Drupal Custom Module HTML - drupal-7

Question

So I've only just begun to learn Drupal so If you believe I'm going about this the wrong way, please let me know.
I have a content type called Events. I'm basically just trying to output a snippet of the latest event on the home page. To do this, I've created a custom module following the Drupal tutorial Drupal doc's custom module tutorial
Here's my module's code
<?php
/**
* Implements hook_block_info().
*/
function latest_event_block_info() {
$blocks['latest_event'] = array(
// The name that will appear in the block list.
'info' => t('Latest Event'),
// Default setting.
'cache' => DRUPAL_CACHE_PER_ROLE,
);
return $blocks;
}
/**
* Custom content function.
*
* Set beginning and end dates, retrieve posts from database
* saved in that time period.
*
* #return
* A result set of the targeted posts.
*/
function latest_event_contents(){
//Get today's date.
$today = getdate();
//Calculate the date a week ago.
$start_time = mktime(0, 0, 0,$today['mon'],($today['mday'] - 7), $today['year']);
//Get all posts from one week ago to the present.
$end_time = time();
//Use Database API to retrieve current posts.
$query = new EntityFieldQuery;
$query->entityCondition('entity_type', 'node')
->entityCondition('bundle', 'event')
->propertyCondition('status', 1) // published == true
->propertyCondition('created', array($start_time, $end_time), 'BETWEEN')
->propertyOrderBy('created', 'DESC') //Most recent first.
->range(0, 1); //ony grab one item
return $query->execute();
}
/**
* Implements hook_block_view().
*
* Prepares the contents of the block.
*/
function latest_event_block_view($delta = '') {
switch ($delta) {
case 'latest_event':
$block['subject'] = t('Latest Event');
if (user_access('access content')) {
// Use our custom function to retrieve data.
$result = latest_event_contents();
$nodes = array();
if (!empty($result['node'])) {
$nodes = node_load_multiple(array_keys($result['node']));
}
// Iterate over the resultset and generate html.
foreach ($nodes as $node) {
//var_dump($node->field_date);
$items[] = array(
'data' => '<p>
<span class="text-color">Next Event</span> ' .
$node->field_date['und'][0]['value'] . ' ' .
'</p>' .
'<p>' .
$node->title . ' ' .
$node->field_location['und'][0]['value'] . ' ' .
'</p>'
);
}
// No content in the last week.
if (empty($nodes)) {
$block['content'] = t('No events available.');
}
else {
// Pass data through theme function.
$block['content'] = theme('item_list', array(
'items' => $items));
}
}
return $block;
}
}
I've added the block to a region, and it renders fine in my template page. However, the events are outputted in a list which is not what I want.
Here's how the block is being rendered in HTML
<div class="item-list">
<ul>
<li class="first last">
<p>
<span class="text-color">Next Event</span> June 23 2016 18:30 - 21:00 </p><p>Cancer Research UK Angel Building, 407 St John Street, London EC1V 4AD
</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
So assuming I'm going about this whole thing correctly, how can I modify this blocks html? Thanks!

Answer 1

I think first you need to understand the theme('item_list', ....). This always output a HTML list either UL or OL as given.
If you want to show your content without the HTML list wrapper, you could try this:
/**
* Implements hook_block_view().
*
* Prepares the contents of the block.
*/
function latest_event_block_view($delta = '') {
switch ($delta) {
case 'latest_event':
$block['subject'] = t('Latest Event');
if (user_access('access content')) {
// Use our custom function to retrieve data.
$result = latest_event_contents();
$nodes = array();
if (!empty($result['node'])) {
$nodes = node_load_multiple(array_keys($result['node']));
}
// Iterate over the resultset and generate html.
$output = '';
foreach ($nodes as $node) {
//var_dump($node->field_date);
$output .= '<p>
<span class="text-color">Next Event</span> ' .
$node->field_date['und'][0]['value'] . ' ' .
'</p>' .
'<p>' .
$node->title . ' ' .
$node->field_location['und'][0]['value'] . ' ' .
'</p>';
}
// No content in the last week.
if (empty($output)) {
$block['content'] = t('No events available.');
}
else {
// Pass data through theme function.
$block['content'] = $output;
}
}
return $block;
}
}
That is one way. Another way is to use your own custom them template and use the array to output through that. For eg.
// Pass data to template through theme function.
$block['content'] = theme('latest_event_block_template', $items);
Then define a hook_theme function to get this to a template, like:
function latest_event_theme() {
return array(
'latest_event_block_template' => array(
'arguments' => array('items' => NULL),
'template' => 'latest-event-block-template',
),
);
}
Now, you should have a template at the module's root directory with the name latest-event-block-template.tpl.php. On this template you will be able to get the $items array and adjust the HTML yourself. Don't forget to clear theme registry after creating the template.
Hope it helps!

Answer 2

It's outputting as a list because you are passing $block['content'] the item_list theme function.
What you could do instead is create your own custom theme template using hook_theme. This will let you use custom markup in a custom template file.
After, replace this:
// Pass data through theme function.
$block['content'] = theme('item_list', array('items' => $items));
With this:
// Pass data through theme function.
$block['content'] = theme('my_custom_theme', array('items' => $items));