Drupal: creating a custom block

gistfile1.txt

/**
 * Implements hook_theme().
 *
 * Define custom theme hooks
 */
function <replace with module name>_theme($existing, $type , $theme, $path) {
  return array(
    '<replace with module name>_<block name>' => array(
      'template' => 'templates/<replace with module name>-<block name>',
      'file' => '<block name>.theme.inc',
    ),
  );
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_block_info()
 *
 * Define custom blocks
 */
function <replace with module name>_block_info() {

  $blocks['<machine name for block>'] = array(
    'info' => t('<description of block>'),
    'cache' => DRUPAL_NO_CACHE,
  );

  return $blocks;
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_block_view
 *
 * Define callbacks for block display
 */
function <replace with module name>_block_view($delta = '') {

  $block = array();

  switch ($delta) {
    case '<machine name for block>':
      $block['content'] = theme('<replace with module name>_<block name>');
      break;
  }

  return $block;
}

...

in <block name>.theme.inc

function <replace with module name>_preprocess_<replace with module name>_<block name>(&$variables) {
  $variables['date'] = date('Y');
}

...

in templates/<replace with module name>-<block name>.tpl.php

<p>Date is:<?php print $date; ?></p>