On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 2:56 PM, Steve Edwards <killshot91@comcast.net> wrote:

What about using a preprocess function in a module to unset the sidebar region variable if the condition is met?

Steve

Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:

On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Earnie Boyd <earnie@users.sourceforge.net> wrote:

Quoting "Tomá? Fülöpp (vacilando.org)" <tomi@vacilando.org>:

Hi,

I cannot find a generic way how to disable a sidebar programmatically.

In my module, if some conditions are met, I would like to make sure that the
whole sidebar (or any blocks in it) are not rendered at all, regardless of
the theme.

Could somebody advise, please? Sorry if it's obvious..

I think you want to use hook_block()[1].

[1] http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_block

He is talking about the whole sidebar, hence a region, not a block.
hook_block() will not help here.

In the past we have done it by setting the visibility PHP code for each block
in a given region, and that would make the entire sidebar invisible if the
conditions are met. It is a pain if you have more than a few blocks in that
region (right side bar for example).

You said you don't want it in the theme, but it would be a simple change in
page.tpl.php

      <?php if ($right): ?>
        <?php if (!custom_visibility_function()) ?>
          <div id="sidebar-right" class="sidebar">
          <?php print $right ?>
          </div>
        <?php endif; ?>
      <?php endif; ?>

The other option is to use preprocess_block(). Perhaps something like this in
template.php

<?php
function phptemplate_preprocess_block(&$variables) {
if ($variables['block']->region = 'right') {
    if (!custom_visibility_function()) {
      unset($variables['block'];
    }
}
}
?>

Still in the theme though.

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Earnie
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