Magento 1.4 Development Cookbook

. It is, for instance, better to change all the

tags in

to <strong> tags. Now it is time to optimize your content, at the category pages put the product names in a

and the category names in a . On product pages, you should put the product name in an .

[

.AL ( ) \3

An SEO friendly blank template could be a head start to all this stuff. You can grab one from the Magento site and create your own template by modifying it.

H I I

1. Google Sitemap Settings: These settings control how often Magento automatically regenerates its Google Sitemaps to ensure that they are current. 2. To activate Google Sitemap generation, navigate to System | Configuration | Google Sitemap page. 3.

Set the Enabled settingto Yes to activate automatic regeneration of sitemaps. Use the Start Time and Frequency to specify how often you want the sitemaps to be regenerated. Use the Error Email settings to define an e-mail recipient for error messages from the automatic sitemap regeneration process.

M

To use Magento's automatic generation of Google Sitemaps, you must activate the Magento Cron service.

H I

{•Hi-

Adding a 4.

Professional

Touch

to

Your Site

This is t h e last of our baby steps. C o p y a n d paste t h e f o l l o w i n g c o d e into a robots. txt a n d upload it to t h e root directory of t h e M a g e n t o install: User-agent: * Disallow:

/index.php/

Disallow: /*? Disallow:

/*.js$

Disallow:

/*.css$

Disallow:

/checkout/

Disallow:

/tag/

Disallow:

/catalogsearch/advanced/

Disallow:

/review/

Disallow:

/app/

Disallow:

/downloader/

Disallow:

/js/

Disallow:

/lib/

Disallow:

/media/

Disallow:

/*.php$

Disallow:

/pkginfo/

Disallow:

/report/

Disallow:

/skin/

Disallow:

/var/

Disallow:

/customer/

Disallow:

/catalog/

Allow:

/catalogsearch/result/?q

How it works... Search Engine Optimization

is a v a s t area. W e have to read a lot to a d o p t it completely. T h e steps we d e s c r i b e d in this recipe a r e a s m a l l w o r k a r o u n d to m e e t o u r primary needs. W e e n t e r e d s o m e texts o n M a g e n t o b a c k e n d t o h a n d l e t h e dirty j o b o f S E O b y M a g e n t o itself. Finally, we a d d e d a robots. txt file to t h e site root directory to help prevent u n w a n t e d U R L s to be indexed by s e a r c h e n g i n e robots.

Implementing PayPal Website Payments Pro and Express Checkout into Magento This is w h a t M a g e n t o says r e g a r d i n g PayPal. PayPal is a global leader in online p a y m e n t s , a n d a fast a n d s e c u r e w a y for y o u r c u s t o m e r s to pay online. With PayPal a n d M a g e n t o , y o u c a n a c c e p t p a y m e n t s f r o m all major d e b i t a n d credit cards, receive online b a n k transfers, a n d c u s t o m e r p a y m e n t s f r o m PayPal a c c o u n t holders. A s c u s t o m e r s d o n ' t e v e n n e e d a PayPal a c c o u n t to pay w i t h PayPal, both y o u a n d y o u r c u s t o m e r s c a n g e t extra c o n v e n i e n c e w i t h o u t extra effort. —1114|

Chapter 6 •

It's free to open an a c c o u n t a n d to qualify for anti-fraud protection. With no set-up or cancellation fees, a d d i n g PayPal to your M a g e n t o store makes getting paid affordable a n d simple.

•

It's also fast a n d easy to set up, a n d with over 140 million accounts worldwide, PayPal is an extremely popular payment m e t h o d a m o n g millions of online shoppers. Customers w h o are uncomfortable sharing their financial information online can still s h o p at your store, a n d you get the a d d e d benefit of a 14 percent sales increase.

•

M a g e n t o currently s u p p o r t s PayPal's versatile Website Payments Pro, an all-inone payments solution that enables you to a c c e p t debit a n d credit card payments directly on your website, over t h e phone, or using fax a n d mail orders. This solution also allows your customers to pay with PayPal using PayPal Express. Coupled with Magento, it's a smart, scalable way to grow your business.

Getting ready We can set up our PayPal in M a g e n t o both for s t a g i n g and live right from t h e backend. Before setting it up, we need to have a merchant a c c o u n t in PayPal. If you are a developer, I w o u l d s u g g e s t you have a free developer a c c o u n t from PayPal staging. You can sign up for PayPal from here as we are g o i n g to need it in the next step: •

Sandbox/Developer: https://developer.paypal.com/

•

Real account: https : //paypal. com/

How to do it... I a s s u m e that you already have a merchant a c c o u n t in PayPal. Let's get it hooked in our M a g e n t o store by following a few easy steps in the backend: 1.

Head to your store backend, a n d navigate to t h e page System | Configuration |

PayPal. 2.

Open another t a b in your browser a n d log in to your PayPal. Keep it o p e n to collect necessary information as you need to fill up the M a g e n t o PayPal configurations.

3.

Go back to t h e M a g e n t o store backend. In t h e first step for PayPal configuration, let's select our country. In my case, it's United States.

4.

Enter your e-mail associated with your PayPal merchant account. In my case, it's (this is a test a c c o u n t for s t a g i n g only): nurui I22750i32i_biz®yahoo. com.

[

r^Tf. ^yts,^

Select the country and e-mail associated with your PayPal merchant account. This might be different from your current location.

I I

{LiH-

Adding a Professional Touch to Your Site 5.

6.

The following Screenshot shows the next few settings as I set them here:

T h e rest fields a r e pretty self-descriptive. A n y o n e c o u l d s e t it, thus, we will skip all of

these except the last one, Frontend Experience Settings. We Prefer PayPal. For the PayPal Merchant Pages Style, I kept all those fields empty.

7.

You c a n c h o o s e any o n e logo for a better user e x p e r i e n c e w h e r e I c h o s e

8.

S a v e this configuration a n d c h e c k it in y o u r store frontend. You s h o u l d s e e a cool Express Checkout button in y o u r p r o d u c t a n d c a r t page.

How it works... PayPal is tightly c o u p l e d in M a g e n t o 1.4.x. A n y o n e c o u l d s e t it up in M a g e n t o w i t h o u t any hassle. All we did here is fill up s o m e nicely labeled forms. N o t h i n g s p e c i a l !

If you are using Sandbox mode to Yes then keep your sandbox merchant account logged in, or else you would not be able to place an order. PayPal sandbox is a bit slow, so be prepared to keep your patience while working with sandbox. Don't forget to set it live while you are done with testing.

Chapter 6

Preventing a CSRF attack in Magento A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) is an attack that attempts to cause a victim to unknowingly s e n d arbitrary HTTP requests, usually to URLs requiring privileged access a n d using the existing session of t h e victim to determine access. T h e HTTP request then causes the victim to execute a particular action based on his or her level of privilege, s u c h as m a k i n g a purchase or modifying or removing information. How M a g e n t o is related to that, you a s k ? Well, the problem starts with an attack called a C S R F attack noticed by Artisan System in the M a g e n t o a d m i n panel. T h e brilliance with this attack is that t h e person executing it is generally unaware and an authorized user of the website, and thus, t h e w e b s o f t w a r e has no way to stop the actual actions from occurring. T h e M a g e n t o guys later proposed a s i m p l e solution by c h a n g i n g t h e a d m i n path URL a n d a d d e d s o m e extra p r o g r a m m e d checking, validating URLs in vulnerable points. In this recipe, we will s e c u r e our store from these types of attacks.

How to do it... 1.

Locate and o p e n the local. xml file from /app/etc/directory.

2.

N o w find the code block and c h a n g e t h e a d m i n path as I did. I c h a n g e d it from a d m i n to backend. You can set another string. Try to c h o o s e a path as difficult as you can so that bad guys c a n n o t guess it! <args >

>

If you are stuck after changing the admin path, then here is a simple workaround. In phpmyadmin or something like this tool, try to find core_ conf ig_data and on its last page delete the entire fields, not just the data in t h e m : a d m i n / u r l / u s e _ c u s t o m admin/url/custom web/ secure/base_url w e b / u n s e c u r e / b a s e _ u r l a n d in var/cache/ delete all the files: mage - -1 through mage - - f.

oni-

Adding a Professional Touch to Your Site 3.

4.

T h e next step is in the System | Configuration | Admin | Security section. Open it a n d modify it as s h o w n in the following table: Label

Value

A d d Secret Key to URLs

Yes

Login is Case Sensitive

Yes

Session Lifetime (seconds)

360

Let us modify t h e W e b configuration to s e c u r e the cookie and session properly. Navigate to the page System | Configuration | Web | Session Cookie Management a n d save the form as s h o w n in the f o l l o w i n g s c r e e n s h o t : Session Cookie Management Cookie Lifetime Cookie Path

3600

r<

Cookie Domain

.local.com

Use HTTP Only

Yes

• • • 1

o1 [STORE VIEW] [STORE VIEW] [STORE VIEW] [STORE VIEW]

1

El

Session Validation Settings Validate R E M O T E _ A D D R

Yes

Validate HTTP_VIA

Yes

Validate

Yes

1 -

1

[GLOBAL] [GLOBAL] [GLOBAL]

HTTP_X_F 0 R W A R D E D_F 0 R Validate H T T P _ U S E R _ A G E N T

Yes

Use SID on Frontend

No Allows customers to stay logged in when switching

-

[GLOBAL] [WEBSITE]

between different stores. 1

El

Browser Capabilities Detection Redirect to CMS-page If Cookies

Yes

are Disabled Show Notice If JavaScript Is Disabled

5.

-[118}

Yes

-

-

1

[STORE VIEW]

[STORE VIEW]

If we can get this far, M a g e n t o 1.4 will be capable of k e e p i n g t h e bad guys off the scene.

Chapter 8

How it works... Thankfully, Magento already employs s o m e of t h e s e techniques to prevent C S R F attacks, w h i c h we j u s t used from the a d m i n panel. In the near-term, the developers will be e n h a n c i n g security to include t h e s e techniques in all places. Right now though, you will have to make do with a simple workaround. By c h a n g i n g t h e URL of your a d m i n interface, you can avoid malicious attacks because t h e attacker won't know w h a t URL to s e n d t h e fake requests to. Unless, of course, they pick it up from your referrer header!

Protecting /admin/ by . htaccess would also be a solution except that some updates from Varien will change it back to some non-protective setup.

H I I

-|119|—

7

Database Design In this chapter, we will cover: •

Resources and database connections

•

M a g e n t o d a t a b a s e replication u s i n g M a s t e r Slave s e t u p

•

U s i n g t h e M a g e n t o ' s Singleton m e t h o d

•

Repairing the Magento database

•

W o r k i n g w i t h M a g e n t o ' s EAV d e s i g n

Introduction M a g e n t o uses M y S Q L for its d a t a b a s e a n d uses a n a d v a n c e d data m o d e l i n g tool n a m e d E A V T h e M y S Q L d a t a b a s e has b e c o m e t h e w o r l d ' s m o s t popular o p e n s o u r c e d a t a b a s e b e c a u s e of its consistently fast p e r f o r m a n c e , high reliability, a n d e a s e of use. M y S Q L Cluster has b e e n w i d e l y a d o p t e d for a r a n g e of t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s , w e b , a n d enterprise w o r k l o a d s d e m a n d i n g carrier-grade availability, w i t h high t r a n s a c t i o n t h r o u g h p u t , a n d low latency.

(Entity-Attribute-Value).

In this chapter, we will look into s o m e exciting recipes t h a t deal w i t h t h e best practices for e n s u r i n g t h e f o l l o w i n g points: •

High-availability

•

Uptime/Downtime

•

Level of availability

•

S i n g l e point of failure ( S P O F )

•

R e c o v e r y / f a i lover

•

Cluster

Database Design

Resources and database connections A resource in M a g e n t o is u s e d to m a n a g e d a t a b a s e c o n n e c t i o n s . R e s o u r c e s a r e defined u n d e r t h e global X M L t a g of any conf ig. xml file. To m a k e a n e w d a t a b a s e c o n n e c t i o n , we have to a d d an X M L file, s u c h as t h e a p p / e t c / c o n f ig. xml file. E a c h resource has a n a m e C o n n e c t i o n n a m e s a r e generally of t h e pattern module_read, module_write, or m o d u l e _ setup. In this recipe, we will play w i t h t h e resource a n d create a new d a t a b a s e c o n n e c t i o n , w h i c h w o u l d w o r k o n any d a t a b a s e t h a t w e specify.

Getting ready O p e n y o u r M a g e n t o project in y o u r c o d e editor.

How to do it... 1.

We will print t h e data in t h e product v i e w p a g e for d e v e l o p m e n t purpose. Let us o p e n

the view, phtml file from app/design/f rontend/YOUR_INTERFACE/YOUR_ THEME/template/catalog/product/ folder. 2.

A p p e n d t h e f o l l o w i n g c o d e s n i p p e t at t h e top of v i e w , phtml:

'; var_export($singleton->debug()); echo ''; ?> 3.

Visit any product details p a g e to s e e t h e results in your browser.

4.

Let's test t h e Singleton m e t h o d in this c o d e snippet:

getConnection('core_read'); $results = $conn->query('SELECT * FROM admin_user')->fetchAll(); echo '<pre>'; var_export($results); echo ''; ?>

-[122}

Chapter 8 5.

Run this c o d e by visiting any product details page. You should see a page similar to this:

Home/ Sony VAIO VGN-TXN27N® 11.1" Notebook PC array (

& RELATED P R O D U C T S

D =>

Check items to add to the cart or select all

array ( 'user_id'

=>

'1',

Universal Camera Charger

' f i r s t n a m e ' => ' N u r u l ' , ' l a s t n a m e ' => 'email'

=>

'Ferdous',

$19.00

'nurul.ferdousGgmail.com1,

Add to Wishlist

'username' => ' a d m i n ' , 'password' 'created'

=> =>

'be4ab8c4d77clb4bf5f4dad7140b7c3b:YW', '2008-08-07 1 4 : 3 9 : 0 9 ' ,

' m o d i f i e d ' => 'locjdate'

=>

'2010-10-20 0 8 : 5 2 : 3 3 ' , '2010-10-20 0 8 : 5 2 : 4 3 ' ,

â MY CART You have no items in your shopping cart.

'lognum' => ' 3 ' r 'reloadaclflag'

)

'isactive'

=>

'extra'

'N;'r

)r

6.

=>

=>

'1',

'0',

g COMPARE PRODUCTS You have no items to compare

Let's create a new resource and use it for c o n n e c t i n g t o any database. Replace the previous c o d e snippet with t h e following c o d e block:

'localhost', 'username' => 'root', 'password' => 'Owy! My password!!', 'dbname' => 'wordpress' // you can any database name here ); $_resource = Mage::getSingleton('core/resource'); //Creating new connection to new server and new database $_conn = $_resource->createConnection('customConnection', 'pdo_mysql', $conf); $results = $_conn->query('SELECT * FROM wp_posts')->fetchAll(); echo '<pre>'; print_r($results); echo ''; ?>

7.

This way we can c o n n e c t an external d a t a b a s e a n d run t h e query using Magento's resource. We have connected an external WordPress d a t a b a s e a n d fetched the wp_posts table. To s e e it in action, visit a product details page, s u c h as: http: //

magento.local.com/index.php/sony-vaio-vgn-txn2 7n-b-ll-1notebook-pc.html.

-|123|—

Database 8.

Design Here is a n o t h e r i m p l e m e n t a t i o n w i t h a filter for S K U : $collection_of_products >getCollection();

= Mage::getModel('catalog/product')-

//another neat thing about collections is you can pass them into the count //function. More PHP5 powered goodness echo "Our collection now has " . count($collection_of_products) . ' item(s)'; $collection_of_products->addFieldToFilter('sku', 'mycomputer'); echo

'<pre>';

var_export($collection_of_products->getFirstItem()->getData()); echo 9.

'';

H o p e t h a t helps!

How it works... M a g e n t o extensively uses Singleton d e s i g n pattern for h a n d l i n g d a t a b a s e c o n n e c t i o n . Singleton is a useful d e s i g n pattern for a l l o w i n g only o n e instance of y o u r class. T h e S i n g l e t o n ' s p u r p o s e is to control o b j e c t creation, limiting t h e n u m b e r to o n e but a l l o w i n g t h e flexibility to create m o r e o b j e c t s if t h e situation c h a n g e s . As t h e r e is only o n e Singleton instance, any i n s t a n c e fields of a S i n g l e t o n will o c c u r only o n c e per class, j u s t like static fields.

Magento database replication using Master Slave setup M a g e n t o has g o t a cool f e a t u r e for c o p i n g w i t h a d a t a b a s e replicating facility. Replication c a n be used in many c a s e s to build effective a n d scalable, highly available solutions. T h e r e a r e a n u m b e r of different m e t h o d s for s e t t i n g up replication, a n d t h e e x a c t m e t h o d to use d e p e n d s o n h o w y o u are s e t t i n g u p replication, a n d w h e t h e r y o u already have data within your master database. In this recipe, we will use s o m e g e n e r i c t a s k s t h a t a r e c o m m o n to all replication s e t u p s to a c c o m p l i s h t h e M a s t e r Slave s e t u p for our M a g e n t o store. T h e a d v a n t a g e of this s e t u p is t h a t M a g e n t o c a n issue r e a d queries to any of t h e Slave servers, s a v i n g all t h e write queries for t h e M a s t e r d a t a b a s e . A d a t a b a s e is traditionally a difficult c o m p o n e n t to s c a l e horizontally, so replication is a h a p p y c o m p r o m i s e .

Getting ready Let's d e c i d e a n d g e t t w o M y S Q L s e r v e r s ready t o d o t h e replication successfully. Collect t h e information s u c h as h o s t n a m e , IP a d d r e s s , u s e r n a m e , a n d password.

Chapter 7

Configuring t h e Master: 1.

Open your my. cnf file form /etc/mysql directory (if you are on a debian-based d i s t r o s u c h as Ubuntu). If you are using a third party tool l i k e X A M P P , then it w o u l d be my. ini file located in the xampp/bin directory.

2.

Look for t h e following code and c o m m e n t it o u t by a d d i n g a # before it. We need to s e e it as follows. This will let other networks to access M Y S Q L server. We will be using it from t h e slave.

#bind-address

= 127.0.0.1

3. Paste the following c o d e snippet under the [mysqld] section; you can modify t h e parameters as you fit it:

server-id log_bin expire_logs_days max_binlog_si ze binlog_do_db 4.

= = = = =

1 /var/log/mysql/mysql-bin.log 10 100M magentodb

Restart your M Y S Q L server. If it's a debian-based distro then t h e c o m m a n d is: sudo /etc/init.d/mysql restart

5.

Log in to your M Y S Q L console with root user: sudo mysql -u root -p

6.

W h e n you are in, issue t h e following c o m m a n d s in M Y S Q L shell: GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON ~magentodb~ . * TO ' s l a v e _ u s e r ' % ' WITH GRANT OPTION IDENTIFIED BY 'slave_password'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; QUIT;

7.

Log in to your M Y S Q L shell again with root privilege. Issue t h e s e c o m m a n d s and c h e c k t h e status of our Master: USE magentodb; FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK; SHOW MASTER STATUS;

•em—

Database 8.

Design You s h o u l d s e e a result s o m e t h i n g like this: m y s q l > SHOW M A S T E R STATUS;

+-

H

File

mysql-bin.000007 |

H

1 row in set

•+

| Position | Binlog_Do_DB | Binlog_Ignore_DB 757 | replica

[G.GG sec)

+-

1 •+

mysql> •

9.

K e e p this information in a s a f e place as we will use it in o u r Slave s e t u p .

10. Issue t h e f o l l o w i n g c o m m a n d in M Y S Q L shell to release t h e lock on t a b l e s as we have a p p l i e d in t h e previous step: UNLOCK TABLES; quit; 11. T h e r e is no s u c h step for Master setup. You a r e d o n e ! Configuring t h e Slave: 1.

L o g in to y o u r Slave s e r v e r w i t h root privilege as: mysql -u root -p

2. C r e a t e a n e w d a t a b a s e n a m e d m a g e n t o d b a n d i m p o r t t h e e x a c t s c h e m a e x p o r t e d from Master database. 3.

O p e n my. cnf or my. ini file f r o m /etc/mysql or x a m p p / m y s q l / b i n folder. Put t h e f o l l o w i n g c o d e u n d e r t h e [mysqld] section. C h a n g e it w i t h y o u r o w n s e r v e r information: [mysqld] server-id = 2 master-host = 192.168.3.12 master-user = slave_user master-password =

slave_password

master-connect-retry = 60 replicate-do-db = magentodb 4.

R e s t a r t y o u r M Y S Q L s e r v e r now: /etc/init.d/mysql

5.

L o g in to y o u r Slave M Y S Q L s e r v e r shell: mysql -u root -p

-[126}

restart

Chapter 8 6.

N o w issue the following c o m m a n d in your M y S Q L shell. Use t h e master log file and master log pos as you must have s e e n it while configuring the Master server. CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_HOST='192.168.3.12', MASTER_USER='slave_ user', MASTER_PASSWORD='slave_password', MASTER_LOG_FILE='mysqlbin.000001', MASTER_L0G_P0S = 88;

7.

N o w start the Slave server: START SLAVE;

8.

C h e c k the Slave status: SHOW SLAVE STATUS \G

9.

It should look like this: mysql> SHOW SLAVE STATUS \G ***************************

1

Slave_I0_State Haster_Host Haster_User Haster_Port Connect_Retry HasterLogFile Read_Haster_Loq_Pos Relay_Log_File Relay_Log_Pos Relay_Haster_Log_File Sla»e_I0_Running Slave_SQL_Running Replicate_Oo_DB Replicate_Ignore_DB Replicate_Do_Table Replicate_Igrore_Table Replicate_Wild_Do_Table Replicate_Wild_Igrore_Table Last_Errno Last_Error Skip_Counter Exec_Haster_Log_Pos Relay Log Space Until Condition Until_Log_File Until_Log_Pos Master SSL Allowed Master SSL CA File Haster_SSL_CA_Path Haster_SSL_Ce rt Haster_SSL_Cipher Haste r_SSL_Key Seconds_Behind_Haster Haste r_SSL_Verify_Server_ Cert Last_IO_Errno Last_IO_Error Last_SQL_Errno Last_SQL_Error 1 row in set (G.GG sec]

row *************************** Waiting for master to send event 74.208.106.127 replicator 3306 60 mysql-bin.GGGGG7 757 mysqld-relay-bin,000012 243 mysql-bin,GGGGG7 Yes Yes replica

O 0 757 536 None Q No

0 No 0 0

mysql> I

-|127|—

Database Design

At this point, you can change your MySQL replication by modifying the Master database and seeing whether it changes automatically in the Slave database or not. Any change in the Master database should also apply the changes in the Slave database in (almost) real time!

I I I I

10. O n c e y o u have M y S Q L replication functioning, c o n f i g u r i n g M a g e n t o to use multiple d a t a b a s e s e r v e r s is a relatively s i m p l e t a s k . T h e only file y o u will have to edit is app/ etc/local. xml. As y o u c a n see, t h e r e a r e t w o d a t a b a s e c o n n e c t i o n s configured,

one called default_setup and one called default_read. The default_setup c o n n e c t i o n will be used for all w r i t e - b a s e d queries, a n d t h e d e f a u l t _ r e a d c o n n e c t i o n will be used for all r e a d - b a s e d queries. 11. Here is my a p p / e t c / l o c a l . xml, DIY (Do It Yourself):



< / db> <default_setup> <username> <password> l <default_read> <username> <password> l 12. T h a t ' s all for this recipe. You c a n test it now!

How it works... On a replication master, y o u m u s t e n a b l e binary l o g g i n g a n d establish a u n i q u e s e r v e r ID. If this has not a l r e a d y been d o n e , this p a r t of M a s t e r s e t u p requires a s e r v e r restart.

-bm

Chapter 7 Binary logging must be enabled on t h e Master because t h e binary log is t h e basis for s e n d i n g data c h a n g e s from the Master to its Slaves. If binary logging is not enabled, replication will not be possible. To configure replication on the Slave, you must determine the Master's current coordinates within its binary log. You will need this information so that w h e n the Slave starts the replication process, it is able to start processing events from the binary log at the correct point. If you can get this far, then M a g e n t o will do the rest. You d o n ' t need to worry a b o u t how it is h a p p e n i n g there!

Using the Magento's Singleton method M a g e n t o uses t h e popular Singleton design pattern to handle d a t a b a s e connection with its resource models. It uses the P D O Adapter (Varien_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql) object, w h i c h is j u s t a sub-class of Zend_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql from Z e n d Framework. In this recipe, we will run a custom S Q L query against t h e Magento d a t a b a s e by using the Singleton method.

Getting ready Fire up your IDE and open the Magento project that we will be working on. Now open the Mage. php file from app/ directory. Look for the method getsingleton in the Mage, php file. In my case, it's on line number 435.1 am s h o w i n g y o u the method here for your convenience. I

* *

* Retrieve model object singleton *

* ©param * ©param

string $modelClass array $arguments

* ©return

Mage_Core_Model_Abstract

*/ public static function getsingleton($modelClass='', $arguments=array()) {

array

$registryKey = '_singleton/'.$modelClass; if (!self::registry($registryKey)) { self::register($registryKey, self::getModel($modelClass, $arguments)); }

}

return

self::registry($registryKey);

Look at t h e function header (phpdoc) carefully a n d note the function parameters within the bracket. This is the m e t h o d we will be calling for running custom S Q L query.

{ • m -

Database

Design

How to do it... 1.

W e will print t h e d a t a i n t h e p r o d u c t v i e w p a g e for d e v e l o p m e n t p u r p o s e s . L e t u s o p e n t h e v i e w , p h t m l file f r o m t h e a p p / d e s i g n / f r o n t e n d / Y O U R _ I N T E R F A C E / Y O U R _ T H E M E / t e m p l a t e / c a t a l o g / p r o d u c t / folder.

2.

A p p e n d t h e f o l l o w i n g c o d e s n i p p e t a t t h e t o p o f v i e w , phtml: $w = M a g e : : g e t S i n g l e t o n ( ' c o r e / r e s o u r c e ' ) - > g e t C o n n e c t i o n ( ' c o r e _ write'); $result =

$w->query('select

^entity_icT

from ^catalog_product_

entity^'); if ( !$result) {

}

return

$row =

$result->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);

if (!$row)

} echo

false;

return

{ false;

'<pre>';

var_export($row); echo 3.

'';

V i s i t a n y p r o d u c t d e t a i l s p a g e t o s e e t h e results i n y o u r b r o w s e r .

How it works... We used Magento's native d a t a b a s e connection resource, w h i c h is core/resource with c o r e _ w r i t e privilege. W e c o u l d u s e o u r o w n r e s o u r c e s o r o t h e r p r i v i l e g e s s u c h a s default_read, and so on.

Repairing the Magento database In s o m e cases, we might face a problem with the database while working with Magento CMS. T h e r e is a pretty s i m p l e s o l u t i o n to r e v e r t t h e M a g e n t o d a t a b a s e in its f r e s h v e r s i o n , if we h a v e a b a c k u p o f o u r M a g e n t o d a t a b a s e . I n t h i s recipe, w e will r e p a i r a c o r r u p t e d d a t a b a s e f r o m a f r e s h b a c k u p b y u s i n g t h e M a g e n t o d a t a b a s e r e p a i r tool.

Getting ready T h e M a g e n t o d a t a b a s e r e p a i r t o o l i s a v a i l a b l e i n t h e M a g e n t o d o w n l o a d s e c t i o n for f r e e . Y o u c a n d o w n l o a d i t f r o m here: h t t p : / / w w w . m a g e n t o c o m m e r c e . c o m / d o w n l o a d .

L o o k for t h e w o r d

-[130]

Database Repair Tool,

s e l e c t y o u r f o r m a t , a n d d o w n l o a d y o u r copy.

Chapter 7

How to do it... 1.

D o w n l o a d t h e M a g e n t o d a t a b a s e repair tool archive from the d o w n l o a d page http://www.magentocommerce.com/download.

2.

Uncompress the archive.

3.

P u t t h e m a g e n t o - d b - r e p a i r - t o o l - 1 . 0 . p h p into y o u r w e b r o o t f o l d e r on y o u r s e r v e r . Y o u d o n ' t h a v e to p u t it in M a g e n t o .

4.

B a c k u p y o u r e x i s t i n g d a t a b a s e t o h a v e t h e ability t o r e s t o r e i t i f a n y t h i n g g o e s w r o n g .

5.

Let's say we have t w o databases. O n e is n a m e d magento_f resh and another is magento_corrupted.

6.

Point your browser to t h e location w h e r e you pasted the magento-db-repairt o o l -l. o . php. Y o u s h o u l d s e e a p a g e s o m e t h i n g like t h e f o l l o w i n g s c r e e n s h o t . E n t e r c r e d e n t i a l s as I did:

ift Magento 11 '

Database Repair Tool

Configuration

1 Corrupted Database Connection"

1 Reference Database Connectioi7"|

Host 4

Host 1

[Tocalhost

| localhost

Database Name *

Database Name 1

[magento_corrupted

[magento_fresh

User Name1

User Name*

| root

| root

User Password

User Password

Tables Prefix

Tables Prefix

'Required Fields Continue

7.

U p o n s u b m i t t i n g t h i s f o r m y o u will s e e t h e d e t a i l e d r e p o r t o n t h e r e p a i r p r o c e s s .

8.

C h e c k y o u r c o r r u p t e d M a g e n t o s i t e now.

Database Design

How it works... T h e D a t a b a s e Repair Tool c o m p a r e s t w o d a t a b a s e s (reference a n d target), a n d updates t h e t a r g e t d a t a b a s e , so it has t h e s a m e s t r u c t u r e as t h e reference d a t a b a s e by d o i n g t h e following: •

A d d s m i s s i n g tables, or repairs t h e m to have t h e s a m e e n g i n e t y p e a n d c h a r s e t

•

A d d s m i s s i n g fields or repairs t h e m

•

R e m o v e s inconsistent data f r o m tables t h a t have broken foreign key references

•

A d d s m i s s i n g foreign keys a n d indexes

Working with Magento's EAV design M a g e n t o uses EAV to a l l o w vertical data m o d e l i n g rather t h a n t h e traditional horizontal m o d e l i n g . In an EAV design, we c a n a d d unlimited c o l u m n s , t h a t ' s t h e best part of it. But at t h e c o s t o f d e t e r i o r a t i n g t h e q u e r y p e r f o r m a n c e a n d losing y o u r b u s i n e s s logic, w h i c h w a s kept in t h e relational d a t a b a s e s c h e m a . M a g e n t o ' s EAV d e s i g n w o r k s w i t h its resources, entities, entity-attributes, a n d attribute values. B e s i d e s t h e M a g e n t o ' s default entities, we c a n a d d a new one. In M a g e n t o , t h e popular d e s i g n pattern Active Record is u s e d to e n s u r e efficiency w h i l e w o r k i n g w i t h a large d a t a s e t for s e r i o u s business applications. Entities allow y o u t o load a n d s a v e c o m p l e x relationships t o a n d f r o m t h e d a t a b a s e . But m o s t o f t h e t i m e w h e n w e t h i n k o f d a t a b a s e queries, w e w a n t t o write a S E L E C T s t a t e m e n t t h a t gives us a result w i t h multiple rows. T h e entity m o d e l s will not be a b l e to do that. Entities a r e d e s i g n e d to load o n e item, or record at a time. Only b e i n g a b l e to deal w i t h o n e record at a t i m e m e a n s t h a t we m u s t k n o w t h e record's p r i m a r y ID v a l u e to load it. But w h a t h a p p e n s w h e n we w a n t to s e l e c t all records f r o m t h e d a t a b a s e m a t c h i n g s o m e criteria? Normally, a s i m p l e S E L E C T s t a t e m e n t w i t h a W H E R E c l a u s e w o u l d work. But t h i n g s a r e not t h a t s i m p l e w h e n d e a l i n g w i t h entities. Not all o f t h e data t h a t m a k e s up an entity lives in o n e table, so we n e e d to J O I N m o r e tables. To s o l v e this problem, w e will use M a g e n t o m o d e l ' s g e t C o l l e c t i o n ( ) a n d a d d A t t r i b u t e T o F i l t e r ( ) here.

How to do it... 1.

We will print t h e data in t h e product v i e w p a g e for d e v e l o p m e n t purposes. Let us o p e n t h e v i e w , p h t m l file f r o m t h e a p p / d e s i g n / f r o n t e n d / Y O U R _ I N T E R F A C E / Y O U R _ T H E M E / t e m p l a t e / c a t a l o g / p r o d u c t / folder.

2.

A p p e n d t h e f o l l o w i n g c o d e s n i p p e t at t h e top of v i e w , phtml:

$products = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->getCollection(); $products->addAttributeToFilter('entity_id', array('in'=> -[132]

Chapter 8 array(163,164,165) )); $products->load(); echo '<pre>'; foreach($products as $product) { var_export($product->getData());

}

echo ''; ?> 3.

Visit any product details page to see the results in your browser. Here is a screenshot:

Home I Sony VAIO VGN-TXN27N/B 11.1" Notebook PC array (

& RELATED P R O D U C T S

1entity_id1

=>

11631,

1entity_type_id'

Check items to add to the cart or select all

=> ' 10' ,

1 a t t r i b u t e _ s e t _ i d1

=>

1 91

,

Universal Camera Charger

' t y p e _ i d ' => ' b u n d l e 1 , ' s k u ' =>

'computer1,

'created_at'

=>

'2008-07-25 0 1 : 3 4 : 2 4 ' ,

'updatedat'

=>

'2008-07-29 0 1 : 3 3 : 1 0 ' ,

$19.00 Add to Wislilist

' h a s _ o p t i o n s ' => ' 1 ' , ' r e c i u i r e d _ o p t i o n s ' => 1

issalable1

=>

111,

'1',

' s t o c k _ i tem' => Varien_0bject:: 1_data'

set_state(array(

=>

H COMPARE PRODUCTS

array (

), 1

MY CART You have no items in your shopping cart.

1is_in_stock'

You have no items to compare

=> ' 1 1 ,

hasDataChanges' => f a l s e ,

' o r i c p a t a ' => NULL, 1

_idFieldNcune ' => NULL,

' _ i s D e l e t e d ' => f a l s e ,

))r

'gift_message_available1

=> 2,

)array ( ' e n t i t y i d ' =>

4.

'164',

Here is another e x a m p l e for your better understanding:

getCollection(); $products->addAttributeToFilter('sku', 'uni-hoodie-medium'); $products->load(); echo '<pre>'; foreach($products as $product) { var_export($product->getData());

}

echo ''; ?> 5.

Hope that helps!

-|133|—

Database Design

How it works... W e u s e d t h e product m o d e l f r o m c a t a l o g a n d for g r a b b i n g product collection b y c h a i n i n g t h e g e t C o l l e c t i o n () m e t h o d . T h e n we a d d e d a filter for a specific p r o d u c t listing. We c a n use s o m e other t y p e s of attributes a n d p a r a m e t e r s . Here is t h e p h p d o c t h a t h a n d l e s t h e p a r a m e t e r s of t h e a d d F i l t e r A t r i b u t e s routine:

I

* *

* Build SQL statement for condition *

* If $condition integer or string - exact value will be filtered *

* If $condition is array is - one of the following structures is expected: * - array("from"=>$fromValue, "to"=>$toValue) * - array("like"=>$likeValue) * - array("neq"=>$notEqualValue) * - array("in"=>array($inValues)) * - array("nin"=>array($notInValues)) *

* If non matched - sequential array is expected and OR conditions * will be built using above mentioned structure *

* ©param string $fieldName * ©param integer|string|array $condition * ©return string */

8

Creating a Module In this chapter, we will cover: •

C r e a t i n g a n e m p t y m o d u l e w i t h a M o d u l e Creator

•

C r e a t i n g t h e required directories

•

Activating a module

•

C r e a t i n g a controller for t h e m o d u l e

•

C r e a t i n g a configuration X M L file for t h e m o d u l e

•

C r e a t i n g a helper for t h e N e w s m o d u l e

•

C r e a t i n g m o d e l s for t h e m o d u l e

•

S e t t i n g up S Q L for t h e N e w s m o d u l e

•

D e s i g n i n g a t e m p l a t e for t h e N e w s m o d u l e

•

A d d i n g required blocks for t h e N e w s m o d u l e

Introduction M o d u l e s are t h e building blocks of M a g e n t o C M S . Every action on t h e site, f r o n t e n d or backend, g o e s t h r o u g h a m o d u l e . M o d u l e s act as c o n t a i n e r s for o n e or m o r e of t h e following: •

Settings

•

Database schemas

•

Rendering objects

•

Utility helpers

•

Data m o d e l s

•

Action controllers

Creating a Module A module can comprise all the six Items mentioned earlier, or j u s t one (as many as required) Modules are defined as being ON or OFF through an X M L configuration file located in the app/etc/modules/ directory. Each module can specify its o w n settings in an X M L file as well, located under the module's etc/ directory. As everything in Magento is a module, and modules have self-contained configuration and d a t a b a s e settings, this allows you to extend M a g e n t o exactly as the core system is built. In this chapter, we will create a custom News module with a custom d a t a b a s e table. This module involves both the frontend a n d backend related tasks. Let's start!

r'&r/.

Throughout this chapter we have used Packt as the Namespace and News as the module name.

I I

Creating an empty module with a Module Creator Before we start, I w o u l d like to t h a n k Daniel Nitz w h o has written a nice extension n a m e d Module Creator to build the necessary directories and files in an appropriate location. In this recipe, we will create an e m p t y m o d u l e with this extension.

Getting ready We have s o m e preliminary work to do. We need to install t h e Module creator extension via M a g e n t o Connect. 1.

Log in to your M a g e n t o backend.

2.

Navigate to the page

System | Magento Connect | Magento Connect Manager

page. 3.

Log in with your a d m i n u s e r n a m e and password.

settings tab a n d set Preferred State as: beta. Save this setting.

4.

Navigate to the

5.

Navigate back to the extensions t a b and enter the extension key for t h e module creator in t h e textbox as: magento-community/Netz98_ModuleCreator.

6.

Click install

7.

After the completion of the installation process, a new directory will be created in your M a g e n t o root directory, w h i c h is moduleCreator.

moduleCreator extension won't be installed if you have set your Preferred State as stable. Make sure you set it as beta from the settings tab.

-[136]

I I

Chapter 7

How to do it... Let's a s s u m e that we have already installed t h e module creator extension in our M a g e n t o installation. If you haven't installed it yet, please install it from t h e previously mentioned steps. 1.

Navigate your browser to the following URL:

http://magento.local.com/moduleCreator/ 2.

Enter t h e required information, w h e n you s e e a page s o m e t h i n g like this:

Magento Module Creator

A

E o ^u o o

Skeleton Template: (you could build your own)

Blank N e w s Module

Namespace: (e.g. your Company Name)

Packt

Module: (e.g. Blog, News, Forum)

News

M a g e n t o Root D i r e c t o r y : (auto detected)

/var/www/magento. local, com/public

Design:

default

T

.Q CL>

CD CL>

(interface, default is 'default') Design: (theme, default is 'default')

default

unlnstall

To create a n e w m o d u l e , Insert N a m e s p a c e and a M o d u l e n a m e (e.g. B l o g , F o r u m , etc.) as w e l l as y o u r d e s i g n above. If y o u w a n t It to be Installed right a w a y Into y o u r M a g e n t o , enter y o u r M a g e n t o install path.

3.

V

o o

E p

o

c o Q

Click on the create button. This will create an empty module in our M a g e n t o installation.

How it works... Module Creator is an extension, w h i c h is available in Magento C o n n e c t as a free extension. We installed it via Magento Connect. We specified t h e namespace, Module name, Magento root directory, interface name, a n d d e s i g n / t h e m e name. Upon clicking t h e create button, this extension creates a blank m o d u l e in t h e app/code/local directory. You may have a look at the directories a n d files that have been created by the Module Creator extension.

Creating a Module

Creating the required directories M a g e n t o m a i n t a i n s a strict n a m i n g convention. We will follow it w h i l e c r e a t i n g new directories a n d files for o u r m o d u l e . We will be u s i n g t h e local c o d e P o o l , t h a t is, t h e a p p / c o d e / l o c a l directory.

How to do it... 1.

O p e n y o u r M a g e n t o root directory w i t h y o u r file explorer. In my case, it is at t h e f o l l o w i n g location:

/var/www/magento.local.com/public/ 2.

N o w go to t h e location a p p / c o d e / l o c a l directory. If y o u followed o u r previous recipe, y o u s h o u l d s e e a folder n a m e d Packt here. In t h a t case, y o u may skip this recipe. If y o u have not followed t h e previous recipe, t h e n y o u have to p e r f o r m t h e f o l l o w i n g steps.

3.

Let us create t h e directories for our m o d u l e n o w as t h e f o l l o w i n g t r e e in t h e app/ c o d e / l o c a l directory: w

app v

code > ^^

community

> ^^

core

v

^ ^ Local v

^

Packt

>

rZZ

v

^

Myshipping News

v

Block v

Adminhtml v

^

News

v

^

Edit ^

v

^

^ ^

Tab

controllers Adminhtml

etc Helper

v

Model v

^

MysqU ^

v

^

sql

v

^

News

news_setup

4.

We a r e d o n e w i t h c r e a t i n g required directories for t h e local section. We have to create s o m e m o r e directories for our c u r r e n t M a g e n t o t e m p l a t e .

5.

C r e a t e a n e w directory n a m e d N e w s in y o u r active M a g e n t o t h e m e ' s t e m p l a t e directory. T h e t e m p l a t e directory s h o u l d reside in t h e a p p / d e s i g n / f rontend/ Y O U R _ I N T E R F A C E / Y O U R _ T H E M E / t e m p l a t e . In my case, t h e full path of t h e active t e m p l a t e is as follows:

-[138]

Chapter 8 /var/www/magento.local.com/public/app/design/frontend/default/ default/template/ 6.

Okay, we have created all directories for our module.

7.

Let us go to t h e next recipe, w h i c h deals with the activation of our module.

How it works... This is t h e task of our operating system while we w e r e creating s o m e directories on various locations. Keep in mind that we are c r e a t i n g t h e s e folders in app/code/local. Do not do it in locale directory. T h e app/code has three folders as follows:

•

Core: T h e M a g e n t o core code resides here

•

Community: This contains the code installed via M a g e n t o C o n n e c t

•

Local: This contains t h e custom module's code

Activating a module Activating or deactivating a m o d u l e in M a g e n t o is handled by an X M L file. In this recipe, we will activate our News m o d u l e by specifying it in an X M L file n a m e d Packt_News . xml.

How to do it... 1.

Create a new X M L file n a m e d lNTERFACE_MODULE in the app/etc/modules directory. In my case, this is Packt_News . xml.

2.

If you already have this file, there is no need to create a new one. Just replace the existing c o d e with the following c o d e snippet: <modules> <Packt_News> true local

3.

Save this file a n d exit.

m-

Creating a Module

How it works... M a g e n t o d e p e n d s heavily on X M L file configurations. For our n e w module, we had to tell M a g e n t o t o activate N e w s m o d u l e f r o m t h e p a c k a g e Packt. A n d t h e c o d e p o o l for our N e w s m o d u l e resides in t h e a p p / c o d e / l o c a l directory. We w r o t e it in an X M L file as M a g e n t o c a n interpret it.

Creating a controller for the module A controller plays a vital role in m a p p i n g U R L to a specific b u s i n e s s logic. In M a g e n t o , a controller extends t h e M a g e n t o ' s front controller, w h i c h is ultimately linked w i t h Z e n d F r a m e w o r k ' s front controller via Varien front action controller. In this recipe, we will create s o m e controllers both f o r f r o n t e n d a n d b a c k e n d activities.

How to do it... 1.

C r e a t e a n e w file n a m e d indexController. php in t h e a p p / c o d e / l o c a l /

Packt/News/controllers/ directory. 2.

Paste t h e f o l l o w i n g c o d e in t h e IndexController. php file. If it's not e m p t y t h e n m a k e it e m p t y a n d paste t h e f o l l o w i n g code:

getConnection('core_read'); $newsTable = $resource->getTableName('news'); $select = $read->select() ->from($newsTable, array('news_id', 'title', 'filename', 'content', 'status')) ->where('status', 1) ->order('created_time DESC'); $news = $read->fetchAll($select); Mage::register('list', $news);

} —1140|

$this->loadLayout(); $this->renderLayout();

Chapter 8 public function viewAction() { $news_id = $this->getRequest()->getParam('id'); if ($news_id != null && $news_id != '') { $news = Mage::getModel('news/news')->load($news_id)>getData(); } else { $news = null;

}

j

* *

* If no param we load a the last created item */ if ($news == null) { $resource = Mage::getSingleton('core/resource'); $read = $resource->getConnection('core_read'); $newsTable = $resource->getTableName('news'); $select = $read->select() ->from($newsTable, array('news_id', 'filename', 'title', 'content', 'status', 'update_time')) ->where('status', 1) ->order('created_time DESC'); $news = $read->fetchRow($select)

Mage::register('news', $news)

}

$this->loadLayout(); $this->renderLayout();

} // end of class 3. 4.

Save this file. We need to create another controller for the a d m i n part of our News module. Let's create another controller inside the app/code/local/Packt/News/

controllers/Adminhtml/ directory. Let us name itNewsController.php. 5.

In my case, the full path is:

/var/www/magento.local.com/public/app/code/local/Packt/News/ controllers/Adminhtml/

^1411—

Creating

a

Module

6.

O u r N e w s m o d u l e has t w o s e c t i o n s . O n e for t h e f r o n t e n d a n d t h e other is for m a n a g i n g t h e news in t h e a d m i n panel. T h i s s t e p will create a controller for t h e backend, w h i c h will be used for t h e CRUD (Create, Read, Update, and Delete) of a news. This controller has f e w m e t h o d s p r e p e n d e d w i t h Action, w h i c h w o r k s as their n a m e s u g g e s t s . T h e interaction w i t h d a t a is a c c o m p l i s h e d by t h e N e w s model.

7.

T h e c o n t e n t of N e w s controller is d i s s e c t e d next for y o u r better u n d e r s t a n d i n g . T h e full controller a l o n g w i t h o t h e r files a r e b u n d l e d w i t h this book.

8.

T h e f o l l o w i n g c o d e block has a m e t h o d n a m e d _ i n i t A c t i o n ( ) , w h i c h is invoked before calling any controller action. We did t h r e e t a s k s in _ i n i t A c t i o n (): •

L o a d i n g layout

•

S e t t i n g active m e n u in t h e b a c k e n d

•

A d d i n g b r e a d c r u m b text

loadLayout() ->_setActiveMenu('news/items') ->_addBreadcrumb(Mage::helper('adminhtml')-> ('Items Manager'), Mage::helper('adminhtml')-> ('Item Manager'));

} 9.

return $this;

This s e c t i o n deals w i t h t h e index action of N e w s controller in t h e a d m i n area. W h e n a user clicks on M a n a g e I t e m s f r o m t h e N e w s m e n u in t h e a d m i n panel, this is t h e action t h a t is invoked via t h e front controller: public {

function indexAction()

$this->_initAction(); $this->_addContent($thi s->getLayout()>createBlock('news/adminhtml_news'));

}

$this->renderLayout();

10. T h e edit action is invoked w h e n a user clicks on t h e edit link in t h e news listing u n d e r t h e News item management section. T h e related news ID is g r a b b e d f r o m t h e ID p a r a m e t e r a n d p a s s e d to t h e news m o d e l to fetch t h e specific news. If t h e given news ID yields a result, it p a s s e s t h e data to t h e news f o r m to populate t h e form w i t h t h e given data. U p o n s u b m i s s i o n of t h e news edit form, t h e data is p a s s e d to t h e s a v e

-[142]

Chapter 8 action with t h e news ID for updating it. T h e r e are s o m e other tasks, w h i c h have been achieved in this m e t h o d s u c h as loading layout, setting up t h e active menu, a d d i n g b r e a d c r u m b text, a n d so on.

public function editAction() { $id = $this->getRequest()->getParam('id'); $model = Mage::getModel('news/news')->load($id); if ($model->getld() || $id == 0) { $data = Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')>getFormData(true); if (!empty($data)) { $model->setData($data);

}

Mage::register('news_data', $model); $this->loadLayout(); $this->_setActiveMenu('news/items'); $this->_addBreadcrumb(Mage::helper('adminhtml')-> ('Item Manager'), Mage::helper('adminhtml')-> ('News Item Manager' ) ) ; $this->_addBreadcrumb(Mage::helper('adminhtml')-> ('Item News'), Mage::helper('adminhtml')-> ('Item News' ) ) ; $this->getLayout()->getBlock('head')>setCanLoadExtJs(true); $this->_addContent($thi s->getLayout()->createBlock('news/ adminhtml_news_edit')) ->_addLeft($this->getLayout()->createBlock('news/ adminhtml_news_edit_tabs' ) ) ; $this->renderLayout(); } else { Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')->addError(Mage::he lper('news')-> ('Item does not exist')); $this->_redirect('*/*/');

}

}

11. W h e n a user clicks on the Add item button the request is passed to this action, w h i c h is forwarded to the edit action without any ID. W h e n t h e edit action is called without a news ID it considers the request as a new entry a n d loads the form as empty.

public function newActionO {

}

$this->_forward('edit');

{143]-

Creating a Module 12. T h e news form's action is s e t to this m e t h o d to h a n d l e t h e form's s u b m i t t e d data. If t h e f o r m data is valid, it s a v e s t h e data in t h e news t a b l e via t h e N e w s model, or else it s h o w s an a p p r o p r i a t e error m e s s a g e s . This action is invoked both for a new news or editing an existing news. T h e r e is a field for photo in this form. We s e t t h e a l l o w e d e x t e n s i o n s a s ' j p g ' , 'jpeg', 'gif', 'png'. Y o u c a n c h a n g e it as y o u please. We s e t t h e file

upload path as: $path = Mage: :getBaseDir('media') . DS . 'news' . DS, w h i c h translates it to media/news/.

public function saveAction() { if ($data = $this->getRequest()->getPost()) { if (isset($_FILES['filename']['name'] ) && $_ FILES['filename']['name'] != '') { try { /* Starting upload */ $uploader = new Varien_File_Uploader('filename'); // Any extention would work $uploader->setAllowedExtensions(array('jpg', 'j peg', 'gif', 'png')); $uploader->setAllowRenameFiles(false); $uploader->setFilesDi spersion(false); / / W e set media as the upload dir $path = Mage::getBaseDir('media') . DS . 'news' . DS; $uploader->save($path, $_FILES['filename'] ['name']); } catch (Exception $e) {

}

}

//this way the name is saved in DB $data['filename'] = $_FILES['filename']['name'];

$model = Mage::getModel('news/news'); $model->setData($data) ->setld($this->getRequest()->getParam('id')); try { if ($model->getCreatedTime == NULL || $model>getUpdateTime() == NULL) { $model->setCreatedTime(now()) ->setUpdateTime(now()); } else { $model->setUpdateTime(now());

}

$model->save(); Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')->addSuccess(Mage::he lper('news')-> ('Item was successfully saved')); Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')->setFormData(false); —|144|

Chapter 8 if ($this->getRequest()->getParam('back')) { $this->_redirect('*/*/edit', array('id' => $model>getld())); return;

}

$this->_redirect('*/*/'); return; } catch (Exception $e) { Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')->addError($e>getMessage()); Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')>setFormData($data); $this->_redirect('*/*/edit', array('id' => $this>getRequest()->getParam('id'))); return;

}

}

Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')->addError(Mage::help er('news')-> ('Unable to find item to save')); $this->_redirect('*/*/');

}

13. T h e delete action on t h e news controller deals with t h e deletion of news specified by the ID param. In this action, we g r a b b e d the ID parameter a n d c h e c k e d if news exists with the given ID. If the news exists, we deleted it and redirected it to its listing page with a successful message.

public function deleteAction()

{

if ($this->getRequest()->getParam('id') > 0) { try { $model = Mage::getModel('news/news'); $model->setld($this->getRequest()->getParam('id')) ->delete(); Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')->addSuccess(Mage:: helper('adminhtml')-> ('Item was successfully deleted')); $this->_redirect('*/*/'); } catch (Exception $e) { Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')->addError($e>getMessage()); $this->_redirect('*/*/edit', array('id' => $this>getRequest()->getParam('id'))); }

}

}

$this->_redirect('*/*/');

{•fU-

Creating a Module 14. In t h e News management panel, w e have provided to p e r f o r m s o m e batch p r o c e s s i n g s u c h as m a s s deletion a n d m a s s s t a t u s c h a n g e s . This action is invoked w h e n a user s e l e c t s s o m e news a n d s u b m i t s t h e form w i t h s e l e c t i n g Delete in t h e actions d r o p - d o w n . In this action, w e f e t c h e d t h e s u b m i t t e d news IDs a n d p a s s e d it to t h e news m o d e l for deletion. W h e n t h e news m o d e l is d o n e w i t h t h e given news IDs, w e s h o w e d a p p r o p r i a t e s t a t u s m e s s a g e s i n t h e M a g e n t o a d m i n panel a n d redirected it to t h e n e w s index page.

public function massDeleteAction() { $newslds = $this->getRequest()->getParam('news'); if (!is_array($newslds)) { Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')>addError(Mage::helper('adminhtml')-> ('Please select item(s)')); } else { try { foreach ($newslds as $newsld) { $news = Mage::getModel('news/news')->load($newsld); $news->delete();

}

Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')->addSuccess( Mage::helper('adminhtml')-> ( 'Total of %d record(s) were successfully deleted', count($newslds) ) ); } catch (Exception $e) { Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')->addError($e>getMessage()); }

}

}

$this->_redirect('*/*/index');

15. T h e r e is a n o t h e r batch action in o u r news controller to s w a p t h e existing news s t a t u s b e t w e e n " e n a b l e d " a n d "disabled". This action h a n d l e s t h e f o r m d a t a w h e n a user s e l e c t s s o m e existing news in t h e a d m i n panel a n d s u b m i t s it w i t h a c h a n g e d status. This action is helpful w h e n a user w a n t s to c h a n g e multiple news in a s i n g l e request. In this action, all news IDs are h a r v e s t e d f r o m t h e form a n d iterated over it to apply t h e a p p r o p r i a t e s t a t u s as requested in t h e a d m i n panel.

public function massStatusAction() { $newslds = $this->getRequest()->getParam('news'); if (!is_array($newslds)) { Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/session')->addError($this-> ('Please select item(s) ' ) ) ; -[146]

Chapter 8 } else { try { foreach ($newslds as $newsld) { $news = Mage::getSingleton('news/news') ->load($newsld) ->setStatus($this->getRequest()>getParam('status')) ->setIsMassupdate(true) ->save();

}

$this->_getSession()->addSuccess( $this-> ('Total of %d record(s) were successfully updated', count($newsIds)) ); } catch (Exception $e) { $this->_getSession()->addError($e->getMessage());

}

}

}

$this->_redirect('*/*/index');

16. T h e exportCsvAction w o r k s as its n a m e suggests. We used Magento's C S V parsing feature to handle the export process. We set t h e n a m e as news. csv, w h i c h could be set as you like. T h e exported news . csv file will be d o w n l o a d e d upon submission of the form in the a d m i n panel. T h e file will contain all news in a C S V ( c o m m a separated value) with t h e c o l u m n names as the first row.

public function exportCsvAction()

{

$fileName = 'news.csv'; $content = $this->getLayout()->createBlock('news/adminhtml ->getCsv();

}

$this->_sendUploadResponse($fileName,

$content);

17. This action is similar to t h e previous one while this t i m e the output formatting will be in X M L . In this function, another protected function is called to s e n d s o m e XML-related headers.

public function exportXmlAction()

{

$fileName = 'news.xml'; $content = $this->getLayout()->createBlock('news/adminhtml news_grid') ->getXml();

}

$this->_sendUploadResponse($fileName,

$content);

{47]-

Creating a Module 18. This f u n c t i o n is called in e x p o r t X m l A c t i o n to s e n d s o m e H T T P h e a d e r s w h i l e e x p o r t i n g t h e news grid a s X M L .

protected function _sendUploadResponse($fileName, $content, $contentType='application/octet-stream') { $response = $this->getResponse(); $response->setHeader('HTTP/1.1 200 OK', ''); $response->setHeader('Pragma', 'public', true); $response->setHeader('Cache-Control', 'must-revalidate, postcheck=0, pre-check=0', true); $response->setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'attachment ; filename=' . $fileName); $response->setHeader('Last-Modi fied', date('r')); $response->setHeader('Accept-Ranges', 'bytes'); $response->setHeader('Content-Length', strlen($content)); $response->setHeader('Content-type', $contentType); $response->setBody($content); $response->sendResponse(); die ;

}

}

19. This w a s all a b o u t t h e news controller for t h e News management area in M a g e n t o a d m i n . T h e file is b u n d l e d w i t h t h e others a l o n g w i t h this book.

How it works... A controller in M a g e n t o w o r k s as any o t h e r Z e n d F r a m e w o r k - b a s e d application's controller. A controller w o r k s b e h i n d t h e w h o l e M V C d e s i g n pattern. It m a n i p u l a t e s models, d e c i d e s w h i c h v i e w t o display b a s e d o n t h e user's r e q u e s t a n d o t h e r factors, p a s s e s a l o n g t h e data t h a t e a c h v i e w will need, or h a n d s off control to a n o t h e r controller entirely. It's always a g o o d practice to keep a controller as s k i n n y as possible. T h e I n d e x C o n t r o l l e r class has t w o actions: index a n d view. Index action s h o w s t h e listing p a g e for news w h i l e v i e w renders t h e news details for specific news. This controller is r e s p o n s i b l e for t h e f r o n t e n d functionalities. T h e News C o n t r o l l e r inside t h e A d m i n h t m l folder d e a l s t h e m a n a g e m e n t of news in t h e a d m i n panel. It has t h e f o l l o w i n g actions: •

index

•

new

•

edit

•

delete

-[148]

Chapter 8 •

exportCsv

•

exportXml

•

massDelete

•

massStatus

•

save

Every action in Zend Framework is appended with Action, which helps in mapping the correct route for that action in a controller.

Creating a configuration XML file for the module T h e config.xml file is the heart of any module in Magento CMS. It plays a vital role for binding all the c o m p o n e n t s of a module. In this recipe, we will create the configuration file, w h i c h is conf ig. xml for our News module.

How to do it... 1.

Create a new file n a m e d config.xml in t h e app/code/local/NAMESPACE/ MODULE/etc directory. In my case, it's /var/www/magento. local. com/public/ app/code/local/Packt/News/etc/config.xml.

2.

Replace the content with the following:

<modules> <Packt_News> 0.1.0 < frontend> <use>standard <args > <module>Packt_News news

^160—

Creating a Module

«updates > news.xml <use>admin <args > <module>Packt_News < frontName>news <menu> <sort_order>71 < sort_order>0 news/adminhtml_news <Packt_News> <sort_order>10

-m



< file>news.xml

/adminhtml> global> <models> Packt_News_Model news_mysql4 Packt_News_Model_Mysql4 «entities > news < setup> <module>Packt_News <use>core_setup <use>core_write «connection) <use>core_read

Creating a

Module

Packt_News_Block Packt_News_Helper 3.

Save a n d close.

4.

T h e r e is no s u c h step as step 4!

How it works... This file holds the information of different c o m p o n e n t s of our News m o d u l e both for frontend a n d backend. If we have a look on the structure of this conf ig .xml file, we will s e e there are five blocks: 1.

modules: This holds the version information

2.

frontend: This holds router a n d layout information

3.

admin: This is t h e router settings and a r g u m e n t s for t h e a d m i n part

4.

a d m i n h t m l : This is the menu, acl, a n d layout for the a d m i n

5.

global: This holds configuration for model, resources, blocks, a n d helpers

Make sure that there is no line break inside global | models | news | class tag.

-out

I I

Chapter 8

Creating a helper for the News module In an M V C application, the model handles the business logic a n d returns data to t h e controller a n d the controller ultimately passes the data to views. If we need to apply a fairly c o m p l e x logic that needs to be repeated or we don't w a n t to place it in a view file, then Helper is the c o m p o n e n t that will help. In most cases a Helper helps organizing data in a presentable fashion a n d deals with t h e logic in it that w o u l d be repeated in place. In this recipe, we will create an empty Helper file for our News module. Here are s o m e c o m m o n use cases for a Helper in Magento: •

A c c e s s i n g models

•

Performing c o m p l e x or repeatable display logic

•

Manipulating a n d formatting model data

•

Persisting data between v i e w scripts

How to do it... 1.

Create a new PHP file n a m e d Data.php in t h e app/code/local/NAMESPACE/ MODULE/Helper/ directory. In my case, the Data. php resides in: /var/www/magento.local.com/public/app/code/local/Packt/News/ Helper/Data.php

2.

T h e content s h o u l d be as follows:
} How it works... This file is a part of our News module. We could add s o m e methods in it if we like. We kept it empty as we didn't have any c o m p l e x logic for our News module. But you got t h e idea why a Helper is required in Magento and w h a t it does.

Creating models for the module A model is the t h i n g t h a t manipulates t h e business logics of an MVC application. In Magento, a model handles fetching, updating d a t a b a s e records, talking to w e b services, and so on. T h e model is the important part of an M V C design pattern. A M a g e n t o model uses Zend_Db_ Table_Abs tract, w h i c h is connected via Varien object while w o r k i n g with database. In this recipe, we will create a bunch of models to w o r k with our custom table for News module.

om-

Creating a Module

How to do it... 1.

C r e a t e a n e w file n a m e d N e w s .php in t h e a p p / c o d e / l o c a l / P a c k t / N e w s /

Model/ directory. 2.

Replace the content with the following code:


}

parent::_construct(); $this->_init('news/news');

} 3.

L e t u s c r e a t e a n o t h e r m o d e l for M y S Q L 4 v e r s i o n . C r e a t e a n e w file n a m e d N e w s . p h p i n t h e a p p / c o d e / l o c a l / P a c k t / N e w s / M o d e l / M y s q l 4 / folder. R e p l a c e t h e content with t h e following:

_init('news/news', 'news_id');

}

} 4.

C r e a t e a n o t h e r m o d e l c l a s s file n a m e d C o l l e c t i o n . p h p i n t h e a p p / c o d e / l o c a l / Packt/News/Mode/Mysql4 /News/ folder and replace the content with the following code:


Chapter 7

parent::_construct(); $this->_init('news/news'

} 5.

Let's create the last model for our News module. Create a new file n a m e d status . php In t h e app/code/local/Packt/News/Model directory and replace the content with t h e following:

Mage::helper('news')-> ('Enabled' self::STATUS_DISABLED => Mage::helper('news')-> 'Disabled')

6.

Save a n d close Status . php.

7.

T h e r e Is no task left for model creation this time.

How it works... A model In M a g e n t o works with a d a t a b a s e via the Varien_Obj ect, w h i c h relates to Zend_Db_Abstract. We j u s t extended the Varien's Mage_Core_Model_Abstract class, w h i c h is connected with Zend_Db_Adapter. We used s o m e c o m m o n methods for our needs. T h e very first model we wrote is News. php. In this file we extended t h e Mage_Core_Model_ Abstract class, w h i c h is ultimately connected to the database. Inside the constructor we called its parent constructor a n d the _init ( ) , w h i c h is actually a protected function in the Mage_Core_Model_Abstract class. This initialization will let us use t h e methods defined in Mage_Core_Model_Abs tract, such as: load (), save (), delete ( ) , a m o n g others. T h e status. php file is the model that deals with the status update in Magento a d m i n for the news module. This model is extended to Varien_Ob j ect, w h i c h has s o m e c o m m o n functionalities to update t h e status of a d a t a b a s e record in t h e Magento a d m i n panel. { • m -

Creating a Module T h e m o d e l s inside t h e M y s q l 4 folder p e r f o r m similar t a s k s a s o u t s i d e t h e M y s q l 4 m o d e l s . T h e y e x t e n d different c l a s s e s of M a g e n t o to provide similar functionalities in M y S Q L 4 version.

Setting up SQL for the News module In this recipe, we will create a new P H P file, w h i c h will create a new t a b l e in t h e M a g e n t o d a t a b a s e d u r i n g installation.

How to do it... 1.

C r e a t e a n e w file n a m e d m y s q l 4 - install - 0 .1.0. php inside t h e a p p / c o d e /

local/Packt/News/sql/news_setup/ directory. 2.

R e p l a c e t h e c u r r e n t c o n t e n t w i t h t h e following:

startSetup(); $installer->run(" -- DROP TABLE IF EXISTS {$this->getTable('news')}; CREATE TABLE {$this->getTable('news')} ( "news_id" int(11) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment, "title" varchar(255) NOT NULL default ' "filename" varchar(255) NOT NULL default ' "content" text NOT NULL default ' "status" smallint(6) NOT NULL default •0', "created_time" datetime NULL, "update_time" datetime NULL, PRIMARY KEY ("news_id") ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

$installer->endSetup(); 3.

-[156]

S a v e a n d c l o s e this file.

Chapter 7

How it works... During installation this file will be invoked as we specified it in t h e configuration file. It drops any existing table n a m e d news in our M a g e n t o d a t a b a s e a n d creates a new one with t h e previously mentioned s c h e m a . You are e n c o u r a g e d to modify the S Q L file to fit your needs.

Designing a template for the News module We have already set up t h e required business logics in our previous recipes in this chapter. In this recipe, we will render the data via Magento's presentation layer that is view. We will create s o m e view files in our current interface's active t h e m e directory. Let's do it now!

How to do it... 1.

Create a new file named News . phtml in the app/design/f rontend/YOUR_ INTERFACE/Y0UR_THEME/template/news/ directory. In my case, t h e full path is

/var/www/magento.local.com/public/app/design/frontend/default/ default/template/news/news.phtml. 2.

Replace the existing content with the following code:



('Latest news from Packt' ) ?>

getNewsList() as $item): ?>

< p x ? p h p echo $this->limitCharacter ($item ['content'] , 180, " read more") ? > < / p >

Creating a Module 3. Create another file n a m e d view, phtml in the s a m e location and replace the existing c o d e with the following:

getNews(); ?>

published on: Back to all news

<span style="float: left"> < span>

>