I'm putting together my first Magento theme. Wee.
This site will have a large number of static pages, and I'm trying to determine the best method of getting that content into the system in an easily maintainable way. Ideally, this process can be managed by a team member with limited experience in magento (this is a key point).
Aside from these two main methods of including static "page" content:
1 - save page-content as a CMS static block, to be added to a
category page
2 - save page-content as a CMS page
it seems I should be able to just render a phtml template file (with page-content as real markup) from a combination of layout update xml directives (in a cms page / category page), or as a widget type of include.
Assuming my file structure looks like this:
/my_theme
/default
/varient
/template
/cms
/template
/category1
/category2
- page_content.phtml
I've tried planting this file into a cms page via a number of variations on:
<reference name="content">
<block type="core/template" name="content.current" as="content.current" output="toHtml" template="cms/template/category1/category2/page_content.phtml"
</reference>
in the layout update xml.
Alternatively, I've tried to render this file via content directives like:
{{block type="core/template" name="content.current" template="cms/template/category1/category2/page_content.phtml"}}
With (obviously) no luck so far.
Granted - there maybe reasons not to deal with static content in this way, but it may still be a viable alternative to the two steps already mentioned (image and link pathing, for example).
At any rate - I believe some combination of update xml or content directives should be workable, but I'm still getting my head around Magento layout and haven't figured out the correct method.
Any advice or explanations would be grand.
Cheers -
b[]x
For any future overflowers looking to figure this out:
{{block type='core/template' template='cms/template/category1/category2/page_content.phtml'}}
works for sure. Just tried it this morning without the name attribute and viola.
Related
I am using Magento 1.8.1 and I am working on SEO. I need to put micro-data (schema code) for some category on that page only. I don't understand how to put the data for specific page because if I put any data in template page, it will update on all categories.
For example: I need to put data only for this page.
As I understand it, you want to add some code to only appear on a specific category view. You can add Javascript to the description field in the General Information tab of the category:
You can also add a template to before_body_end block of the page:
You can add additional layout directives here. This layout update:
<reference name="before_body_end">
<block type="core/template" name="seocode" template="seocode/seocode.phtml" />
</reference>
means render out your custom block (seocode) and template file (seocode.phtml) in the before_body_end block. The before_body_end block can be found in the page templates; i.e. page/1column.phtml or page/2columns-left.phtml.
As I have seen for each Template file there exists a layout which connect blocks of particular Module. I struggled to understood each pieces in Magento, let me explain what I had done,
Consider a Template app\design\frontend\base\default\template\catalog\category\view.phtml
we have, $_category = $this->getCurrentCategory();
this function belongs to Block app\code\core\Mage\Catalog\Block\Category\view.php
What Magento's Template does is, it search for Layout instead of Block file,
i.e, Inside Layout file, app\design\frontend\base\default\layout\catalog.xml
we have, <block type="catalog/category_view" name="category.products" template="catalog/category/view.phtml">
In this layout definition, the type attribute defines the block file,
i.e., Through layout file the Template gets the value of getCurrentCategory() function from Block.
Also we have <reference name="content">, <reference name="left"> which decides where to append the template.
My Question is,
Why can't Templates get the Value directly from Block without referring Layout?
Why Magento is not allowing us to do so?
What is the use of Layout while considering these 3 Block,Layout and Template?
1 - Why can't Templates get the Value directly from Block without referring Layout?
They can. Using your example:
<block type="catalog/category_view" name="category.products" template="catalog/category/view.phtml">
This can be written as:
<block type="catalog/category_view" name="category.products">
And within the actual block (app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Block/Category/View.php):
...
public function _construct()
{
parent::_construct();
// set the template here instead
$this->setTemplate('catalog/category/view.phtml');
}
...
2 - Why Magento is not allowing us to do so?
Magento does allow you to do so. The Magento layout system is very powerful, albeit very difficult to understand it initially.
3 - What is the use of Layout while considering these 3 Block,Layout and Template?
I will use this question to clear some of your misconceptions. As stated the Magento layout is very powerful and allows a lot of flexibility but at first glance this is not obvious. I will try explain best I can.
Imagine you created your own module within Magento and the Layout did not exist - everything was controlled within the 'controllers'. You would need to rewrite/extend/hack core Magento code to get things the way you wanted. If you wanted an extra widget on the category view page, you would need to override a controller method, or add your own controller.
The Magento Layout overcomes this by creating a global layout file which you can extend without messing with the core infrastructure.
Lets take your example.
On a category view page, if we wanted to change the above template, catalog/category/view.phtml, to something else, say my/category/view.phtml, we could do this:
<!-- this is the controller handle -->
<catalog_category_view>
<!--
by referencing, we are actually referring to a
block which has already been instantiated. the
name is the unique name within the layout.
generally all blocks should have a name and it
must be unique. however there can also be
anonymous blocks but thats out of scope of this
answer
-->
<reference name="category.products">
<!--
the layout allows us to fire methods within
the blocks. in this instance we are actually
firing the setTemplate method on the block
and providing a "template" argument.
this is the same as calling:
$this->setTemplate('my/category/view.phtml');
within the block.
-->
<action method="setTemplate">
<template>my/category/view.phtml</template>
</action>
</reference>
</catalog_category_view>
Just to reiterate:
Also we have <reference name="content">, <reference name="left"> which decides where to append the template.
This is incorrect. The "reference" tag allows you to reference blocks that are already instantiated. Just for completeness - the following example shows you how you can reference another block and place a block within it:
<!--
the default layout handle which is call on nearly all
pages within magento
-->
<default>
<!--
we are not referencing the "left" block
we could if we wanted reference "right",
"content" or any other blocks however
these are the most common
-->
<reference name="left">
<!--
add a block
in this example we are going to reference
"core/template" which translates to:
Mage_Core_Block_Template
which exists at:
app/code/core/Mage/Core/Block/Template.php
-->
<block type="core/template" name="my.unique.name.for.this.block" template="this/is/my/view.phtml" />
</reference>
</default>
Further reading: Introducing The Magento Layout
To answer your question, you need to dig down Magento's MVC approach,
A webpage is divided into several parts logically, for example, header, body, footer, etc., making the page layout organized and easy to adjust. Magento provides such flexibility through Layout XML files. Magento processes those layout files and render them into web pages.
Layout files act as detailed instructions to the application on how to build a page, what to build it with and the behavior of each building block.
Layout files are separated on a per-module basis, every module bringing with it its own layout file .The system is built this way in order to allow seamless addition and removal of modules without effecting other modules in the system.
In Magento, the View component of Model, View, Controller directly references system models to get the information it needs for display.
The View has been separated into Blocks and Templates. Blocks are PHP objects, Templates are "raw" PHP files that contain a mix of HTML and PHP. Each Block is tied to a single Template file. Inside a phtml file, PHP's $this keyword will contain a reference to the Template’s Block object.
Layout files contains <handlers> which are mapped to MVC controller, so expect your handler
<adminhtml_example_index> to be used in adminhtml/example/index controller page
and
<reference name="content"> means that the blocks or other references inside those blocks will be available in content block on your theme templates.
Each page request in Magento will generate several unique Handles. The 'View' of Magento’s MVC pattern implementation is divided in two parts: Layout and Template. The template represents a HTML block while layout defines the location of the block on a web page.
In Magento’s MVC approach, it's not the responsibility of the controller to set variables for the View (in Magento’s case, the view is Layout and Blocks). Controllers set values on Models, and then Blocks read from those same models.
Your controller’s job is to do certain things to Models, and then tell the system it’s layout rendering time. It’s your Layout/Blocks job to display an HTML page in a certain way depending on the state of the system’s Models.
In Magento, when a URL is triggered,
It determines Controller and action
Action Method manipulates Models
Action loads layout and starts rendering
Template, read from Models, via Blocks
Block and child blocks render into HTML
I have 3 questions that my normal Googling efforts haven't answered. I'm a in-house front end web developer that has been trying to learn Magento for the past two weeks. I'm also new to posting on Stack Overflow, so let me know if these would be better posted as separate questions or something.
1. Layouts - Making it so every single page uses the same layout
So most of my pages are using my 2columns-left layout, but not all of them. I have some set in my local.xml, and some I just hard coded in the .phtml pages directly. I would have thought the following code would make ALL pages use the same layout:
<reference name="root">
<action method="setTemplate"><template>page/2columns-left.phtml</template></action>
<action method="setIsHandle">
<applied>1</applied>
</action>
</reference>
There are a lot of pages I don't normally see when I work on the site that are stuck with the default Magento layouts, like the /cookies-enabled page, or the review pages. What's the best practice for unifying all pages if you want the same layout on the entire site, rather than having a block like this in local.xml for every single page?
2. Contact Us Form - Clicking the submit button doesn't work
I am editing the contact us page under CMS>Pages, and I think I am possibly missing the file that my form action is pointing to. The form shows up, but it doesn't submit.
Here is what I have on our Contact Us CMS page:
{{block type='core/template' name='contactForm' form_action="/contacts/index/post/" template='contacts/form.phtml'}}
Here's the error I get after clicking the submit button:
Not Found
The requested URL /contacts/index/post/ was not found on this server.
I've gone through the configuration settings and I think those are right, but maybe there is something else I have to do there.
3. Product Reviews - Getting an "Overall" rating to display
I have the review div that utilizes form.phtml showing up on my product pages after you login and add a review, but the ratings aren't being shown. I am apparently not satisfying the conditions of an if statement that controls if the ratings should be displayed. Below is the if statement that it is getting caught on I believe:
<?php if( $this->getRatings() && $this->getRatings()->getSize()): ?>
I'm not sure how to satisfy these conditions.
4. Rearranging Blocks - Using local.xml to rearrange where blocks are going
Before I start developing bad habits, I want to make sure I'm using best practices from the get go. I've typically just gone into the template files and manually move where stuff was appearing in the phtml, but I've heard it's best to make those changes in the XML. One particular issue I can't seem to figure out is a seemingly simple one: How do I make the "Proceed to Checkout" button move to the bottom of the cart?
I'm trying to unset it then re-set it after the other blocks. I haven't even been able to get the unsetChild part to work. Here is my code from local.xml:
<reference name="content">
<action method="unsetChild">
<name>checkout.cart.top_methods</name>
</action>
</reference>
I think the reason this isn't working is because in checkout.xml it's the child of a child. Here's the general flow of the checkout.xml:
<checkout_cart_index>
<reference name="content">
<block name="checkout.cart">
**<block name="checkout.cart.top_methods">**
Any ideas? Thanks so much, and sorry about the length of this post!
1°) Edit all your layout xml to change the layout of the root reference to 2columns-leftf.phtml template
You can also go through an observer. Observe the controller_action_layout_generate_blocks_after event and in your method do :
public function myEventHandling($event) {
$event->getAction()->getLayout()->getBlock('root')->setTemplate('page/2columns-left.phtml');
}
2°) module Contacts controller index action postAction() so it should be /contacts/index/post/ so it should work. Except if you made your CMS page replacing /contacts/ normal behaviour (module contacts controller index action indexAction() ) it will search under your cms page instead of in the contacts module. If your CMS page have contacts as url, try changing it.
3°) Could you be more precise ? I don't really understand what you need. The form or the existing ratings are not showing up ?
4°) UnsetChild or remove instruction are global, you have to set it with a different name after a replace. But you can edit your layout file in your template directory (not the ones on the base/default/layout directory) to move the block in the proper location, and in the phtml file, try to move the
echo $this->getChildHtml('myblock')
in the proper location.
Is this possible, or is there some code that can be added so I can set a different canonical URL for categories in Magento? I can set for products fine.
Just found this question while searching for info about canonical URL support.
I'm not sure which version added this (couldn't find anything in release notes), but it is now supported out of the box in 1.7.0.2.
In admin: SYSTEM >> CONFIG >> CATALOG >> SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Last two options enable canonical URLs for categories and products.
Out of the box there is nothing for this that I am aware of. You will need to develop or build your own method of doing this.
You will need to create an entry in a layout.xml file to put an additional template in the head section of the page when you are on a category page (this would likely be in a catalog_Category_view block). You would also probably need a view file as well as a Block object to fetch the URL you want to use (technically you could put that in the view file, but having the block object is more "Magento").
Your layout.xml block would look something like this
<catalog_category_view>
<reference name="head">
<block type="canonical/canonical" name="head_url" as="head_url" template="ocaff/canonical/head.phtml" />
</reference>
</catalog_category_view>
This block references a head.phtml file. That file would contain:
<link rel="canonical" href="<?php echo $this->getCanonicalUrl() ?>" />
This calls back to a block object that has a function called getCanonicalUrl(). In this function you will find and determine what you want the canonical to be. Most likely you want this to be the URL key, but you may have other logic in mind there.
Canonical urls for product and category pages are supported by Magento from 1.5
In admin: SYSTEM >> CONFIG >> CATALOG >> SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
I have in CMS->page "home page" file. In content i am writing line like this:
{{block type="myfolder/newfile" template="myfolder/newfile.phtml"}}
I want to render in content file newfile.phtml. What i am doing wrong ?
My new file is under: app\design\frontend\default\themeas\template\myfolder\newfile.phtml
You need to give your block a name. That's how Magento will reference the block. Also, your block type must be valid in order for the block to render. For default blocks try using type="core/template"
Your new code should look like this:
{{block type="core/template" name="my.block.name" template="myfolder/newfile.phtml"}}
Another note about the type attribute, its not actually a directory/file structure, rather, it's a URI that is mapped with the Magento autoloader. "Core" relates back to the Mage_Core_Block_Core class (under the app/code/core/Mage/Core directory) and then the info after the slash relates to the folders inside of that directory. So type="core/template" resolves to this class Mage_Core_Block_Core_Template which is located at app/code/core/Mage/Core/Block/Template.php. All the type attribute is doing is telling Magento which methods you need to load inside of your block.
A couple other block types you can try are:
For Product Lists: catalog/product_list
For Text Lists (blocks that automatically render out child blocks): core/text_list
For Category Blocks: catalog/category_view
There are plenty more, a good way to find new ones is to look at a block that does a similar action to what you are trying to do, and find where it is defined in the XML.
If you want to pass variables to the block, you can do something like:
{{block type="core/template" name="my.block.name" myvariable="5" template="myfolder/newfile.phtml"}}
Since Magento 1.9.2.2, or equvivalent patch you also need to grant permissions to the new block. You do this in the backend:
System | permissions | blocks
I.e if you wish to show:
{{block type="catalog/product_bestseller" name="krillo.bestseller" template="catalog/product/bestseller.phtml"}}
Add your block name "catalog/product_bestseller" and set the status to "allowed"
I'd like to offer an alternative:
The above answers work fine, however it's my personal preference to not insert blocks in the content of a CMS page as clients can (and have) deleted this crucial line when trying to edit text and content using the WYSIWYG.
You could add the following in the the Layout > Layout update XML section of a CMS page:
<reference name="content">
<block after="-" type="your/block_type" name="block.name" template="your/block/template/file.phtml"/>
<action method="insert" ifconfig="your/block_type">
<block>block.name</block>
</action>
</reference>
This way, clients are less likely to edit this tab!
Hope this helps anyone else with this issue!