wp_ajax_save_widget()

Compatibility

Present in every tracked release (6.7.7 to 7.1.0), and compiles on PHP 7.4 through 8.6-dev.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_ajax_save_widget() does, and what it touches: the algorithmic scaling, the Zend instruction count per call across PHP versions, the hooks it hands control to, and the core code that calls it. Measured from the compiled opcodes, not a stopwatch, so every number is identical on any machine running the same PHP version, and every function in core is ranked by cost.

Cost class

Heavy

Reads stored settings via get_option(), cached per request but not free on a cold cache.

Scaling

Scales with input

The body loops, so the work grows with how much data it finds.

Instructions

86–163

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 192.

Plugin surface

4 hooks

Third-party callbacks on 'load-widgets.php', 'widgets.php', 'sidebar_admin_setup' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.

Called by

0

Nothing in core calls this; the cost is only what you spend yourself.

What it touches

• hookthird-party callbacksdo_action()called directly
• optionoption read or writeget_option()one call below wp_ajax_save_widget()

Further down the call graph this can also reach cache, serialize, query and transient. Those are the worst case, several calls deep and usually down an error path, not what a normal call pays.

What one call costs · 96 distinct outcomes

One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost wp_ajax_save_widget() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

This body has more branch combinations than are worth enumerating, so the table covers the outcomes found first rather than every one that exists.

Hooks and filters fired · 4

4 hooks fire while wp_ajax_save_widget() runs, in this order:

1. 1
   do_action( load-widgets.php )actionline 2376 (+16 into the body)

   Fires early when editing the widgets displayed in sidebars.

2. 2
   do_action( widgets.php )actionline 2383 (+23 into the body)

   Fires early when editing the widgets displayed in sidebars.

3. 3
   do_action( sidebar_admin_setup )actionline 2386 (+26 into the body)

   Fires early before the Widgets administration screen loads, after scripts are enqueued.

4. 4
   do_action( delete_widget )actionline 2414 (+54 into the body)

   Fires immediately after a widget has been marked for deletion.

Uses · 8

• check_ajax_referer()Verifies the Ajax request to prevent processing requests external of the blog.
• current_user_can()Returns whether the current user has the specified capability.
• wp_die()Kills WordPress execution and displays HTML page with an error message.
• do_action()Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook.
• wp_unslash()Removes slashes from a string or recursively removes slashes from strings within an array.
• __()Retrieves the translation of $text.
• wp_get_sidebars_widgets()Retrieves the full list of sidebars and their widget instance IDs.
• wp_set_sidebars_widgets()Sets the sidebar widget option to update sidebars.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

2360function wp_ajax_save_widget() {2361	global $wp_registered_widgets, $wp_registered_widget_controls, $wp_registered_widget_updates;2362 2363	check_ajax_referer( 'save-sidebar-widgets', 'savewidgets' );2364 2365	if ( ! current_user_can( 'edit_theme_options' ) || ! isset( $_POST['id_base'] ) ) {2366		wp_die( -1 );2367	}2368 2369	unset( $_POST['savewidgets'], $_POST['action'] );2370 2371	/**2372	 * Fires early when editing the widgets displayed in sidebars.2373	 *2374	 * @since 2.8.02375	 */2376	do_action( 'load-widgets.php' ); // phpcs:ignore WordPress.NamingConventions.ValidHookName.UseUnderscores2377 2378	/**2379	 * Fires early when editing the widgets displayed in sidebars.2380	 *2381	 * @since 2.8.02382	 */2383	do_action( 'widgets.php' ); // phpcs:ignore WordPress.NamingConventions.ValidHookName.UseUnderscores2384 2385	/** This action is documented in wp-admin/widgets-form.php */2386	do_action( 'sidebar_admin_setup' );2387 2388	$id_base      = wp_unslash( $_POST['id_base'] );2389	$widget_id    = wp_unslash( $_POST['widget-id'] );2390	$sidebar_id   = $_POST['sidebar'];2391	$multi_number = ! empty( $_POST['multi_number'] ) ? (int) $_POST['multi_number'] : 0;2392	$settings     = isset( $_POST[ 'widget-' . $id_base ] ) && is_array( $_POST[ 'widget-' . $id_base ] ) ? $_POST[ 'widget-' . $id_base ] : false;2393	$error        = '<p>' . __( 'An error has occurred. Please reload the page and try again.' ) . '</p>';2394 2395	$sidebars = wp_get_sidebars_widgets();2396	$sidebar  = $sidebars[ $sidebar_id ] ?? array();2397 2398	// Delete.2399	if ( isset( $_POST['delete_widget'] ) && $_POST['delete_widget'] ) {2400 2401		if ( ! isset( $wp_registered_widgets[ $widget_id ] ) ) {2402			wp_die( $error );2403		}2404 2405		$sidebar = array_diff( $sidebar, array( $widget_id ) );2406		$_POST   = array(2407			'sidebar'            => $sidebar_id,2408			'widget-' . $id_base => array(),2409			'the-widget-id'      => $widget_id,2410			'delete_widget'      => '1',2411		);2412 2413		/** This action is documented in wp-admin/widgets-form.php */2414		do_action( 'delete_widget', $widget_id, $sidebar_id, $id_base );2415 2416	} elseif ( $settings && preg_match( '/__i__|%i%/', key( $settings ) ) ) {2417		if ( ! $multi_number ) {2418			wp_die( $error );2419		}2420 2421		$_POST[ 'widget-' . $id_base ] = array( $multi_number => reset( $settings ) );2422		$widget_id                     = $id_base . '-' . $multi_number;2423		$sidebar[]                     = $widget_id;2424	}2425	$_POST['widget-id'] = $sidebar;2426 2427	foreach ( (array) $wp_registered_widget_updates as $name => $control ) {2428 2429		if ( $name === $id_base ) {2430			if ( ! is_callable( $control['callback'] ) ) {2431				continue;2432			}2433 2434			ob_start();2435				call_user_func_array( $control['callback'], $control['params'] );2436			ob_end_clean();2437			break;2438		}2439	}

Changelog

Introduced in 3.1.0. Unchanged from 6.7.7 through 7.1.0.

1. 6.7.7
2. 6.8.8
3. 6.9.7
4. 7.0.4
5. 7.1.0

Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.

About this page

Parsed data

Generated from the wordpress-develop 7.0.4 tag, from src/wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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