How can I load a block's subject and body, programmatically, for use in a module?

Question

I need to create an array in my custom module that contains data from multiple blocks. something like this:

array(
  'block_1' => array(
    'subject'=>'Block Subject Here',
    'body'=>'Full block body html here',
  ),

  'custom_module_block' => array(
    'subject'=>'Block Subject Here',
    'body'=>'Full block body html here',
  ),

  'another_block_machinename' => array(
    'subject'=>'Block Subject Here',
    'body'=>'Full block body html here',
  ),
);

In order to do this, i need to be able to programmatically load block content, being able to access and handle each block's subject and body in order to populate my array.

Imagine the node equivalent being a simple node_load(); where you can easily access $node->title and $node->body from within the loaded node.

I'm not able to find any functions that make loading this block data possible. Neither block_load() nor module_invoke() get me all the data I need (specifically the block subject).

So, how do I load a block's subject and body programmatically so I can use it in my custom module?

Answer 1

/**
 * Implements hook_block_view().
 */
function hook_block_view($delta = '') {
  $block = array();

  switch ($delta) {
    case 'block_1':

      $block['subject'] = NULL;
      $block['content'] = 'Full block body html here';
      break;

    case 'block_2':

      $block['subject'] = 'Block Subject Here';
      $block['content'] = 'Full block body html here';
      break;

    case 'block_3':

      $block['subject'] = 'Block Subject Here';
      $block['content'] = 'Full block body html here';
      break;

  }
  return $block;
}

Based on https://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/modules%21block%21block.api.php/function/hook_block_view/7

Answer 2

Contrary to a statement in my initial question, module_invoke() DOES return the subject of the block...but ONLY if there's block content ($block['content'])! This means if you're trying to load a block with empty content (for example a Views block without results), the block subject returned from module_invoke will always be empty.

So, as long as the block has content, this will return both block subject and block content (turn this into a loop to load multiple blocks);

$block_array = array();      
$loaded_block = module_invoke('module_name', 'block_view', 'block_delta');
$block_array[]['title'] = $loaded_block['subject'];
$block_array[]['content'] = $loaded_block['content']['#markup'];

Answer 3

Use following code to get list:

$result = db_select('block', 'b')
            ->fields('b')
            ->execute()
            ->fetchAll();
$arr = array();
    foreach ($result as $key => $row){
        $block = module_invoke($row->module, 'block_view', $row->delta);
        $arr[$key]['content'] = render($block['content']);
        $arr[$key]['subject'] = $block['subject'];
    }

Answer 4

Given the assumption that you know what blocks you want to load, and you just want the arrays back that would be displayed (for your own purposes, as you said,) I think you can just "view" the blocks to create the array.

$blocks = array();
$blocks[] = block_block_view(1);
$blocks[] = views_block_view('viewname-blockname');
$blocks[] = custom_module_block_view('delta');
return $blocks;

Wouldn't that work?

Edited to add:

This returns an array like this:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [subject] => Simple Block Title
            [content] => <p>This is block(1).</p>
        )
    [1] => Array
        (
            [subject] => View title
            [content] => <div class="view">All the view content, probably as markup.</div>
        )
    [2] => Array
        (
            [subject] => Title of my custom block
            [content] => Array
                (
                    [#theme] => item_list
                    [#items] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => My custom block returns a render array
                            [1] => Markup is for theme layer
                            [2] => This is a silly example
                        )
                )
        )
)

Of course, you can specify array keys when you add $blocks[] items if you need more than just numeric. Either way, as you can see, this returns the subject and content separately, not all mixed together.