Any available action to add content before and after sidebar?

Question

I am looking for inserting a function's output before sidebar's first widget, and one in the end after the last widget

Is it possible?

Answer 1

You can create your own actions using do_action, like this:

<?php do_action('before_sidebar'); // you can name it whatever you want ?>
<?php if ( is_active_sidebar('main-sidebar') ) : ?>
    <ul>
        <?php dynamic_sidebar('main-sidebar'); ?>
    </ul>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php do_action('after_sidebar'); ?>

and use add_action() normally:

add_action('before_sidebar', 'before_sidebar_function');
add_action('after_sidebar', 'after_sidebar_function');

UPDATE: depending on the codex you can use wp_meta hook:

Runs when the sidebar.php template file calls the wp_meta function, to allow the plugin to insert content into the sidebar.

but it should be added by theme authors.

This page might be helpful Full Action Hooks Reference.

Answer 2

Yes. Put your function, and anything else you want, before and after the dynamic_sidebar function. For example.

<?php if(function_exists ('my_function')) {
    my_function();
} ?>

<p>This is above the first widget.</p>

<?php if ( ! dynamic_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ) ) : ?>

<?php endif; // end sidebar widget area ?>

<?php if(function_exists ('my_second_function')) {
    my_second_function();
} ?>

<div>
<p><a href="http://www.agreatsite.com">Blog Link</a></p>
</div>

http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/dynamic_sidebar

Put the function inside a plugin, or even easier, inside your theme's functions.php file.

Answer 3

There are two options that may not yield the results you are looking for, but it's something.

Hooking a function onto the sidebar?