ubertam

I ended up using Flexible Posts Widget instead, and making a custom plugin to let me change the sort.

FPW lets you create a custom template (I called mine PCVA FPW Case Result, then added the file pcva_fpw_case_result.php to my child theme at \Jupiter-child\flexible-posts-widget\pcva_fpw_case_result.php). That PHP file declares the layout of the result so I can have minimal information, make it link where I want it to, etc. Here is that code:

<?php
/**
 * Flexible Posts Widget: Default widget template
 * 
 * @since 3.4.0
 *
 * This template was added to overcome some often-requested changes
 * to the old default template (widget.php).
 */

// Block direct requests
if ( !defined('ABSPATH') )
	die('-1');

echo $before_widget;

if ( ! empty( $title ) )
	echo $before_title . $title . $after_title;

if ( $flexible_posts->have_posts() ):
?>
	<ul class="dpe-flexible-posts custom-field-case_result_list_entry pcva_fpw_attyresult">
	<?php while ( $flexible_posts->have_posts() ) : $flexible_posts->the_post(); global $post; ?>
		<li id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class(); ?>>
			<a href="<?php echo the_permalink(); ?>">
				<?php the_field('case_result_list_entry'); ?>
			</a>
		</li>
	<?php endwhile; ?>
	</ul><!-- .dpe-flexible-posts -->
<?php	
endif; // End have_posts()
	
echo $after_widget;

Then, I made the following custom plugin so they would be sorted my way. Note: this didn’t make the FPW widget interface give me those options; it just overrode whatever setting was there. Here’s that plugin code:

<?php
/* Adjust Flexible Posts Widget to order by meta_key */

add_filter( 'dpe_fpw_args', 'pcva_fpw_sortmeta' );

function pcva_fpw_sortmeta($query) {
	$query['meta_key'] = 'hidden_sort_value';
	$query['orderby'] = 'meta_value_num';
	return $query;
	
}

FPW already does custom taxonomies, so it had less to tweak to get this to work.

Good luck!

If done correctly, it will override whatever the widget setting is set to. My guess is the code I added above isn’t being recognized. Couple possibilities:

Is your code properly done in a custom plugin or in your theme’s functions.php file?
If it is a custom plugin, is that plugin enabled?
If sorting by text rather than numbers, change ‘meta_value_num’ to ‘meta_value’ – that might just be it.
Make sure you replace ‘hidden_sort_value’ with your proper custom field.

Supporting custom taxonomies would be extremely awesome, as well. I have taxonomies for Case Results called “CR Attorneys” and “CR Practice Areas” so I don’t clutter up my “Categories” default taxonomy.

I’d be willing to donate $100 to make this happen.