Development How Tos

Feb 25, 2011

It is very helpful to create a single translation file for your magento template to include any words or phrases that you add to the basic templates. Simply create an empty module (create a folder under app/code/local/[yourcompany]/[yourmodule]) and then add a subfolder etc and create a config.xml which should contain the following. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <config> <modules> <translations> <version>1.0.0</version> </translations> </modules> <frontend> <translate> <modules> <translations> <files> <default>swn_translations.csv</default> </files> </translations> </modules> </translate> </frontend> <adminhtml> <translate> <modules> <translations> <files> <default>swn_translations.csv</default> </files> </translations> </modules> </translate> </adminhtml> </config> Make sure your module is enabled (see [Creating your own module][1]).

Feb 22, 2011

Several options here depending on exactly what you need. Currency can be handled at website, Store or Store level and if multiple currencies are set “as allowed” then the currency changer will show up. By default this appears in the left sidebar and is added in using the directory layout file (why directory?). To move this to the header, comment out the directory bit and move it to the page layout file – inside the header block.

Feb 19, 2011

You likely want to be able to pass some tracking information about the visitors to your Magento site through to your back-end systems. I usually implement tracking using the same method as Google Analytics, just for convenience. Also, there is a ready-made [URL Builder][1] for clients non-google campaigns. This sends tracking data through to the site but you need a custom module to read those parameters and store them in a cookie.

Feb 15, 2011

This is vital since there is no way to test email templates. To test I recommend unsubscribing all subscribers, testing and then re-subscribing them. Painful, but at least with this fix you can stop everyone getting emails. Edit the file app/code/core/Mage/Newsletter/Model/Subscriber.php and comment out any line with ->send in it.

Feb 9, 2011

Create a module and add a method that you call periodically and throw the following code in. To get started [create your own magento module][1] and then you can use the code below to read a CSV file and set properties on the magento products. // prepare to load products $product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product'); // read CSV file and load each product and update quantity $row = 1; if (($handle = fopen("stockfile.csv", "r")) !== FALSE) { while (($data = fgetcsv($handle, 1000, ",")) !== FALSE) { $sku = $data[0]; $qty = (int)$data[1]; // try and load the SKU $p = $product->loadByAttribute('sku',$sku); if ($p) { // get product's stock data such quantity, in_stock etc $productId = $p->getIdBySku($sku); $stockItem = Mage::getModel('cataloginventory/stock_item')->loadByProduct($productId); $stockItemId = $stockItem->getId(); $stock = array(); // then set product's stock data to update if (!$stockItemId) { $stockItem->setData('product_id', $product->getId()); $stockItem->setData('stock_id', 1); } else { $stock = $stockItem->getData(); } $stockItem->setData('qty', $qty); if ($qty > 0) { $stockItem->setData('is_in_stock', 1); } else { $stockItem->setData('is_in_stock', 0); } $stockItem->setData('manage_stock', 1); $stockItem->setData('use_config_manage_stock', 1); // call save() method to save your product with updated data try{ $stockItem->save(); $product->save($p); } catch (Exception $ex) { // handle the error here!!

Feb 7, 2011

You often want to be able to just write some PHP against your magento system to export, or update bits of data. In the module config file, under the etc folder you need to add a crontab element as a child of the main config element. <crontab> <jobs> <stockupdate_updater> <schedule><cron_expr>*/30 * * * *</cron_expr></schedule> <run><model>stockupdate/updater::import_stock</model></run> </stockupdate_updater> </jobs> </crontab>

Feb 6, 2011

Create a folder here /app/code/local/[organization_name]/[module_name] You need an etc folder with config.xml in it containing something like the below. In this case it is expecting at least a Model folder with a php file (with any name) that defines a class with a matching name plus the name of the file it is in. <?xml version="1.0"?> <config> <global> <models> <stockupdate> <class>Swn_StockUpdate_Model</class> </stockupdate> </models> </global> </config> This would match a class in a file Model/Updater.php with the following class.

Feb 3, 2011

I’m starting to work on more and more Magento websites and there are so many little gotchas and configuration settings I thought I would start compiling a list of things to make sure I check while I do the development. I’ll keep adding to this as I fall victim to the “features” of Magento, if anyone else has any pointers then please comment below! Newsletter Bug Creating your own module

Aug 21, 2007

Rails migrations are brilliant. I say this because until now I had heard of them, seen articles about them and like poor misguided VB programmers I had completely ignored them. They make loads of potentially tricky database migration, rollback and versioning issues a doddle but mainly (from my point of view) they mean I can develop more in ruby and less in SQL. This makes my development faster, easier and more standardised which in turn makes my life simpler, calmer and more fun – everybody wins.