[wp-hackers] Resetting after multiple loops

[Nigel Dunn]

Hi all,

I've been writing a number of widgets based on the style of the recent 
posts widget that comes with WP - e.g. listing the most recent posts by 
an author, for a category, etc. But I've come unstuck with side-effects 
on other globals even though I'm using what seems to be the suggested 
pattern of using 'new WP_Query(...)' followed by wp_reset_query().

I think the problem is caused by the_post(), but I can't see anything 
documented about resetting globals after you've used that.

If you try the following on a fresh install of WP:

* create a new post
* add the recent posts widget to the sidebar
* change sidebar.php in the default theme to display the value of $id
before & after the sidebar contents
* change single.php in the default theme to  use the sidebar

When I view the new post on the website I have different values for $id. 
If I comment out the loop that's used in the widget then they're the 
same. If I stick something like 'if (have_posts()) the_post()' at the 
end of the sidebar then I also get the same values.

So the sort of problem I've been having is that if I have another widget 
that's supposed to display the details of the post author then it could 
change if I place that before or after the recent posts widget.

Is this a bug or am I missing out on something else? (And should I be 
posting this elsewhere?)

Best wishes

Nigel


-- 
Nigel Dunn
Redefine

0845 838 2720
http://www.redefine.co.uk