when the hook_block_info is get called?

Question

when

hook_block_info()
hook_block_configure()
hook_block_save()
hook_block_view()

are get called? is it possible to call these hooks manually in a module?

Answer 1

From the comments, I think you're confusing things a bit. There are two types of block:

Custom

the ones you create through the UI. The content for these is stored in the block_custom table.

Programatically defined

the ones that Drupal auto-discovers for modules that implement hook_block_info(). The content for these is defined in hook_block_view(), and is built on-the-fly, so to speak. The content can be cached, but when that cache is invalidated the implementation of hook_block_view() will be responsible for re-building it. Drupal doesn't store this content anywhere on your behalf.

You can use either type for your needs. If you want to use custom blocks there's a good approach here.

If you want to use the hooks, the approach should be like this (this assumes you have a data table called my_table that you've populated with the necessary content for the block):

function MYMODULE_block_info() {
  // Get identifiers for all your custom blocks.
  $deltas = db_query('SELECT delta FROM {my_table}')->fetchCol();
  $blocks = array();

  foreach ($deltas as $delta) {
    $blocks[$delta] = array( /* Block definition */ );
  }

  return $blocks;
}

function MYMODULE_block_view($delta = '') {
  $block = array();     

  if (!empty($delta)) {
    // Get your custom data for this delta
    $data = db_query('SELECT * FROM {my_table} WHERE delta = :delta', array(':delta' => $delta))->fetchObject();

    // And populate the block with it.
    $block['subject'] = $data->title;
    $block['content'] = $data->content;
  }

  return $block;
}

Obviously that's a trivial example and you'll want to add error checking and the like, but it should get you started. Note that you won't be able to have a temporary table as such with this method, your data will need to persist so it can be re-queried when the time comes.