Dynamically add content to an existing widget area

Question

I have an existing widget area / sidebar. Rather than adding content to it via Appearance ? Widgets in the Dashboard, I want to inject content into the widget area from functions.php.

Is there hook that allows this?

Thanks :)

Answer 1

Yes by using widget_text inject content into the widget area

Add the following code into your function.php file

function widget_content( $content )
{
    // add $content as you want
    return $content;
}

add_filter( 'widget_text', 'widget_content', 99 );

Answer 2

Also, you can write a function in the functions.php file and call that function via the widget.

Functions.php:

function myFunction() {
    //do something here
} 
add_shortcode('wp_my_function', 'myFunction');

//Allow write shortcode in widgets  
add_filter('widget_text', 'do_shortcode');

In the Widget:

Use the text widget, write in the shortcode: [wp_my_function]