Blocks not independent of themes
Not sure where to post this, so if this is the wrong place, please re-direct me.
I have more than one theme installed. Of course, one theme is the default. The others are all enabled. administer->blocks displays two tabs. The first is: "list" and the second is "add block". If I select "list", each of the themes shows up in a separate tab with the word "settings". So, the first tab is "theme1 settings" and the second tab is "theme2 settings", etc.
However, whenever I change the settings for a particular theme, those same changes show up in all of the themes. It is as if I pre-selected an override which says, effectively, "if I make a change to my block configuration in any one theme, apply that same change to all themes".
If I did that, it certainly was unintentional.
Does anybody know whether such an option exists and if so where I can find it to turn it off? If such an option does not exist, can anybody think of anything I can do to restore the uniqueness of block configuration by theme?
Thanks
Probably a theme initiation issue
When configuring the various themes' blocks, do you get a page that's rendered in that theme, or is it all in the default theme?
If it's all in the default theme, you're running across an issue of the theme being set prematurely by some other module issuing a theme() call, so that by the time block module tries to set the theme to assign blocks to it can't. Try disabling other modules one by one and see return to block configuration and see if that fixes the problem. If it does, please note here which module caused the issue and/or open an issue on the module.
Or try blockregion.module
http://drupal.org/project/blockregion, which is designed to fix this sort of issue.
See also http://drupal.org/node/72851.
Not fixed or identified so far
I do not have Block Region downloaded anywhere on my machine, so I know that I haven't enabled this "feature" using Block Region. However, it is exactly as you described, in that my block settings, for any theme, are displayed to me using the default theme. However, that is expected, although not because of Block Region.
I have taxonomy_theme installed and have enabled that module, along with setting the theme for admin to be a specific theme. Hence, I don't expect the theme to change when I'm in the administer menu, no matter what I'm doing, even when setting the specifics of a theme.
I tried what you said about disabling modules and found that there are some that are very difficult to disable and then enable. I'm sure some folks were chuckling when they read your suggestion. Sure enough, I fell into the trap. Luckily, I was able to go into phpMyAdmin and get back my site after disabling the category module. Similarly, I was able to reconfigure my blocks after I disabled the menu module.
Other than that, I didn't find that disabling any module restored the ability to individually configure blocks by theme.
I disabled the taxonomy_theme, btw, and tried all again, just to be sure.
I also have a separate setup that is nearly identical to my public site where this same behaviour is found. That site never even installed the taxonomy_theme module, so I'm pretty sure that it isn't that module or its residue.
Short of starting with a virgin installation and reconfiguring each and every module, is there anything else anybody can think of that I can do to test why I'm not able to modify my blocks by theme?
Yes
Give a list of modules. Perhaps someone knows the culprit.
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Well, you asked
Here are the modules. Those with an asterisk are not enabled. If you don't recognize the module, it is probably one of my node test modules, which are used for experimentation (such as "multipage_form_example"):
actions
activeselect
*activeselect_test
advanced_menu
aggregator
*archive
block
*blockbar
*blog
*blogapi
book
cac_lite
category
category_bulkedit
category_display
category_export
category_legacy
category_menu
category_outliner
*category_pathauto
category_transform
category_views
comment
contact
content
dashboard
*drupal
example
filter
forum
gsitemap
help
*legacy
locale
menu
multipage_form_example
*nice_menus
node
node_type_filter
nodegoto
nodereference
nodewords
notify
number
optionwidgets
page
page_example
paging
path
*ping
poll
profile
search
sitemenu
smtp
*statistics
story
system
taxonomy
taxonomy_browser
taxonomy_theme
text
throttle
tracker
upload
urlfilter
user
user_status
userlists
userreference
views
views_ui
watchdog
workflow
Many thanks.
Could be dashboard
See http://drupal.org/node/69333
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Just a symptom, isn't it?
I don't really care if the theme changes when I'm in administer->blocks or not. Unless the fact that it is not changing is also precluding me from storing the block information on a per-theme basis. It seems like those two things would be independent, though. Then again, maybe not.
In any event, I had already disabled Dashboard and tried, but it didn't seem to make any difference. Do I have to do more than merely uncheck the module in administer->modules, submit the change and then navigate to administer->blocks?
No
No, the theme change is essential. Apart from dashboard other modules might also cause this, but I wouldn't know them from the list. Taxonomy theme caused this problem in the past, but it was fixed.
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Dashboard it is
I must not have been doing the test properly the first time, because this time when I disabled Dashboard and went into administer->blocks and selected a non-default theme I was greeted with the non-default theme and the ability to independently configure my blocks on a per theme basis.
After concluding, I reset Dashboard to enabled and my modified blocks were retained.
I'll see if there is an update to Dashboard that I'm missing that fixes this issue.
Thanks, as always.
Panels
See http://drupal.org/project/panels
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I was going to ask..
Having just returned from glancing at Dashboard for any updates, I noted that the writeup had changed and the intent is to replace Dashboard with Panels.
It is a bit new, as far as modules go, so I guess my question is whether you have tried it and it seems stable or should I only go forward with it on my production site if I'm willing to deal with potential fallout.
As of now, I at least have a functional workaround.
I guess this isn't really a fair question, so I'll install it on my test site and give it a test drive.
Try installing blockregion
What I meant was, try installing blockregion module. I wrote it to fix the issues you're having.
Seems like the opposite
Maybe I'm just not understanding. It seems like I have the functional equivalent to Block Region already installed, although I don't have it installed.
In reading the explanation for Block Region I thought its purpose was to provide that any change made to any block, no matter which theme was being modified, would apply to all themes. At least, that is what the help says: "Enable the configuration of blocks for all themes at once."
What I want is the exact opposite of that. I want to be able to configure my blocks for each theme independently.
Does Block Region let me do that?
I've updated the description
...so you can decide.
Thanks
I don't think it does what I need, as I need more than mere placement control over non-default themed blocks. At least I think I do. I'll let you know.