"Global: block" area support

For a view I needed an existing block in the header and footer and was quite surprised that Views didn't support that so I copied views_handler_area_view.inc and changed it so you can place an existing block in an area (footer, header, empty text, ?).

class views_handler_area_block extends views_handler_area {

  function option_definition() {
    $options = parent::option_definition();

    $options['block_to_insert'] = array();
    return $options;
  }

  /**
   * Default options form that provides the label widget that all fields
   * should have.
   */
  function options_form(&$form, &$form_state) {
    parent::options_form($form, $form_state);

    $query = db_select('block', 'b');
    $result = $query
      ->fields('b')
      ->orderBy('b.module')
      ->addTag('block_load')
      ->addTag('translatable')
      ->execute();

    $block_info = $result->fetchAllAssoc('bid');
    // Allow modules to modify the block list.
    drupal_alter('block_list', $block_info);

    $blocks = array();
    foreach ($block_info as $block) {
      $blocks["{$block->module}:{$block->delta}"] = "{$block->module}:{$block->delta}"; // @TODO: fetch the correct block title
    }

    $form['block_to_insert'] = array(
      '#type' => 'select',
      '#title' => t('Block to insert'),
      '#default_value' => $this->options['block_to_insert'],
      '#description' => t('The block to insert into this area.'),
      '#options' => $blocks,
    );
  }

  /**
   * Render the area
   */
  function render($empty = FALSE) {
    if ((!$empty || !empty($this->options['empty'])) && !empty($this->options['block_to_insert'])) {
      list ($module, $delta) = explode(':', $this->options['block_to_insert'], 2);
      $block = block_load($module, $delta);
      if (empty($block)) {
        return;
      }
      $block_content = _block_render_blocks(array($block));
      $build = _block_get_renderable_array($block_content);
      return drupal_render($build);
    }
    return '';
  }
}

Save this as handlers/views_handler_area_view.inc and add it to the files array in views.info and add the following code to views_views_data() in modules/views.views.inc

  if (module_exists('block')) {
    $data['views']['block'] = array(
      'title' => t('Block area'),
      'help' => t('Insert a block inside an area.'),
      'area' => array(
        'handler' => 'views_handler_area_block',
      ),
    );
  }

Clear the cache and you then have a "Global: block" area to use in your views!

@TODO: fetch the correct block title