Including Custom Post Types in “Recent Posts” Widget

You’ll have to edit the code for the Recent Posts widget or create your own version based on the default. The code is in the wp-includes/default-widgets.php file around line 513. But since you should never make modifications to core, my recommendation would be to copy the code to create your own My Custom Recent Posts widget and use that on your site. Just drop the new widget class into your theme’s functions.php file or use it in a plugin.

The only real modification you need to make are to the widget’s class name and encapuslated functions and options (so that there aren’t any naming conflicts with the original Recent Posts widget. After that, you’ll need to edit the call to WP_Query in the widget() constructor so that it includes your custom post type.

For this example, I’ve set post_type equal to array('post, 'page', 'custom-post-type') … you’ll need to modify that to fit your specific use case.

Here’s the widget’s full code for reference:

/**
  * My_Custom_Recent_Posts widget class
  *
  */
class WP_Widget_My_Custom_Recent_Posts extends WP_Widget {

    function __construct() {
        $widget_ops = array('classname' => 'widget_my_custom_recent_entries', 'description' => __( "The most recent posts on your site") );
        $this->WP_Widget('my-custom-recent-posts', __('My Custom Recent Posts'), $widget_ops);
        $this->alt_option_name="widget_my_custom_recent_entries";

        add_action( 'save_post', array(&$this, 'flush_widget_cache') );
        add_action( 'deleted_post', array(&$this, 'flush_widget_cache') );
        add_action( 'switch_theme', array(&$this, 'flush_widget_cache') );
    }

    function widget($args, $instance) {
        $cache = wp_cache_get('widget_my_custom_recent_posts', 'widget');

        if ( !is_array($cache) )
            $cache = array();

        if ( isset($cache[$args['widget_id']]) ) {
            echo $cache[$args['widget_id']];
            return;
        }

        ob_start();
        extract($args);

        $title = apply_filters('widget_title', empty($instance['title']) ? __('My Custom Recent Posts') : $instance['title'], $instance, $this->id_base);
        if ( !$number = (int) $instance['number'] )
            $number = 10;
        else if ( $number < 1 )
            $number = 1;
        else if ( $number > 15 )
            $number = 15;

        $r = new WP_Query(array('showposts' => $number, 'nopaging' => 0, 'post_status' => 'publish', 'ignore_sticky_posts' => true, 'post_type' => array('post', 'page', 'custom-post-type')));
        if ($r->have_posts()) :
?>
        <?php echo $before_widget; ?>
        <?php if ( $title ) echo $before_title . $title . $after_title; ?>
        <ul>
        <?php  while ($r->have_posts()) : $r->the_post(); ?>
        <li><a href="https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/2405/<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="<?php echo esc_attr(get_the_title() ? get_the_title() : get_the_ID()); ?>"><?php if ( get_the_title() ) the_title(); else the_ID(); ?></a></li>
        <?php endwhile; ?>
        </ul>
        <?php echo $after_widget; ?>
<?php
        // Reset the global $the_post as this query will have stomped on it
        wp_reset_postdata();

        endif;

        $cache[$args['widget_id']] = ob_get_flush();
        wp_cache_set('widget_my_custom_recent_posts', $cache, 'widget');
    }

    function update( $new_instance, $old_instance ) {
        $instance = $old_instance;
        $instance['title'] = strip_tags($new_instance['title']);
        $instance['number'] = (int) $new_instance['number'];
        $this->flush_widget_cache();

        $alloptions = wp_cache_get( 'alloptions', 'options' );
        if ( isset($alloptions['widget_my_custom_recent_entries']) )
            delete_option('widget_my_custom_recent_entries');

        return $instance;
    }

    function flush_widget_cache() {
        wp_cache_delete('widget_my_custom_recent_posts', 'widget');
    }

    function form( $instance ) {
        $title = isset($instance['title']) ? esc_attr($instance['title']) : '';
        if ( !isset($instance['number']) || !$number = (int) $instance['number'] )
            $number = 5;
?>
        <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('number'); ?>"><?php _e('Number of posts to show:'); ?></label>
        <input id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('number'); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name('number'); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo $number; ?>" size="3" /></p>
<?php
    }
}