructor it will work but i need to make sure it runs if the $boolean == 'on'

Answer 1

Not really following how the functions relate to each other and where (so what variables are available, how), but you might try something like:

add_action('before_test_action', array($this, 'widget_test_func'));

public function widget_test_func( $instance) {

    $boolean = (isset($instance['boolean'])) ? $instance['boolean'] : '';

    if ($boolean == 'on') {

        echo 'within widget test func';

    }

}