How to insert a block into a node or template in Drupal 7?

Question

In Drupal 6, it was easy to insert a block into a template with the following code:

$block = module_invoke(\'views\', \'block\', \'view\', \'block_name\');
print         


        

Answer 1

Recently I faced the same issue and I came across a nice solution which describes the solution in drupal as drupal's way.

You can print regions inside any template, but they aren't available out of the box in the node.tpl.php template. To make them available, you'll create a new variable for use in your node.tpl.php template that'll contain all the region content.

Creating new template variables is done by using a preprocess function. In your theme's template.php file, create a function that looks like this:

function mytheme_preprocess_node(&$variables) {
  // Get a list of all the regions for this theme
  foreach (system_region_list($GLOBALS['theme']) as $region_key => $region_name) {

    // Get the content for each region and add it to the $region variable
    if ($blocks = block_get_blocks_by_region($region_key)) {
      $variables['region'][$region_key] = $blocks;
    }
    else {
      $variables['region'][$region_key] = array();
    }
  }
}

Then, in your theme's node.tpl.php template, you can render any region by doing the following:

Where sidebar_first is the name of the region you want to render.

Read the complete article here: https://drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/20054/can-regions-be-printed-within-a-node-template