I have several .tpl.php files for nodes, CCK fields, and Views theming. These template files have a lot of logic in them to move things around, strip links, create new links, etc. I understand that this is bad development and not "The Drupal Way".
If I understand correctly, "The Drupal Way" is to use preprocessor functions in your template.php
file to manipulate variables and add new variables. A few questions about that:
content-field-field_transmission_make_model.tpl
, how would I name the preprocessor function?For a general overview, you should read up on manipulating variables within preprocess functions.
Concerning the naming convention, this is normally pretty simple, but there is a catch for your current example (see below):
A preprocess functions signature needs to be
[yourModuleName|yourThemeName]_preprocess_[themeFunctionName](&$variables)
so implementing one for the page template within a themes template.php file would result in
themeName_preprocess_page(&$variables)
Most of the time the name of the theme function will be the name of the *.tpl.php file, without the .tpl.php ending and with underscores instead of the hyphens. But there is a catch if the template file gets selected on the base of template suggestions, as the preprocess function can only be implemented for the base name, not for the additional suggestions! (The suggestions for alternate template files are added in preprocess functions themselves.)
Your current example is one of those cases, as content-field-field_transmission_make_model.tpl.php
is such a suggestion, with the base name being content-field.tpl.php
, and the corresponding theme function being content_field
. So you would have to implement a preprocess function named yourThemeName_preprocess_content_field(&$variables)
, and within that inspect the available entries in the $variables array to check if you are actually called for the 'field_transmission_make_model', and not for a completely different CCK field, e.g.:
function yourThemeName_preprocess_content_field(&$variables) {
// Are we called for the right field?
if ('field_transmission_make_model' == $variables['field_name']) {
// Yes, add/manipulate entries within the variables array
$variables['new_entry'] = 'A useless new variable';
$variables['label'] = 'A useless change of the existing label variable';
}
}
(Note: Untested code, beware of typos)
After this, there should be a new variable $new_entry
being available in your template file, and the content of the $label
variable should have changed (all top level entries within the $variables array will be turned into separate variables for the template file, named after the array index).
As for your second question, the basic usage of preprocess functions is the same for all template files, but be aware: