Author: 芳草苑主

Bxgy 0.1.0 and Bxgy 0.1.1 packaged a layout file bxgy.xml to a wrong place. Bxgy 0.1.2 is a quick release not on schedule.

Thanks to Carsten for pointing out the error. Sorry to John, Hamichok and Tsk for reporting the bug but I pointed them into wrong direction.

Down BuyXGetY.tar.gz

In the product list on Magento category page, I have a deeply nested blocks for each product in the list. The structure is something like:

<block type="..." name="product_in_category" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_options_selector" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_price_container" template="...">
 <!-- possibly more opening tags of nestings here -->
 <block type="..." name="product_prices" template="..."/>
 <!-- closing tags of nestings -->
 </block>
 </block>
</block>

If I want to add all above blocks to product list, there is a ready solution:

<my_product_list>
 <reference name="product_list">
 <block type="..." name="product_in_category" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_options_selector" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_price_container" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_prices" template="..."/>
 </block>
 </block>
 </block>
 </reference>
</my_product_list>

Once I put them together as a handle, I can easily duplicate them to 3 category layouts.

<catalog_category_default>
 <update handle="my_product_list" />
</catalog_category_default>

<catalog_category_layered>
 <update handle="my_product_list" />
</catalog_category_layered>

<catalog_category_layered_nochildren>
 <update handle="my_product_list" />
</catalog_category_layered_nochildren>

So every time I make changes to product list, I only change the content in <my_product_list> and 3 category layouts get updates automatically.

It saves me a lot of time. However, since product list is also used in search result and advanced search result, product list in the result misses updates because it is named as “search_result_list” instead of “product_list”. The instance reaction is duplicating codes for “search_result_list”, i.e.

<my_product_list_of_result>
 <reference name="search_result_list">
 <block type="..." name="product_in_category" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_options_selector" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_price_container" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_prices" template="..."/>
 </block>
 </block>
 </block>
 </reference>
</my_product_list_of_result>

<catalogsearch_result_index>
 <update handle="my_product_list_of_result" />
</catalogsearch_result_index>

<catalogsearch_advanced_result>
 <update handle="my_product_list_of_result" />
</catalogsearch_advanced_result>

I do not like duplication, because I keep forgetting when and where the duplication is when I want to make changes. So after a think, I come up with an alternative:

<every_product>
 <reference name="product_in_category">
 <block type="..." name="product_options_selector" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_price_container" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_prices" template="..."/>
 </block>
 </block>
 </reference>
</every_product>

<add_every_product_to_category>
 <reference name="product_list">
 <block type="..." name="product_in_category" template="..."/>
 </reference>
</add_every_product_to_category>
<!-- Cannot merge to the above handle! Update handle does not work in the same handle when block is newly appended. -->
<add_every_product_to_category>
 <update handle="every_product" />
</add_every_product_to_category>

<add_every_product_to_result>
 <reference name="search_result_list">
 <block type="..." name="product_in_category" template="..."/>
 </reference>
</add_every_product_to_result>
<!-- Cannot merge to the above handle! Update handle does not work in the same handle when block is newly appended. -->
<add_every_product_to_result>
 <update handle="every_product" />
</add_every_product_to_result>

<catalog_category_default>
 <update handle="add_every_product_to_category" />
</catalog_category_default>

<catalog_category_layered>
 <update handle="add_every_product_to_category" />
</catalog_category_layered>

<catalog_category_layered_nochildren>
 <update handle="add_every_product_to_category" />
</catalog_category_layered_nochildren>

<catalogsearch_result_index>
 <update handle="add_every_product_to_result" />
</catalogsearch_result_index>

<catalogsearch_advanced_result>
 <update handle="add_every_product_to_result" />
</catalogsearch_advanced_result>

You will see the code is messy. That is why I am not satisfied with the alternative, either. I would like the layout xml file recognise something like

<my_product_layout>
 <block type="..." name="product_in_category" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_options_selector" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_price_container" template="...">
 <block type="..." name="product_prices" template="..."/>
 </block>
 </block>
 </block>
</my_product_layout>

<add_layout_to_category>
 <reference name="product_list">
 <layout handle="my_product_layout" />
 </reference>
</add_layout_to_category>

<add_layout_to_result>
 <reference name="search_result_list">
 <layout handle="my_product_layout" />
 </reference>
</add_layout_to_result>

<catalog_category_default>
 <update handle="add_layout_to_category" />
</catalog_category_default>

<catalog_category_layered>
 <update handle="add_layout_to_category" />
</catalog_category_layered>

<catalog_category_layered_nochildren>
 <update handle="add_layout_to_category" />
</catalog_category_layered_nochildren>

<catalogsearch_result_index>
 <update handle="add_layout_to_result" />
</catalogsearch_result_index>

<catalogsearch_advanced_result>
 <update handle="add_layout_to_result" />
</catalogsearch_advanced_result>

Handling the layout of product list is not the worst case. Handling the layout of order, invoice, shipment, credit note is much more time taking, becuase each document is rendered in many media, such as customer screen, admin screen, email, pdf. And if I have custom documents, and custom documents are customised for suppliers, drop shipper, etc, an easy layout update mechanism will be very handy.

In a summary, I am trying to add child blocks by handle. At mement I am intended to believe there is no way to trigger the layout xml into batch adding blocks by handle without overriding Block abstract or Layout model, but there maybe some tricky way out there. If you know it, let me know please.

A third party Adwords professional requested a read only access to Magento admin panel, which raised the question to me: how to create a Magento admin panel user with read only privilege?

I am keen to do this job via ACL. Magento ACL role resources start from module to controller to action, I can not differentiate read/write privilege at the root level of role resources. It means it involves a lot of hassle coding up ACL in adminhtml.xml when creating a role with read access to all modules, because I have to code for every action, for example, indexAction is a read role resource, saveAction is a write role resource, editAction can be a write role resource if it actually saves data itself, or be a read role resource if post data are posted to saveAction.

Luckily, in my case, the Adwords professional only requested access to two modules – Catalog and Reports. As for Reports module, I treat the whole module as read only, so I simple check “Reports” node in the role resources tree.

As for Catalog module, the Adwords professional only requested to view product list, so I create several children of “Manage Products” node. The children map to all actions in Mage_Adminhtml_Catalog_ProductController, for example, product list maps to indexAction, product detail maps to editAction, product add and update maps to saveAction. I check indexAction node. I could check editAction (because it is read only process) as well but the Adwords professional did not see its necessity.

The last thing left to do is differentiating privilege by role resources node. It is a very simple change – override Mage_Adminhtml_Catalog_ProductController’s _isAllowed() method from

protected function _isAllowed()
{
	return Mage::getSingleton('admin/session')->isAllowed('catalog/products');
}

to

protected function _isAllowed()
{
	$action = $this->getRequest()->getRequestedActionName();
	return Mage::getSingleton('admin/session')->isAllowed('catalog/products/'.$action);
}

I think there may be another to differentiate read and write role resource using ACL, because when I look at a sample adminhtml.xml file, it says

	<acl>
		<resources>
			<all>
				<title>Allow Everything</title>
			</all>
		</resources>
	</acl>

What does it means? Does it imply I can do something like

	<acl>
		<resources>
			<read>
				<title>Read only</title>
			</read>
			<write>
				<title>Read and write</title>
			</write>
		</resources>
	</acl>

?