birt barcode maximo Figure 3-10. Navigate to Configuration File system to configure private downloads. in Font

Create QR Code in Font Figure 3-10. Navigate to Configuration File system to configure private downloads.

Blocks are the foundation of displaying content in Drupal, because they display content from a wide variety of sources, including menus. I take an in-depth look at blocks in this section, covering how they work and their many different configuration settings. I discuss how blocks can be displayed to a user based on a number of settings, including the node s content type, URL, user s role, and user. Menus, which are displayed through blocks, are covered in the next section.

A block is a section of a page that displays content; it can be any size or shape and can display any type of content. You can manually create a block and add content, similar to creating a node, resulting in a

block with static content. Modules can also create blocks, such as recent comments or a recent content block, resulting in a block with dynamic and changing content. Menus are also blocks, as discussed in the previous section. When you re trying to find a way to display content in Drupal, you ll probably want to do it through a block. Blocks are located in regions, which are areas of a page such as the footer, content, or left sidebar. If you navigate to Structure Blocks to view the block configuration page, available regions are in bold on the left side of the screen (see Figure 3-11). You can also click the Demonstrate block regions link to view available regions. Although it is not required that a block is output through a region, outputting a block through a region using the block configuration page has a major benefit: you can easily adjust the order of blocks within a region through the drag-and-drop interface.

Figure 3-11. Navigate to Structure Blocks to view the block configuration page. Every theme has different regions, so blocks are assigned to regions on a per-theme basis. This means you may assign a block to the left sidebar region in one theme and place it in the header region in another theme. Every theme must have two important regions:

The content region that by default contains the main page content block The help region that by default contains the system help block

The default Drupal installation includes a number of blocks, including recent comments, user information, and several menus. Blocks are usually added by modules, although you can also create a block and write content to appear within it. The downside to creating content in a block is that it will not appear in search results. Navigate to Structure Blocks Add block to create a block. One or more blocks can appear in a single region, but a block cannot be configured through the Drupal interface to appear in multiple regions. There are exceptions to this, of course, most of which require placing custom code in your theme template (see 8). Another exception involves the main menu, secondary menu, and other various elements, which can be configured by the theme to display as page elements by navigating to Appearance Settings TOGGLE DISPLAY. The main difference between blocks and page elements is that you cannot control the location of page elements through the Drupal interface; the location of a page element is defined by the theme. By default Drupal enables all page elements.

Whenever you add a new block or enable a module with blocks, you will need to place the block in a region for it to display. Drupal s interface allows you to drag and drop the order of blocks within a region or move blocks between regions. Navigate to Structure Blocks, click the plus icon to the left of the block name, and drag up or down. Remember to click the Save Blocks link at the bottom of the page, because changes are not automatically saved.