You need to save your selection and then call that selected value into your widget()
method.
Here is an example of what I mean which displays the selected category name and description in the front end. You can use this widget as a base for your own widget. Just a note, this widget requires at least PHP 5.4
/**
* Select_Category widget class
*
* Display a selected category
*
* @since 1.0.0
*/
class Select_Category extends WP_Widget
{
public function __construct()
{
parent::__construct(
'widget_selected_category',
_x( 'Selected Category Widget', 'Selected Category Widget' ),
[ 'description' => __( 'Display a selected category.' ) ]
);
$this->alt_option_name="widget_selected_category";
add_action( 'save_post', [$this, 'flush_widget_cache'] );
add_action( 'deleted_post', [$this, 'flush_widget_cache'] );
add_action( 'switch_theme', [$this, 'flush_widget_cache'] );
}
public function widget( $args, $instance )
{
$cache = [];
if ( ! $this->is_preview() ) {
$cache = wp_cache_get( 'widget_selected_cat', 'widget' );
}
if ( ! is_array( $cache ) ) {
$cache = [];
}
if ( ! isset( $args['widget_id'] ) ) {
$args['widget_id'] = $this->id;
}
if ( isset( $cache[ $args['widget_id'] ] ) ) {
echo $cache[ $args['widget_id'] ];
return;
}
ob_start();
$title = ( ! empty( $instance['title'] ) ) ? $instance['title'] : __( 'Category Posts' );
/** This filter is documented in wp-includes/default-widgets.php */
$title = apply_filters( 'widget_title', $title, $instance, $this->id_base );
if ( ! $number ) {
$number = 5;
}
$cat_id = $instance['cat_id'];
echo $args['before_widget'];
if ( $title ) {
echo $args['before_title'] . $title . $args['after_title'];
}
$select_cat_object = get_category( $cat_id );
echo 'Your selected category is ' . $select_cat_object->name;
echo "\n\t";
echo $select_cat_object->description;
echo $args['after_widget'];
if ( ! $this->is_preview() ) {
$cache[ $args['widget_id'] ] = ob_get_flush();
wp_cache_set( 'widget_selected_cat', $cache, 'widget' );
} else {
ob_end_flush();
}
}
public function update( $new_instance, $old_instance )
{
$instance = $old_instance;
$instance['title'] = strip_tags( $new_instance['title'] );
$instance['cat_id'] = (int) $new_instance['cat_id'];
$this->flush_widget_cache();
$alloptions = wp_cache_get( 'alloptions', 'options' );
if ( isset($alloptions['widget_selected_category']) )
delete_option('widget_selected_category');
return $instance;
}
public function flush_widget_cache()
{
wp_cache_delete('widget_selected_cat', 'widget');
}
public function form( $instance )
{
$title = isset( $instance['title'] ) ? esc_attr( $instance['title'] ) : '';
$cat_id = isset( $instance['cat_id'] ) ? absint( $instance['cat_id'] ) : 1;
?>
<p>
<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'title' ); ?>"><?php _e( 'Title:' ); ?></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 $title; ?>" />
</p>
<p>
<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('cat_id'); ?>"><?php _e( 'Category Name:' )?></label>
<select id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('cat_id'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('cat_id'); ?>">
<?php
$this->categories = get_categories();
foreach ( $this->categories as $cat ) {
$selected = ( $cat->term_id == esc_attr( $cat_id ) ) ? ' selected = "selected" ' : '';
$option = '<option '.$selected .'value="' . $cat->term_id;
$option = $option .'">';
$option = $option .$cat->name;
$option = $option .'</option>';
echo $option;
}
?>
</select>
</p>
<?php
}
}
add_action( 'widgets_init', function ()
{
register_widget( 'Select_Category' );
});