Installation

Installing Dashboard Widgets Suite

1. Upload the plugin to your blog and activate
2. Visit the settings and enable desired widgets
3. Visit the WP Dashboard to use your new widgets

Tip: you can enable/disable widgets via the plugin settings or via the Control Panel widget on the Dashboard.

More info on installing WP plugins

Like the plugin?

If you like Dashboard Widgets Suite, please take a moment to give a 5-star rating. It helps to keep development and support going strong. Thank you!

User Notes Widget

As of DWS version 1.9, you can choose a format for each user note:

• Text (default)
• HTML
• Code

How to choose a note format:

1. Click the “Add Note” link
2. In the “Format” select menu, choose your format
3. Write your note how you want, click the “Add Note” button and done!

To Edit or Delete any note, double-click on the note content (to display the “Edit” and “Delete” buttons).

Debug and Error Logs

Note that the Debug and Error Log widgets may require a bit of configuration, depending on your WP setup. Here is a quick guide:

Debug Log

To enable the WP Debug Log for the Debug Log widget, make sure that debug mode is enabled in your site’s wp-config.php file. Here is one possible way to enable, by adding the following code to your wp-config file, just before the line that says, “That’s all, stop editing!”:

define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

Once added, this will tell WP to log all errors, warnings, and notices to a file named debug.log, which is located in the /wp-content/ directory. Note that if the file does not exist, you can create it manually and give it suitable permissions. Ask your web host if unsure.

Error Log

To enable the Error Log for the Error Log widget, follow the same steps as for “Debug Log”, but use this code instead:

define('WP_DEBUG', true); 
ini_set('display_errors', 'Off');
ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL);

And also make sure to set the correct file path under the plugin’s “Error Log” tab, in the setting “Log Location”.

Debug Log and Error Log

To enable both Debug Log and Error Log, follow the same steps as above, but use this code instead:

define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);
ini_set('display_errors', 'Off');
ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL);

For more information, check these official resources:

• https://codex.wordpress.org/Debugging_in_WordPress
• https://codex.wordpress.org/WP_DEBUG

Uninstalling

Dashboard Widgets Suite cleans up after itself. All plugin settings will be removed from your database when the plugin is uninstalled via the Plugins screen.

Restore Default Options

To restore default plugin options, either uninstall/reinstall the plugin or visit the General Settings > Restore default plugin options.

Shortcodes

DWS provides several shortcodes for displaying widgets on the frontend of your site. Here is a summary:

[dws_feed_box]   => Feed Box
[dws_social_box] => Social Box
[dws_user_notes] => User Notes

You can add these to any WP Post or Page to display the widget on the frontend. The same widget settings apply to both frontend and backend display.

Customizing

Dashboard Widgets Suite provides plenty of settings to customize your widgets. For advanced customization, developers can tap into the power of WordPress Action and Filter Hooks. Here is a complete list of the hooks provided by Dashboard Widgets Suite:

Action Hooks

dashboard_widgets_suite
dashboard_widgets_suite_control_panel

dashboard_widgets_suite_feed_box
dashboard_widgets_suite_feed_box_frontend

dashboard_widgets_suite_list_box

dashboard_widgets_suite_log_debug
dashboard_widgets_suite_log_error

dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_submit
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_frontend

dashboard_widgets_suite_social_box
dashboard_widgets_suite_social_box_frontend

dashboard_widgets_suite_system_info

dashboard_widgets_suite_widget_box


Filter Hooks

dashboard_widgets_suite_options_general
dashboard_widgets_suite_get_options_general

dashboard_widgets_suite_options_feed_box
dashboard_widgets_suite_get_options_feed_box
dashboard_widgets_suite_feed_box_data
dashboard_widgets_suite_feed_box_output
dashboard_widgets_suite_feed_box_suffix
dashboard_widgets_suite_feed_box_frontend_data

dashboard_widgets_suite_options_list_box
dashboard_widgets_suite_get_options_list_box
dashboard_widgets_suite_list_box_menu_name

dashboard_widgets_suite_options_log_debug
dashboard_widgets_suite_get_options_log_debug
dashboard_widgets_suite_log_debug_clear
dashboard_widgets_suite_log_debug_errors
dashboard_widgets_suite_log_debug_level
dashboard_widgets_suite_log_debug_path

dashboard_widgets_suite_options_log_error
dashboard_widgets_suite_get_options_log_error
dashboard_widgets_suite_log_error_clear
dashboard_widgets_suite_log_error_errors
dashboard_widgets_suite_log_error_level
dashboard_widgets_suite_log_error_path

dashboard_widgets_suite_options_notes_user
dashboard_widgets_suite_get_options_notes_user
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_data_add
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_data_delete
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_data_edit
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_data_form
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_data_get
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_example
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_message
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_style
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_frontend_data
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_user_frontend_view
dashboard_widgets_suite_notes_format
dashboard_widgets_suite_note_styles

dashboard_widgets_suite_options_social_box
dashboard_widgets_suite_get_options_social_box
dashboard_widgets_suite_social_box_output
dashboard_widgets_suite_social_box_frontend_data

dashboard_widgets_suite_options_system_info
dashboard_widgets_suite_get_options_system_info

dashboard_widgets_suite_options_widget_box
dashboard_widgets_suite_get_options_widget_box

dashboard_widgets_suite_allowed_tags
dashboard_widgets_suite_editable_roles
dashboard_widgets_suite_get_date

DWS also provides hooks for customizing widget names on the Dashboard.

Suggest a hook!