[development] finding blocks and getting them simpler.

[Khalid B]

On 5/15/06, Khalid B <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
> On 5/15/06, Bèr Kessels <ber at webschuur.com> wrote:
> > Hello list,
> >
> > One thing that has bothered me for a long time, is how to get/find/parse
> > blocks in a simple way.
> >
> > Problems are:
> > * you need to read the code to find the "delta". Modules like views require
> > you to hover the admin/blocks/edit links in order to find the delta.
> > * a block returned by hook_block('view') needs casting and remodelling before
> > I can be passed to theme_block.
> >
> > I addressed the last point with a helper function get_block.
> >
> > But that function still has the first problem above: You need to know a) the
> > module that makes the block and b) the delta.
> >
> > Does anyone know a trick for this? Or did I miss an API function? Is someone
> > working on code for this?
> >
> > NOTE: I am not particularly interested in a discussion to revise the core
> > block architecture. Eventhough that might be an interesting project, I am
> > looking for an intermediate function/api-set right now :)
>
> Initially, I used flexiblock to get the blocks I wanted where I want them (e.g.
> adsense blocks),
>
> Later, I decided that less dependancies is better, and to do it
> directly from core.
>
> In 4.7, there is the block regions stuff, which should work great
> (more on that below).
>
> Like Ber and Merlin, I find myself using the delta too. In template.php, I find
> myself doing this:
>
> function phptemplate_get_block($block_id) {
>   $block = block_block('view', $block_id);
>   return $block['content'];
> }
>
> Then in node/page.tpl.php I do:
>
> <?php print phptemplate_get_block(6); ?>
>
> Not pretty, and has hard coded block deltas, but it works.
>
> The reason is, I don't want the block title to be displayed. I know that this
> can be handled with CSS, but prefer not to have it altogether.
>
> So on my to do list, there is a task to make it an option to turn off
> the display
> of a block's title.
>
> Now that block regions can be anywhere, they can be in all sorts of crazy
> places.
>
> In such situations, the display of the title should be turned off for
> the region.
>

I forgot to say that this goes well with the regions and the theme.

In template.php there would be:

function mytheme_regions() {
  return array(
      'ad_top'    => t('ad top'),
      'ad_links'  => t('ad links'),
      'ad_bottom' => t('ad bottom'),
      'right'     => t('right sidebar'),
      'left'      => t('left sidebar'),
      'content'   => t('content'),
      'header'    => t('header'),
      'footer'    => t('footer')
  );
}

And then in node/page.tpl.php there would only be:

<?php print $ad_top ?>

And the placement would be via the admin/block interface.

Nice and simple ...