Create a 'title' variable in preprocess for block templates

Here's the patches for D8 and a backport for D7.

#3: provide_block_title_for_template-1591832-3.patch queued for re-testing.

Here's an updated patch for D8..

another update

another format..hopefully this will be okie

hopefully this one will work now..sorry for to many failed this just want to make my first commit in d.o

ops, seems i have to study more before attempting a patch again..

Another try.. test this in my clone d8 in my local..hope this will be okay now

How does this fit in with #1591806: Change block "subject" so that it's called a (admin_)label like everything else on the theme layer?

Not sure if this is backportable or not - it's a "data structure addition", if it is then I don't object to it going into 8.x first, but assigning to David since I'd rather go with #1591806: Change block "subject" so that it's called a (admin_)label like everything else on the theme layer for 8.x and close this altogether if not.

As much as I'd like to see this in Drupal 7, I'm not sure it's actually safe for backport. The first part of the patch is a "data structure addition", but the second is really a "data structure change". It replaces $block->subject with $title assuming they're the same thing, but they could easily have been altered along the way.

For example, what if someone has code like the following (I see this kind of thing pretty often):

function MYMODULE_preprocess_block(&$variables) {
  // Alter the block's title before printing.
  if ($variables['block']->module == 'some_module' && $variables['block']->delta == 'some_delta') {
    $variables['block']->subject = t('@subject, specially prepared for you, @name!', array(
      '@subject' => $variables['block']->subject,
      '@name' => format_username($GLOBALS['user']),
    ));
  }
}

This patch will break that, because the alteration to $block->subject will never be used in the template.

So, guys what are we going to do with this?
Thanks for your feedback here,
I am a beginner and hope to have my first commit in drupal.

I'm sure it will happen soon, @mjonesdinero - good luck!

I think the first half of the above patch (which just makes the 'title' variable available) is safe for Drupal 7, if we only wanted to do that... It's less exciting if we can't actually use it in the core templates, but at least we could document its availability. Not sure if it's actually worth doing that.

Otherwise, unless my example above is wrong, we can't do much here for Drupal 7, but for Drupal 8, the patch at #1591806: Change block "subject" so that it's called a (admin_)label like everything else on the theme layer is definitely a good way to go and a more comprehensive solution to the problem, and that patch still needs people to help work on it a bit more.

The change to a straight $title in the template (rather than $block->title) in Drupal 8 could either happen as part of that issue or here as a followup, I guess.

@David_Rothstein thanks for that feedback.

this will add some knowledge on my self.

It occurred to me that another way to achieve the goal of this issue (in Drupal 7) might be something like #1158090: Separate usage of hide(), render(), and other template features from print statements to enable non-developers to create themes . Since that issue would move all the ugly logic in PHP templates to the top of the file, out of the way of the HTML, and something like $title = $block->subject; could definitely go at the top with the rest of the ugly stuff, so that $title could then be used in the actual main part of the core template.

That's a big issue, and I had been meaning to get back to working on it at some point, but then I started maintaining Drupal core which took up my time instead :)

@jenlampton
Thanks again with your feedback..so what are the next step that we will make with this issue?

I'm going to throw this in catch's pile, as I'm not sure exactly what he wants to do here.

Since David doesn't think this can be backported, I'm going to mark this as duplicate of #1591806: Change block "subject" so that it's called a (admin_)label like everything else on the theme layer, hopefully we can get the patch over there moving.

change related text