Magento: Which files are used to generate the Package Layout XML object? - magento

There are several layout files in the layout directory of which page.xml gets processed first and local.xml gets processed last. However, it is unclear to me how to determine which of the other xml files in that directory are used in generating the Package Layout XML object. Presumably, for different frontName + controller name + action name a different subcollection of these files is bunched together. Furthermore the order in which these are bunched together may affect blocks like Mage_Core_Block_Text_List which just displays the blocks as they are added.
So, how can I determine whether a specific page request will bunch up a given foo.xml layout file in generating the Package Layout XML object from which the eventual Page Layout XML is derived?
Thanks.

While there's numerous files involved, (since module developers add a layout file to the configuration, the configuration is loaded and merged, and then the layout update object reads from the merged configuration to determine which files to load), you're probably looking for this
#File: app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Layout/Update.php
public function getFileLayoutUpdatesXml($area, $package, $theme, $storeId = null)
{
//...
$fileStr = file_get_contents($filename);
$fileStr = str_replace($this->_subst['from'], $this->_subst['to'], $fileStr);
$fileXml = simplexml_load_string($fileStr, $elementClass);
//...
}
Log or var_dump the $filename variable and you'll be able to see which files Magento is trying to load.

Related

Add posts to Jekyll index page, without .md files

I would like to write a generator plugin to add some post-like items to my blog. The items are supposed to appear in the blog index, but they have no page associated to them (you can't click on them).
I know I need something like
class QuoteGenerator < Generator
safe true
def generate(site)
# add a single post
site.posts << QuotePost.new(site, site.source, "Blub")
end
end
But what I don't understand is how to implement my Post subclass. I've found that other plugins (like this one to embed Flickr photos) write the data they want to a markdown+YAML file, and then reference this file:
class QuotePost < Post
def initialize(site, base, title)
# Nooo, I don't want to create a .md file for this
name = "2016-05-13-test.md"
dir = ""
# (write out .md file here)
super(site, base, dir, name)
end
end
But then, I would hardly need a Plugin in the first place. I could just generate the markdown files myself (with an external script).
What I'd like to do is to just set a couple of variables in my Post subclass, and have them available in the template for the blog index. How can I do that?
The case you've described looks to be unrelated to Post, since usual posts are file-based. Collections may be suitable, but again - that's not clear how you getting the content.
I'd suggest two major options:
Use _data/ to set an object list, where each item has the required properties if you can define them via a static JSON/CSV/etc file (or generate it once, to separate external data producer and jekyll visualization).
Use :pre_render hook and a plugin if you have to define the data via code -
your hook will also receive a payload hash as a second parameter which allows you full control over the variables that are available while rendering
Having your data in site.data variable allows you to iterate through items, render something or include a template and so on. Also there are plugins which generate new pages based on site's data.
The right answer depends on how you're getting the content, which markup you need and how those items will be used.

Best Way To Define Params For A Widget?

I'm creating a widget where there will be 2 types of params:
-The one that can change depending on where we call the widget, those one will be defined in the widget call:
<?php $this->widget('ext.myWidget', array(
'someParams' => 'someValues',
)); ?>
-The one that are the same for all the call to the widget (a path to a library, a place to save an image, ...)
I would like to know what is the best way to define the second type of parameters.
I'm hesitating between making the user define it in the params array in the config file or defining it in an array in the Widget file.
The main advantage of the first option is that the user won't have to modify the Widget file so in case of update his modifications won't be overwritten, but this is not a specific user params so putting it in the parmas array in config file might seem strange.
So what would be the best solution? If there is another one better thant the 2 above please tell me!
Edit:
To clarify my thought:
My widget will generate some images that can be stored in a configurable directory. But since this directory has to be the same each time the widget is called I don't see the point of putting this configuration into the widget call!
This is why I was thinking about putting some params into the config file, in the params array like:
params => array(
'myWidget' => array(
'imageDir' => 'images',
)
)
But I don't know if it is a good practice that an extension has some configuration values in the params array.
Another solution would be to have a config.php file in my extension directory where the user can set his own values so he won't have to modify his main config file for the plugin. But the main drawback of this alternative is that if the user update the extension, he'll loose his configuration.
This is why I'm looking for the best practice concerning the configuration of a widget
Maybe what your looking for is more of an application component than a widget. You've got a lot more power within a component that you have with a widget. It can all still live in your extensions directory, under a folder with all the relevant files, and still be easily called from anywhere but the configuration can then be defined in configuration files for each environment.
When your setting the component in your configs, just point the class array parameter to the extensions folder, instead of the components folder.
Update:
If you do want to use a widget because there's not a lot more complexity, you can provide some defaults within application configurations for widgets I believe, I've never used it myself, see here: http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/guide/1.1/en/topics.theming#customizing-widgets-globally.
But I've found with more complex widgets that a component serves me better in the long run as I can call methods and retrieve options on it much easier and cleaner, but still have everything related to the extension within one folder.

Why are images uploaded through the admin panel of my custom module, having the file name of Array?

Here is my BrandController.php
https://gist.github.com/a958926883b9e7cc68f7#file-brandcontroller-php-L53
I've gone through all my files of my custom module, and compared them to the one given from the custom module maker, and I couldn't find much differences.
Are you attempting to upload multiple files? If you're using multiple fileupload elements with the same name you'll get an array of items.
So when the following line is called,
//this way the name is saved in DB
$data['filename'] = $_FILES['filename']['name'];
It will have the value
["name"]=>array(2) {
[0]=>string(9)"file0.txt"
[1]=>string(9)"file1.txt"
}
you'll need to update the code to loop through each $_FILES['filename']['name'] and upload and save the files separately.
You may unknowingly uploaded multiple files. If you that is not your intention, you may check your in your HTML and check the name attribute of the tag. It must not be an array (like this).
<input type="file" name="my_files[]" />
If you only see Array() in your database, it means you are indeed uploading a multiple files. You can process them by using loops.
If you are really sure that you are uploading 1 image, you may follow #Palanikumar's suggestion. Use a print_r() and display the $_FILES and paste it here. IF you don't want to use that, You can use
json_encode($the-data-you-are-going-to-insert-to-the-database);
If you don't know where to put the print_r() function, you may put it after line 56 of this file.
https://gist.github.com/desbest/a958926883b9e7cc68f7#file-brandcontroller-php-L53
if(isset($_FILES['filename']['name']) && $_FILES['filename']['name'] != '') {
print_r($_FILES);
die;
If saveAction() is being called inside an ajax function you need to log the ajax response. Assuming you are using jquery..
$ajaxResponse = $.POST({...});
console.log($ajaxResponse.responseText);
Then, you you can view it inside a browser's console. If nothing appears, you may use a non-async request
$ajaxResponse = $.POST({
// your options,
// your another option,
async: FALSE
});
Usually file upload will return in array format. So that each uploaded file will have the information like name, type, size, temporary name, error. You can get the file information using print function (print_r($_FILES)). So if you want to display name of the file you have to use something like this $_FILES['filename']['name']
Use print function and debugging tool then save file information using loops.
For more info please check here.
You aren't setting the enctype of the form so the image will never be sent. updated the code to
$form = new Varien_Data_Form(array( 'enctype' => 'multipart/form-data'));

Examining Magento's final XML structure

Anyway to examine the final XML structure magento comes up with after parsing & combining all the different XML files?
There is nothing of that sort which turned up on searching on the internet and I think for someone like me, magento layouts were a bit too much in the beginning & I would try to do everything on the code side.
Another thing which will help in picking up the name of different nodes that we can use, right away from the final XML structure.
Never ran into this but I believe we will have a better picture of what's overriding what.
The following will get you the merged configuration from app/etc/*.xml, app/etc/modules/*.xml, as well as each (active) module's config.xml file; when retrieving the config though there is no indication of what was overwritten, as the merges happen as each config file is being parsed:
Mage::getConfig()->getNode()->asNiceXml(); // or asXML() | asArray() | etc.
However, you seem to be asking about how the application makes use of this information. This is a function of application design.
Also, you mention "all of the different XML files." It's worth noting that these are not maintained in one massive object instance. For example, layout XML is accessed using the layout update object Mage_Core_Model_Layout_Update and can be accessed meaningfully after it's been loaded and manipulated for a given rendering scope (e.g. loadLayout() in a controller action):
Mage::app()->getLayout()->getUpdate()->asString(); // or asSimplexml() or asArray()
Yes - Commercebug. As well as a whole load of other useful features, you can also view the entire XML structure that Magento has produced.
http://store.pulsestorm.net/products/commerce-bug-2
I believe the following will output the XML: echo Mage::getConfig()->getXmlString();
You can create a script with something like this:
header("Content-Type:text/xml");
require_once '../app/Mage.php';
Mage::app();
echo Mage::getConfig()->getXmlString();
based on answer from benmarks I did
echo "<pre>".htmlspecialchars(Mage::getConfig()->getNode()->asNiceXml())."</pre>";
If you want for example to see the blocks configuration in Magento 1 you can put this in a file, place the file at the root of the site and navigate to it in a browser:
<?php
include("app/Mage.php");
Mage::app();
//just see blocks...
echo "<pre>".htmlspecialchars(Mage::getConfig()->getNode()->global->blocks->asNiceXml())."</pre>";
die();

Magento, translate validation error messages

I have successfully created new rules for the prototype validation, now I need to translate the error messages (Location: String in Javascript). However, I can only translate all the messages, my new custom ones don't appear to be translatable. How do I change this?
Maybe you need an jstranslator.xml file inside etc folder:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jstranslator>
<some-message-name translate="message" module="mymodule">
<message>This is the text in my own js validation</message>
</some-message-name>
</jstranslator>
With the following structure and meanings:
<jstranslator> - [one] XML root node.
<some-message-name> - [zero or more] root node child elements with a unique XML element name across all jstranslator.xml files (otherwise last in loading order based on module listing wins).
Attributes:
translate="message" - (optional) a hint that the child element(s) that is being translated is named "message", however this is hardencoded for the js translation XML files (Magento CE 1.9, search for "*/message") and this attribute does not need to be used.
module="mymodule" - (optional) name of the module, if left out the value is "core". It will be used to instantiate the data-helper later on (from that module) which then is reponsible to load the translations (e.g. from the CSV files).
<message> - [zero or one per parent] message to translate. the text value of this elements node-value is taken to be added to the javascript Translator object data.
All jstranslator.xml files of activated modules are processed.
Then put your translation line into the Something_Mymodule.csv file:
"This is the text in my own js validation", "(translated in a different language or speech)"
Then in your js scripts you can use your own translations via the Translator:
Translator.translate('This is the text in my own js validation');
Further References
Correct usage of jstranslator.xml
To translate custom javascript error messages you need also to add them to the following file:
\app\code\core\Mage\Core\Helper\Js.php
find a function _getTranslateData()
and you'll see a bunch of messages already in there.
just add your message somewhere in the array like this:
'This is my validation message' => $this->__('This is my validation message')
Don't forget a comma (,).
And then put translation in some translate file.
In the file where you use this message (I use it in opcheckout.js file) you need to wrap text in Translator.translate('This is my validation message').
I haven't figured out yet if it's important which translate file that is. You can try Mage_Core.csv .
I needed it in Mage_Checkout.csv and it works in there.
Anyway, for those who are interested in more, I noticed that these javascript messages are printed in header of every html page and some worrie that it messes with the SEO. Anyway this is printed in file
\app\design\frontend\bmled\default\template\page\html\head.phtml with the code.
<?php echo $this->helper('core/js')->getTranslatorScript() ?>
Check for more here:
I hope this helps, I just hope this works everywhere, so far I tested it on Onepage Checkout only.
You can edit app/local/ur_language/Mage_Core.csv file, adding original string in the first Column the translated one in the second. All the javascript translations are stored in this file.
What's helped me (Magento EE 1.6) -
I added new translation object:
<script>
var _data = {
'This is a required field.':
"<?php echo $this->__('This is a required field.'); ?>",
'Please make sure your passwords match.':
"<?php echo $this->__('Please make sure your passwords match');?>",
'validate telephone error':
"<?php echo $this->__('validate telephone error');?>"
};
var Translator = new Translate(_data);
</script>
if it is defined VarienForm uses it in js validation
We had exactly the same problem with one of our magento projects. We found that the function in app/design/frontend/default/default/template/page/htmlhead.phtml had been commented out:
<?php echo $this->helper('core/js')->getTranslatorScript() ?>
After putting this in, it still did not work, because translations had not been inserted into translate file. Check out those two things and it should start working.
To expand on this, you must add the translation strings to Mage/Core/Helper/Js.php.

Resources