function hook_variable_info in Variable 6

Same name and namespace in other branches

1. 7.2 variable.api.php \hook_variable_info()
2. 7 variable.api.php \hook_variable_info()

Define variables used by a module.

Provides meta-information for each variable that includes at the very least some human readable title. This information may be used by other modules to select variables from a list for translating, exporting, etc.

Though not required we can also provide some more information to be able to handle the variable in an effective way, like which type of data and form element it uses, default value, etc.. There are multiple predefined variable types ('type' attribute) that will add a predefined set of properties. Some of them are:

• "string": Simple plain string variable. The form element will be a text field and it will be localizable.
• "number": Simple numeric value. The form element will be a text field.
• "boolean": Simple TRUE/FALSE value. It will be a checkbox.
• "enable": Enabled / Disabled selector. It will display as two radio buttons.
• "select": Selectable list of options. Depending on the number of options, the element will be a list of radios or a drop down.
• "options": List of options with multiple choices. It will be a list of checkboxes.

...

More variable types can be defined by modules using hook_variable_type_info().

For the case of variable names that depend on some other parameter (like variables per content-type), there's some special type of variables: Multiple variables. These can be defined like this:

$variables['node_options_[node_type]'] = array(
  'type' => 'multiple',
  'title' => t('Default options', array(), $options),
  'repeat' => array(
    'type' => 'options',
    'default' => array(
      'status',
      'promote',
    ),
    'options callback' => 'node_variable_option_list',
  ),
);

This multiple variable will spawn into one variable for each node type. Note the variable name that includes the property [node_type]. Values for [node_type] will be defined on hook_variable_type_info().

The 'repeat' property defines the properties of children variables. In this case the 'type' property is optional and will default to 'multiple'.

Parameters

$options: Array of options to build variable properties. Since variable properties are cached per language these options should be used at the very least for string translations, so titles and defaults are localized. Possible options:

• "language" => Language object for which strings and defaults must be returned. This one will be always defined.

Return value

An array of information defining the module's variables. The array contains a sub-array for each node variable, with the variable name as the key. Possible attributes:

• "title": The human readable name of the variable, will be used in auto generated forms.
• "type": Variable type, should be one of the defined on hook_variable_type_info().
• "group": Group key, should be one of the defined on hook_variable_group_info().
• "description": Variable description, will be used in auto generated forms.
• "options": Array of selectable options, or option name as defined on hook_variable_option_info().
• "options callback": Function to invoke to get the list of options.
• "default": Default value.
• "default callback": Function to invoke to get the default value.
• "multiple": Array of multiple children variables to be created from this one.
• "multiple callback": Function to invoke to get children variables.
• "element": Form element properties to override the default ones for this variable type.
• "element callback": Function to invoke to get a form element for this variable.
• "module": Module to which this variable belongs. This property will be added automatically.
• "repeat": Array of variable properties for children variables.
• "localize": Boolean value, TRUE for variables that should be localized. This may be used by other modules.

3 functions implement hook_variable_info()

Note: this list is generated by pattern matching, so it may include some functions that are not actually implementations of this hook.

node_variable_info in includes/node.variable.inc

Node module variables

system_variable_info in includes/system.variable.inc

System module variables

user_variable_info in includes/user.variable.inc

User module variables

1 invocation of hook_variable_info()

variable_build_info in ./variable.inc

Build variable information, which is cached by language

File

./variable.api.php, line 87

Hooks provided by the Variable module.

Code

function hook_variable_info($options) {
  $variables['site_name'] = array(
    'type' => 'string',
    'title' => t('Name', array(), $options),
    'default' => 'Drupal',
    'description' => t('The name of this website.', array(), $options),
    'required' => TRUE,
  );
  $variables['site_403'] = array(
    'type' => 'drupal_path',
    'title' => t('Default 403 (access denied) page', array(), $options),
    'default' => '',
    'description' => t('This page is displayed when the requested document is denied to the current user. Leave blank to display a generic "access denied" page.', array(), $options),
  );
  return $variables;
}