Drupal 7: Display different Sidebar depending on Content Type

Question

So I have three different blocks inside my right sidebar region. What I would like to do is change which one gets displayed based on the content type. I'm new to Drupal, and from what I can see in the available variables list, there's no way for me to see what content type I'm in when customizing block.tpl.php. Is it possible?

Answer 1

I'd recommend using the Context module to define different "contexts" for the different content types. Each context can then be configured to display different blocks.

Another alternative is the Panels module , but Panels does a lot more and consequently has a more complex interface, so it can be difficult for beginners to master.

Answer 2

There is no need for an extra module in Drupal 7. When you are editing the block (in the CMS, not the template file) look at the " Visibility settings " under " Content Types "

Here you can specify which types to show the block on.

Note: if none are selected then it will be available in every content type.

Answer 3

If you want to use just 1 block, you could add some code to get the node type:

<?php
if (arg(0) == 'node') {
  $node = node_load(arg(1));
}
?>

And now you can access the type with: $node->type

If you were going with 3 separate blocks ...

Install the path auto (http://drupal.org/project/pathauto)

Set your node paths to be different. For this example, I'll use articles and products as the content types:

Articles: articles/[title-raw] Products: products/[title-raw]

Then, set your blocks to display based on url path.

For your article block, use: articles/* For your products block, use: products/*