The affinity tool is not a "traditional" widget. But it is nevertheless a widget. It just makes fewer page layout decisions which are hard-coded. If you want to shrink it down and put it on the sidebar in your theme, go for it.

boot.php

@@ -1883,7 +1883,8 @@ function construct_page(&$a) {
 					$v = str_replace('$nav',$a->page['nav'],$v);
 				}
 				if(strpos($v,'$content') !== false) {
-					$v = str_replace('$content',$a->page['section'],$v);
+
+					$v = str_replace('$content',$a->page['content'],$v);
 				}
 
 				$a->page[substr($k,7)] = $v;

include/widgets.php

@@ -334,3 +334,29 @@ function widget_tagcloud_wall($arr) {
 		return tagblock('search',$a->profile['profile_uid'],$limit,$a->profile['channel_hash'],ITEM_WALL);
 	return '';
 }
+
+
+function widget_affinity($arr) {
+
+	if(! local_user())
+		return '';
+
+	if(feature_enabled(local_user(),'affinity')) {
+		$tpl = get_markup_template('main_slider.tpl');
+		$x = replace_macros($tpl,array(
+			'$val' => intval($_REQUEST['cmin']) . ';' . intval($_REQUEST['cmax']),
+			'$refresh' => t('Refresh'),
+			'$me' => t('Me'),
+			'$intimate' => t('Best Friends'),
+			'$friends' => t('Friends'),
+			'$coworkers' => t('Co-workers'),
+			'$oldfriends' => t('Former Friends'),
+			'$acquaintances' => t('Acquaintances'),
+			'$world' => t('Everybody')
+		));
+		$arr = array('html' => $x);
+		call_hooks('main_slider',$arr);
+		return $arr['html']; 
+	}
+ 	return '';
+}

mod/network.php

@@ -111,33 +111,8 @@ function network_content(&$a, $update = 0, $load = false) {
 
 
 	if(! $update) {
-
-		if(feature_enabled(local_user(),'affinity')) {
-			$tpl = get_markup_template('main_slider.tpl');
-			$x = replace_macros($tpl,array(
-				'$val' => intval($cmin) . ';' . intval($cmax),
-				'$refresh' => t('Refresh'),
-				'$me' => t('Me'),
-				'$intimate' => t('Best Friends'),
-				'$friends' => t('Friends'),
-				'$coworkers' => t('Co-workers'),
-				'$oldfriends' => t('Former Friends'),
-				'$acquaintances' => t('Acquaintances'),
-				'$world' => t('Everybody')
-			));
-			$arr = array('html' => $x);
-			call_hooks('main_slider',$arr);
-			$o .= $arr['html']; 
-		}
- 	
-
 		$o .= network_tabs();
 
-		// --- end item filter tabs
-
-
-
-
 		// search terms header
 		if($search)
 			$o .= '<h2>' . t('Search Results For:') . ' '  . htmlspecialchars($search) . '</h2>';

view/pdl/mod_network.pdl

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 [region=nav]$nav[/region]
+
 [region=aside]
 [widget=collections][/widget]
 [widget=archive][/widget]
@@ -7,4 +8,8 @@
 [widget=filer][/widget]
 [widget=notes][/widget]
 [/region]
-[region=section]$content[/region]
+
+[region=content]
+[widget=affinity][/widget]
+$content
+[/region]