Issue status update for http://drupal.org/node/19694 Project: Drupal Version: cvs Component: block.module Category: feature requests Priority: normal Assigned to: chx Reported by: chx Updated by: chx Status: patch Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/block_regions_0.patch (3.56 KB) The original phpdoc said "block objects". Object -- good word, we know what is an object, it is an encapsulation, it has properties, it has methods. The properties of a block object define where should we care about this object. Its constructor is a normal PHP function -- never forget, a plain HTML page can be considered valid PHP code. So, block_list matches the properties against given conditions and if we have a match, it calls the constructor, stores the output (if any) and returns the collection of said outputs. What has happened to 'region'? There is no region in the above text. Oh, 'region' is just a confusing word and vauxia said I'd be better using 'collection'. chx Previous comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 30, 2005 - 13:43 : chx Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/blocks_regions.patch (1.74 KB) This patch makes sure that block.module deals by default only with regions 0 and 1 as it does now but lets you use block_list with any region you define. This opens many possibilites. You may do a multi region module, with your admin UI using the blocks table as storage and the block_list matcher. Or you may do a sections module using the block matcher without cluttering the current blocks list. block_list has a phpdoc: * @param $region main|left|right but I have not found anything regarding 'main' so I changed this to left|right|all where all means (left or right). As the current block module would treat 'main' the same as 'right' I doubt it had any usage. In short: no functionality is harmed, lots of possibilities are opened, so please commit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 30, 2005 - 14:33 : Bèr Kessels A big +1 from me. This helps me make sections module a lot smaller and nicer. Sections module is very popular, but I cannot keep it complelety synchronised with the blocks regexp code and features, eventgough I get about two of such requests per week. It will also allow us to: * Make that proposed admin theme a lot easier and nicer to code. * Allow very fancy themes (i.e. show a banner on foo and bar only) * Allow modules to easily check for its location (we now have loads of if($_GET['q'] = foo) in code. They can now use an easy API. * Do any other easy WhereAmI checks. We offer no such locator API atm. The implementation is really easy, simple and changes hardly anything. Also, this patch will make a more regions implemtation a lot easier, this patch can even be seen as the first step towards that. Bèr ------------------------------------------------------------------------ April 3, 2005 - 20:58 : chx Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/block_regions.patch (2.92 KB) More phpdoc. Proper CVS diff. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ April 3, 2005 - 22:25 : Dries I have problems understanding the following sentence: "You may use this function for anything that needs a node type or a URL matcher.". People not familiar with the function won't understand what is meant with "a node type or a URL matcher". I happen to understand this, yet I don't understand what is meant with "anything"? Is the documentation for @return still current? Do people understand what is meant with "region"? IMO, this function's PHPdoc is still somewhat confusing/obscure. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ April 3, 2005 - 23:01 : chx People not familiar with the function won't understand what is meant with "a node type or a URL matcher". [...] yet I don't understand what is meant with "anything"? Anything is, well, anything. Sections module will most probably use this to use different themes for different sections on the same site. nodetype.module (not commited yet) uses this (and db_rewrite_sql) to constrain certain pathes to certain nodetypes. For eg. you may have your 'node' home page display only story type nodes. These modules will store their blocks into custom regions, and issue a block_list to do their magic. These won't display anything resembling a box. So the functionality is really about checking whether the current page matches a given set of paths and/or is of a certain node type. Is the documentation for @return still current? Yes, it is, Do people understand what is meant with "region"? I do not know. A region is a collection of blocks. Is this enough?