A Magento 2 module to allow for additional templates to be rendered, besides the original template.
When the Magento frontend renders its storefront, it uses the XML layout to position blocks all around. Each block can be rendered via a template and by default, this means that one block only has one template. Adding a new template right before the original template but with a new <block/> definition causes another $block object to be created. This module overcomes this shortcoming and simply allows you to add multiple templates to one single $block instance.
composer require yireo/magento2-additional-block-template
bin/magento module:enable Yireo_AdditionalBlockTemplateUsing the XML layout, you can reference a certain block and add your own template in front of the original template (before), after the original template (after) or right before the final closing tag in the original template (nest):
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
<body>
<referenceBlock name="category.description">
<arguments>
<argument name="additional_templates" xsi:type="array">
<item name="example1" xsi:type="array">
<item name="template" xsi:type="string">Yireo_Example::example-before.phtml</item>
<item name="position" xsi:type="string">before</item>
</item>
<item name="example2" xsi:type="array">
<item name="template" xsi:type="string">Yireo_Example::example-after.phtml</item>
<item name="position" xsi:type="string">after</item>
</item>
<item name="example3" xsi:type="array">
<item name="template" xsi:type="string">Yireo_Example::example-nest.phtml</item>
<item name="position" xsi:type="string">nest</item>
</item>
</argument>
</arguments>
</referenceBlock>
</body>
</page>Each item name (in this case example1, etc) can be retreived in the block template using $block->getAdditionalTemplateName().