Clear block cache in panels page

Question

I'm having trouble with refreshing content in a block created with a custom module, placed within a panels page. My end goal is to display either regular or seasonal hours based on a set date range. My hook_theme() implementation looks like the following:

function daily_hours_theme() {
  if (daily_hours_is_summer()) {
    $table_template = daily_hours_get_summer_vars();
  } else {
    $table_template = daily_hours_get_regular_vars();
  }
  $items =  array(
    'todays_hours_table' => $table_template,
    'daily_hours_text_content' => array(
      'render element' => 'element',
    )
  );
  return $items;
}

I'm using hook_block_info() to test cache settings; the following doesn't seem to have an effect on caching:

function daily_hours_block_info() {
  $blocks['hours_table'] = array(
    'info' => t('Daily Hours Table'),
    'cache' => DRUPAL_NO_CACHE,
  );
  return $blocks;
}

And hook_block_view() to call the theme function:

function daily_hours_block_view($delta = '') {
  switch ($delta) {
    case 'hours_table':
      $block['content'] = theme('todays_hours_table');
      break;
  }
  return $block;
}

Ideally, I'd clear the module's block data at midnight every day, but I'd settle for just knowing how to implement any caching rules in this context.

Answer 1

The variables were being cached at some point in the hook_theme() function, so after reading the documentation on hook_theme(), I moved the logic to conditionally use different variables in to my hook_block_view() implementation, passing them in to the call to theme() at that point. So that function looks like the following:

function daily_hours_block_view($delta = '') {
  if (daily_hours_is_summer()) {
    $variables = daily_hours_get_summer_vars();
  } else {
    $variables = daily_hours_get_regular_vars();
  }
  switch ($delta) {
    case 'hours_table':
      $block['content'] = theme('todays_hours_table', $variables);
      break;
  }
  return $block;
}

And my hook_theme() function:

function daily_hours_theme() {
   $items =  array(
     'todays_hours_table' => array(
       'template' => 'hours_table',
       'variables' => array(
          // set default variables here
       )
     )
   );
   return $items;
 }

The cache setting in my hook_block_info() implementation did not seem to have an impact once I set up the logic in the hook_block_view() function.