drupal module defines front page using hook_menu...What does it need to return?

Question

I am using hook menu to define the front page (/front) and I found out if I return '' it renders the theme with all the blocks.

If I return content, is that what gets rendered into the Main Content block? What is the purpose of returning data from this function?

function dc_mad_marchness_menu()
{
    $items['front'] = array(
        'title' => 'Home',
        'page callback' => 'dc_mad_marchness_front',
        'access arguments' => array('access content'),
        'type' => MENU_CALLBACK,
    );

    return $items;
}


function dc_mad_marchness_front()
{
    return '';
}

Answer 1

Yes, if you return either a string or a render array from a page callback function, it will be rendered in the main content region on the front end (well, under normal circumstances anyway. There are possible exceptions).

There's an in-depth description of page callback in the hook_menu() docs which is a bit long to reproduce here. I'd recommend giving it a read through.