[Theme Horse Support Team]

Hi Mark L,
The above code which you have used and our main default code does the same function. This is the plugin conflict with the permalink so get_permalink() is working with your theme but not the_permalink()

If you like to fix the issues then you can use in the same way you did. Yes child theme is required for this. Either you need to do the same changes in the code again and again while updating to new version or better make child theme and customize the code.

you can create a child theme with style.css and functions.php file. In functions.php of the child theme, create your widgets and register them. Just copy the parent widget, change the name of widget like Theme Horse Child: Service Child Widget, make customisation and create your custom widget. If you do this, the widgets of parent theme and child both will appear. Use your custom widget of child theme instead of the parent theme.

Just making same file structure in the child theme like /library/widgets won’t overwrite the parent file. Hope this helps.

Under functions.php add below code

register_widget("interface_child_service_widget");

/* Start */
class interface_child_service_widget extends WP_Widget {

 	function interface_service_widget() {
		$widget_ops = array( 'classname' => 'widget_service', 'description' => __( 'Display Services( Business Layout )', 'interface' ) );
		$control_ops = array( 'width' => 200, 'height' =>250 ); 
		parent::__construct( false, $name = __( 'Theme Horse: Services', 'interface' ), $widget_ops, $control_ops);
	}

	function form( $instance ) {
		$instance = wp_parse_args( (array) $instance, array( 'number' => '8','page_id0'=>'','page_id1'=>'','page_id2'=>'','page_id3'=>'','page_id4'=>'','page_id5'=>'','page_id6'=>'','page_id7'=>'',));
		$number = absint( $instance[ 'number' ] );
		for ( $i=0; $i<$number; $i++ ) {
			$var = 'page_id'.$i;
			$defaults[$var] = '';
		} ?>
		<p>
			<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id('number'); ?>">
				<?php _e( 'Number of Services:', 'interface' ); ?>
			</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	for ( $i=0; $i<$number; $i++ ) {
			$var = 'page_id'.$i;
			$var = absint( $instance[ $var ] );
		}
		?>
		<?php for( $i=0; $i<$number; $i++) { ?>
		<p>
			<label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( key($defaults) ); ?>">
				<?php _e( 'Page', 'interface' ); ?>
				:</label>
				<?php wp_dropdown_pages( array( 'show_option_none' =>' ','name' => $this->get_field_name( key($defaults) ), 'selected' => $instance[key($defaults)] ) ); ?>
			</p>
			<?php
		next( $defaults );// forwards the key of $defaults array
	}
}

function update( $new_instance, $old_instance ) {
	$instance = $old_instance;
	$instance['number'] = absint( $new_instance['number'] );

	for( $i=0; $i<$instance['number']; $i++ ) {
		$var = 'page_id'.$i;
		$instance[ $var] = absint( $new_instance[ $var ] );
	}

	return $instance;
}

function widget( $args, $instance ) {
	extract( $args );
	extract( $instance );
	$number = empty( $instance['number'] ) ? 8 : $instance['number'];

	global $post;
	global $options, $array_of_default_settings;
 	$options = wp_parse_args( get_option( 'interface_theme_options', array() ), interface_get_option_defaults());
	$page_array = array();
	for( $i=0; $i<$number ; $i++ ) {
		$var = 'page_id'.$i;
		$page_id = isset( $instance[ $var ] ) ? $instance[ $var ] : '';

		if( !empty( $page_id ) )
 				array_push( $page_array, $page_id );// Push the page id in the array
 		}
 		$get_featured_pages = new WP_Query( array(
 			'posts_per_page' 			=> -1,
 			'post_type'					=>  array( 'page' ),
 			'post__in'		 			=> $page_array,
 			'orderby' 		 			=> 'post__in'
 			) ); 
 			echo $before_widget; ?>
 			<div class="column clearfix">
 				<?php 
 				$j = 1;
 				while( $get_featured_pages->have_posts() ):$get_featured_pages->the_post();
 				$page_permalink = get_permalink();
 				$page_title = get_the_title();
 				if( $j % 4 == 3 && $j > 1 ) {
 					$service_class = "one-fourth clearfix-half";
 				}
 				elseif ( $j % 4 == 1 && $j > 1 ) {
 					$service_class = "one-fourth clearfix-half clearfix-fourth";
 				}	
 				else {
 					$service_class = "one-fourth";
 				}			
 				?>
 				<div class="<?php echo $service_class; ?>">
 					<div class="service-item clearfix">
 						<?php 
 						if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) {
 							echo'<div class="service-icon">'.get_the_post_thumbnail( $post->ID, 'icon' ).'</div>';
 						}
 						?>
 						<h3 class="service-title"><?php echo esc_attr($page_title); ?></h3>
 					</div>
 					<!-- .service-item -->
 					<article>
 						<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
 					</article>
 					<?php if( !empty( $options[ 'post_excerpt_more_text' ] ) ) { ?>
 					<a class="more-link" title="<?php echo esc_attr($page_title); ?>" href="<?php echo esc_attr($page_permalink); ?>">
 						<?php echo $options[ 'post_excerpt_more_text' ]; ?></a>
 						<?php } ?>
 					</div>
 					<!-- .one-fourth -->
 					<?php $j++; ?>
 					<?php endwhile;
		 		// Reset Post Data
 					wp_reset_query(); 
 					?>
 				</div>
 				<!-- .column --> 
 				<?php echo $after_widget;
 			}

Hope this may help you
Thank you!