Magento :: Layout in Module - layout

Is it possible to create a layout file inside of a module ? How ?
For what:
I want to add a some kind of statistics hit counter for products, and I don't want to override the products class, as that is already done by some module I'm using. Thus I thought it would be best to have a custom module with a block that would be called by a layout statement.
Of course I could easily edit my private local.xml or make changes to another layout-xml in the layout folder of my theme, but I want this feature to be available in all themes (independent of any selected theme).
Some constraints:
All code in one single module
... so that it is theme independent
... so that the module can be shared with others without them having to change anything (like theme files), so that the install/load of my module would be enough
I would also accept different approaches for my statistics hit counter loading (using the same constraints)

Yes it is possible. Just create your layout xml file in the following path: /design/frontend/default/default/layout/yourlayout.xml(or whatever your theme name is), and add a proper statement in your modules etc/config.xml:
<config>
<frontend>
<layout>
<updates>
<yourmoduleshortname>
<file>yourlayout.xml</file>
<yourmoduleshortname>
</updates>
</layout>
</frontend>
</config>
This sample is for frontend user, but adminhtml layouts can be updated in a similar manner. If something doesn't work, be sure to check if your layout is in the proper theme/package directory.
Edit:
Second approach:
You can use a controller of your own, which will extend the core functionality (one of the catalog controllers) - just rewrite it (or just product view action). Inside its action method add something like this:
$thiss->getLayout()->createBlock('namespacename/block','layout-block-name',
array('template' => 'relativepathtotemplate.phtml'));
$this->getLayout()->getBlock('content')->append($block);
run-original-parent-code();
Third approach:
Similar to the previous one, but you can use some event observer, and try Mage::getSingleton('core/layout'), and inject your block there. Not in all events the layout will be already available (try the post_dispatch family).
I don't really recommend the second and third approach, because if someone else wants to find where this 'magic' block comes from, it will most surely look int app/design/(...) directory. Finding it in your controller or model, may be very tricky...
If you don't want to display your statistic counter, you can also use events (like post_dispatch) to count the controller dispatches. Just create an observer attached to it, and store your data in the DB.

Related

Is it possible to disable all the inputs from a page with VueJS and BootstrapVue?

I have multiple buttons and form inputs in one page. All these buttons and form inputs need to be disabled or enabled depending on a condition.
I know that it is possible to use the disabled keyword inside a tag to disable a specific input or button. Also, I can just add the code
:disabled="true"
to disable the inputs depending of the boolean value of a variable.
However, this solution is not acceptable for me, since I will have to add this line of code to every inputs on my page (I may create new pages in the future, containing as many inputs).
I would like to know if there's a way that allows me to simply disable the parent container of all the inputs so that the children item (the inputs) are disabled.
If you inspect the Vue instance itself of the VM when running your code you can have something like this when you console.log(this),
It will give you output similar to this if you use the correct scope:
{
$attrs
$options
.......
$el
}
Inside $el there's object properties for accessing firsElementChild, previousElementChild, previousElementSibling, etc. There's a lot of HTML related properties, however, accessing HTML element this way can get messy pretty fast. I think that your best solution is the one you already mentioned or changing the CSS class dynamically.
If you use v-if to conditional render on a parent you can achieve pretty similar functionality too.
See: Conditional rendering

Reusable edit form in Apache Wicket

I have a simple ContactEditPanel which contains a form and a number of textfields. Up until now I included an AjaxSubmitLink in this panel which, if the form content is valid, saves/updates the Contact instance contained in the Panel model. So far so simple. However now I'd like to remove the link in order that I may, depending on the context in which I use the ContactEditPanel, place the submit link at different levels of my overall component hierarchy. For instance in one context I'd like to use to flip between ContactEditPanel and ContactViewPanel with a bar of actions above the current view (edit | save , cancel). Another context would be to use ContactEditPanel in a standalone way (maybe part of a multi-step process) with just a save link below.
I was contemplating refactoring my ContactEditPanel to extends FormComponentPanel rather than Panel as described here but I'm not sure whether this is the right approach and I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this.
Any help would be most appreciated!
Many Thanks,
A
Your using the panel like a FormComponent so extend FormComponentPanel, it will allow you to keep all the validation you write contained to the component and also allow you to reuse it as you wish.
Just think of it as you've created a new FormComponent, like a TextField or DropDownChoice.

Load an Orchard Module in another

I have two modules which one of them is dependent on the other.
When I go to my home page, the "slave module" is loaded nicely, but when I go to the "master module" (which is routed) I can't see the first one.
How do I show or force the rendering of the slave shape in the master module?
I don't know how to explain better, so I'll just tell the exactly scenario.
I create a module called "Store" (the master module) that implements a route to "/Store/{optional_parameters}".
When i navigate to this url, I get the expected result without problems.
BUT, i create another module called "Search" (the slave module) which is dependent on the Store module and needs to be displayed in every page (just like navigation and footer).
I thought I managed to do it, doing this in the Display override on SearchDriver:
workContextAccessor.GetContext().Layout.Zones["Search"].Add(shape, "10");
Then if i navigate to "/"(or any route that isn't defined by me) i can see the search shape on the right spot, but if i navigate to "/Store" (or any route defined by me) i can't see anymore.
Btw, the StoreController has the "Theme" notation.
Why aren't you using a widget? That would just work and would be considerably less work. It would also be manageable without having to change code.

Modx Wayfinder, using levelClass

I'm trying to use &levelClass parametr of Wayfinder snippet of Modx. But it doesnt work.
I have menu that contains of 3-4 levels, and each level has own class (like first level is "lvl1", second is "lvl2" and so on), and because of that I want to use levelClass, which promise to increment number of my class by 1 each new level.
Thats how I'm trying to call it:
[!Wayfinder? &startId=2 &rowTpl=lfRow &outerTpl=lfOuter &levelClass=lvl!]
But Wayfinder doesn't change class and doesn't join CSS also.
And I using Modx Evolution.
Have you any ideas?
Assuming levelClass is available in the Evolution version of Wayfinder...
Since you're using custom templates, you'll need to manually add the wf.classes placeholder in your chunk, eg
<!-- lfRow chunk -->
<li[+wf.id+][+wf.classes+]> ...

Magento _prepareLayout() called 5 times to many

** New EDIT **
so what I'm trying to do is this.
I want the to add new form elements generated by my module on the product view of the following url
http://magento.example.com/catalog/product/view/id/46
ultimately these elements will be determined to show up by a related table in my module
I expected that if I extended Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_View in my module as shown below I would be able to create a block in the product form that would contain such form fields, only if he are in the related table in my module
so I created a test.phtml file in
app/design/frontend/default/default/templates/<module>/test.phtml
then as you can see in my the View.php file described bellow I built the block and displayed it in the product view.
It did appear but 5 times too many. from the answers below this is normal so that answers the question as to why the it shows up five times but leaves the question what is the proper way to proceecd since this plan is not going to work
** End New Edit **
in my module I call _prepareLayout() and it does this 5 times when i pull up the page
here's my code
in
/app/code/local/Namespace/Module/Product/Veiw.php
class <Namespace>_<module>_Block_Product_View extends Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_View {
protected function _toHtml() {
return parent::_toHtml();
}
public function _prepareLayout() {
$block = $this->getLayout()->createBlock(
'Mage_Core_Block_Template',
'my_block_name_here',
array('template' => '<module>/test.phtml')
);
if ($block){
$this->getLayout()->getBlock('content')->insert($block)->toHtml();
}else{
echo "no block";
}
return parent::_prepareLayout();
}
}
NOTE:
I just noticed this also takes away the price availability qty and add to cart button. which is also a problem
EDIT
First I want to thank you all for your answers. Second i want to give you more context
the reason for choosing to do this in the module is that I don't want the block to show up on every product . What i have is a table of what I'll call custom options containing properties of the product sort of like hair color height weight etc and depending on what set of properties are attached to the product (if any) will depend on what html content will show up on the page.
so in one case it my get a drop down menu and in another case it may get an input box. the other very important piece is that this must be setup so that I can give the end result out as a module that can be installed and not worrry that it won't show up if someone upgrades there magento
that said does it still make sense to do this all in the xml file ?
It seems to me that your code is overriding a core Magento module in order to achieve what could be easily done in the layout xml configuration. I would strongly recommend the follwing:
Use the built-in configuration mechanisms (e.g. layout xml - read Alan's excellent tutorial here) instead of writing code whenever possible.
Don't override the core code
if you must change the behaviour of the core code, use an Observer rather than Rewrite/Override
if you absolutely must Override, always call parent::whatever()
For example, if you create a <module>.xml layout file in your theme (app/design/frontend/default/<theme>/layout), you could use the following code:
<catalog_product_view>
<reference name="content">
<block type="module/block" name"my_block_name_here" template="module/test.phtml"/>
</reference>
</catalog_product_view>
You would then need to use a getChildHtml('my_block_name_here'); call within your phtml to position the block.
So unless there is other functionality happening inside your _prepareLayout, there's no need to override the core, or even to override the default catalog.xml.
EDIT (small edit above)
So now in your Block (I would recommend that you call it Namespace_Module_Block_Product_Customattributes or something like that), you are not overriding the core Product_View block, but merely processing your logic for what html widgets to use to render your custom attributes. Leave the rest of the tier prices, add to cart, other generic product block code, etc to Magento to work out.
If you are worried about the upgrade path for your module's users, you should definitely NOT be overriding core code. Use the configuration approach and very selectively introduce code that "plays nice" with the system rather than try to boss it around with overrides.
I took a look at a stock Magento install of CE 1.4.1, and unmodified the _prepareLayout method is called six times when loading the URL
http://magento.example.com/catalog/product/view/id/46
That's because the class is instantiated six times. So that's the correct behavior.
As for the vanishing element, I can'y say for sure, but your override to _prepareLayout doesn't appear to either
Do the same things as Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_View::_prepareLayout
Call parent::_prepareLayout();
When you override a class in a Magento you're replacing an existing class with your own. If you change a method, you're responsible for that old code being run.
It's not clear what you're trying to accomplish here. You should consider breaking your problem down into smaller problems, and then posting one (or more) "I tried X, expected Y, and got Z" type questions. As written no one's going to be able to answer your question.

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