Question

I have a rather large template.php file and was looking at a better way to organise it. The main culprit is theme_preprocess_node() which has lots of code.

Can someone suggest a good way to keep this tidy and readable? Can I create custom functions in template.php.

Alternatively can this be split up into custom modules? And if so how can I get access to the $vars or $variables (page variables) that I need?

Thanks

Answer 1

I also faced this kind of code mess up in theme esp in template.php. My Idea Goes like this,

• Collect code that helps in theming with a configuration
  • Create a module for the same. example collect code that helps you in theming a form and make a module.
• If template.php is so large, separate out the theme override functions in to separate .inc file and include in template.php
  • Ex: theme related to layout or blocks as blocks_theme.inc

Alternatively can this be split up into custom modules? And if so how can I get access to the $vars or $variables (page variables) that I need?

The module you design need to serve the purpose of theming. $vars should not be passed as such. But instead try to pass the required variables to the functions and get the themed output.