30.04.2026 | Pascal Crott

Prevent empty views blocks from getting rendered even if they are empty.

Issue: https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal/issues/953034

my_module.module

<?php

use Drupal\views\Plugin\Block\ViewsBlock;

/**
 * Implements hook_block_alter().
 */
function hook_block_alter(array &$definitions) {
  foreach ($definitions as $block_id => &$block_definition) {
    if ($block_definition['class'] === ViewsBlock::class) {
      $block_definition['class'] = 'Drupal\my_module\Plugin\Block\ViewsBlock';
    }
  }
}

ViewsBlock.php

<?php

namespace Drupal\my_module\Plugin\Block;

use Drupal\views\Plugin\Block\ViewsBlock as ViewsBlockCore;

/**
 * Replaces the generic Views block.
 */
class ViewsBlock extends ViewsBlockCore {

  /**
   * {@inheritdoc}
   */
  public function build() {
    if (empty($this->view->result) && empty($this->view->empty)) {
      // Without caching.
      // return ['#cache' => ['max-age' => 0]];
      // With hard caching.
      return [];
    }

    return parent::build();
  }

}

Issue:

Sometimes blocks are rendered even when they are empty and even if the setting in views is activated that they should not be rendered when empty. This might be the case in combination i.e. with lazy loading. If an empty block is rendered, this may have impact on the layout because the empty block might still have margins or paddings

Solution:

This snippet replaces the generic Views block and checks "manually" whether or not the block is empty.

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16.07.2026 | Lothar Ferreira Neumann

How to translate the Maxlength Countdown message label globally

A Drupal backend screenshot showing the "Count down message" field

Leave this field empty to allow for translation via Drupal interface translation.

Example configuration created by enabling Maxlength:

core.entity_form_display.node.article_not_translatable.default.yml

# ...
content:
  field_copyright:
    type: text_textarea
    weight: 3
    region: content
    settings:
      rows: 2
      placeholder: ''
    third_party_settings:
      allowed_formats:
        hide_help: '1'
        hide_guidelines: '1'
      maxlength:
        maxlength_js: null
        maxlength_js_label: 'Content limited to @limit characters, remaining: <strong>@remaining</strong>'
        maxlength_js_enforce: false
# ...

However, the module already contains fallback logic for this label in maxlength.module:

maxlength.module

$maxlength_js_label = !empty($thirdPartySettings['maxlength']['maxlength_js_label']) ? $thirdPartySettings['maxlength']['maxlength_js_label'] : t('Content limited to @limit characters, remaining: <strong>@remaining</strong>');
$maxlength_js = $thirdPartySettings['maxlength']['maxlength_js'];

Working configuration: empty the label

core.entity_form_display.node.article_translatable.default.yml

# ...
content:
  field_copyright:
    type: text_textarea
    weight: 3
    region: content
    settings:
      rows: 2
      placeholder: ''
    third_party_settings:
      allowed_formats:
        hide_help: '1'
        hide_guidelines: '1'
      maxlength:
        maxlength_js: null
        maxlength_js_label: ''
        maxlength_js_enforce: false
# ...

With the label empty, the module falls back to its internal t() string, which can then be translated normally via the interface translation system.

yml

module

maxlength

translation

13.11.2025 | Michael Ebert

How to alter the langcode of a field for accessibility reasons

my_module.module

function my_module_preprocess_field(&$variables): void {
  if ($variables['element']['#bundle'] == 'my_bundle') {
    if (in_array($variables['element']['#field_name'], ['my_field'])) {
      $variables['attributes']['lang'] = 'en';
    }
  }
}

module

accessibility

multi-language

field management