Drupal 7 custom block configure - cant choose specific number of nnodes to display

Question

I have build a custom block for Drupal 7 where users can display any nodes in block from chooseing any content type and choose to display any number of nodes:

I managed to get it worked with displaying nodes and chooseing what type of content to display. Only problem is how many of them to display.

Example of a code is:

function custom_block_configure() {
    $types = node_type_get_types();
    foreach ($types as $node_type) {
        $nodetypes[$node_type->type] = $node_type->name;
    }
    $form['example_nodes_toshow'] = array(
        '#type' => 'checkboxes',
        '#title' => t('Select the nodes to show'),
        '#options' => $nodetypes,
        '#default_value' => variable_get('example_nodes_toshow', array('')),
        '#description' => t('All the node types selected will be shown'),
    );

    $form['example_number_display'] = array(
        '#type' => 'textfield',
        '#title' => t('Enter number of node to display in block'),
        '#default_value' => variable_get('example_number_display', array('')),
        '#description' => t('Display any number of nodes'),
        '#size' => 5,
    );

    return system_settings_form($form);
}

All forms are displayed in a block configuration. The first form is for users to choose to display content types and second form is only for chooseing how many of them to display, so from 1 - 5.

After this point I am not sure if its right and I did not finished any code for example_number_display, but you are there to help me.

Next code is:

function example_block_save($delta = '', $edit = array(), $number_limit = array()) {
  if ($delta == 'customblock') {
    variable_set('example_nodes_toshow', $edit['example_nodes_toshow']);
    variable_set('example_number_display', $number_limit['example_number_display']);
  }
}

Next code is block_view with some query for creating a list of nodes and displaying it:

function example_block_view($block_name = '') {
    if ($block_name == 'exampleblock') {

        //Get the selected node types and create a list of them
        $show_nodes_list = array();
        $show_nodes_array = variable_get('example_nodes_toshow', array(''));
        foreach ($show_nodes_array as $key => $value) {
            if ($value) {
                array_push($show_nodes_list, $value);
            }
        }



        global $user;
        //Based on the node types create a query and then load the node types
        $query = new EntityFieldQuery();
        $query
                ->entityCondition('entity_type', 'node')
                ->entityCondition('bundle', $show_nodes_list)
                ->propertyCondition('status', 1)
                ->propertyCondition('uid', $user->uid)
                ->propertyOrderBy('created', 'DESC')
                ->range(0, 5);

        $result = $query->execute();
        $nodes = array();
        if (isset($result['node'])) {
            $nids = array_keys($result['node']);
            $nodes = entity_load('node', $nids);
        }

        //Loop through the loded nodes to create a list
        $list = array();
        $i = 0;
        foreach ($nodes as $node) {
            $options = array('absolute' => TRUE);
            $url = url('node/' . $node->nid, $options);
            $list[$i] = '<a href=' . $url . '>' . $node->title . '</a>';
            $i++;
        }

        //Return the content of the block
        $theme_args = array('items' => $list, 'type' => 'ol');
        $content = theme('item_list', $theme_args);

        $block = array(
            'subject' => t('Show Nodes Block'),
            'content' => $content,
        );
        return $block;
    }
}

In the abowe code I insert range (0, 5) to limit display of nodes in block but I cant manage to get it connected with example_number_display or is there any other simple solution.

Shah Amit Shah Amit · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-02T12:55:45

Yes you can manage the range associated with "example_number_display"

Instead of static value 
->range(0, 5);

You can use
$numberdisplay = variable_get('example_number_display', '5');
->range(0, $numberdisplay);

Drupal 7 custom block configure - cant choose specific number of nnodes to display

1 Answers