Dev030 iconDev030Aug 27, 2026

Berliners blog: Rebuilding a data-driven Drupal site: From ctools plugins to Layout Builder blocks

From ctools plugins to Layout Builder blocks In the previous post, I described why we chose Layout Builder and how Layout Builder IPE restored the frontend editing workflow we had used with Panels IPE. With the editing workflow in place, we still had to rebuild the elements that editors placed on their pages.

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From ctools plugins to Layout Builder blocks In the previous post, I described why we chose Layout Builder and how Layout Builder IPE restored the frontend editing workflow we had used with Panels IPE.

With the editing workflow in place, we still had to rebuild the elements that editors placed on their pages.

The Drupal 7 site used custom ctools content type plugins for maps, charts, figures, lists and tables.

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The useful part

From ctools plugins to Layout Builder blocks In the previous post, I described why we chose Layout Builder and how Layout Builder IPE restored the frontend editing workflow we had used with Panels IPE. With the editing workflow in place, we still had to rebuild the elements that editors placed on their pages. The Drupal 7 site used custom ctools content type plugins for maps, charts, figures, lists and tables.

How it works

  • Editors placed and configured these plugins, while the plugins retrieved the information and rendered the result.
  • I will call both these ctools plugins and the block plugins that replaced them page elements.

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