Magento: Navigation static page directly to specific product - magento

Question

I would like to add a static link at the navigation bar that can link directly to a specific product.
As I only have one product listing under category "pillow", I wish to set it to go into the product directly, skipping the catalog view.
I am aware of two methods, being URL rewrite management and static block, however I experience problem with both.
For "URL rewrite", it worked but once I update something at the category (e.g. moving the position), the system generate a new "URL rewrite" and delete the my custom one.
For "static block", I do not know what code to put in it. My guess was to add below code, but it doesn't work.
{{block type="catalog/product_view" product_id="896" template="catalog/category/view.phtml"}}
How do I get it done? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I have taken a different approach to the problem which may be helpful. It seems like your end goal is to skip the category view if a category only contains one product. So rather than fussing with hard coding templates or trying to clobber the category with URL rewrite, you can accomplish this using an event observer.
The approach will listen for the <catalog_controller_category_init_after> event to fire and check whether the category only has one product. If so it will send the request directly to the product. You will need to add a new extension or modify an existing one.
etc/config.xml
Create a new node under config/frontend/events:
<catalog_controller_category_init_after>
<observers>
<redirectSingleProduct>
<class>My_MyExtension_Model_Observer</class>
<method>redirectSingleProduct</method>
</redirectSingleProduct>
</observers>
</catalog_controller_category_init_after>
Model/Observer.php
Create the corresponding method to handle the event:
class My_MyExtension_Model_Observer
{
/**
* Check whether a category view only contains one product, if so send the request directly to it.
* #param Varien_Event_Observer $observer
* #return $this
*/
public function redirectSingleProduct(Varien_Event_Observer $observer)
{
$category = $observer->getCategory();
if ($category->getProductCount() == 1) {
$product = $category->getProductCollection()->addUrlRewrite()->getFirstItem();
$url = $product->getProductUrl();
$observer->getControllerAction()->getResponse()->setRedirect($url);
}
return $this;
}
}