Magento - adding a widget instance to a template file

Question

I know that you can call a cms block directly from a template file using the following:

<?php echo $this->getLayout()->createBlock('cms/block')->setBlockId('footer_links')->toHtml() ?>

Is there some way to do this with widget instances?

Answer 1

In your template:

<?php
$filter = Mage::getModel('widget/template_filter');
echo $filter->filter('{{widget type="cms/widget_page_link" template="cms/widget/link/link_block.phtml" page_id="2"}}');
?>

Answer 2

Andrew missed toHtml() function at the end:

<?php echo $this->getLayout()->createBlock('cms/widget_page_link')->setTemplate('cms/widget/link/link_block.phtml')->setPageId(2)->toHtml(); ?>