Page not found blocks/sidebars

In Drupal, when you get a 404 page all your blocks are hidden which rather sucks as it blows your theme. This function added to your theme's template.php file saves the day.


/**
* Override or insert variables into the page templates.
*
* @param $vars
* An array of variables to pass to the theme template.
* @param $hook
* The name of the template being rendered ("page" in this case.)
*/
function phptemplate_preprocess_page(&$vars, $hook) {
$vars['path'] = base_path() . path_to_theme() .'/';
$vars['logo'] = preg_replace('@^'. base_path() .'@', '', $vars['logo']);
// handy helper for themes, not related to 404 issue
$vars['base_path'] = base_path();
// Only does the check if required
if(!$vars['show_blocks']) {
global $theme;
$regions = system_region_list($theme);
foreach (array_keys($regions) as $region) {
// Only set left and right regions
// Drupal core sets the other blocks already
// IMHO this shows a real lack of design considerations for leaving these out!
if ($region == 'left' || $region == 'right') {
$blocks = theme('blocks', $region);
if(isset($variables[$region])) {
$vars[$region] .= $blocks;
}
else {
$vars[$region] = $blocks;
}
}
}
}
}


Your blocks should now be back on the page.