I will try to describe this issue by taking a case of changing the Magento’s login functionality to a Ajax powered login functionality. So after this you will be able to implement a login function in a pop-up div in any page, unlike the default Magento’s seperate login page. I will leave the pop-up div part to you and get started with the real business (AJAX and JSON).

Presuming that you will use Mini-Login form. Here is how you proceed.

1. Change Submit type button to Button type button.
2. Register OnClick Javascript event of that button and its Handler
3. In the Handler function call Ajax Request for login
4. Show Error Message or redirect to customer Dashboard

Your mini.login.phtml should be like this

<form action="<?php //echo $this->getPostActionUrl() ?>" id="mini-login-form" method="post">
    <fieldset>
        <p><label><?php echo $this->__('Email') ?>:</label> <input name="login[username]" class="input-text" /></p>
        <p><label><?php echo $this->__('Password') ?>:</label> <input name="login[password]" class="input-text" /></p>
        <p><input type="button" onClick="handlerFunction()" value="<?php echo $this->__('Login') ?>" /></p>
    </fieldset>
</form>

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
function handlerFunction(){

// Write These codes only after form Validation

// Making Ajax Request
		var request = new Ajax.Request(
			//Defining Ajax Request URL, We are calling custom Controller Ns_Mylogin_AccountController Class (Defined Below)
        	'<?php echo $this->getUrl("mylogin/account/loginPost") ?>',
           	{
            	method: 'post',
                onComplete: function(transport){ // Defining Complete Callback Function

                	// Getting Ajax Response Text Which is JSON Object
                	var jsonResponse=transport.responseText;
                	//Checking JSON Objects property and performing related action
                	// You will understand the response Text format after going through the controller description (Below)
                	if(jsonResponse.error){
                		alert("Error Occured");
						return false;
                	}
                	else{
                		window.location.href=jsonResponse.url;
                	}
                },
                parameters: Form.serialize($("mini-login-form"))	// Seriallizing the form input values
        	}
        );
}
//-->
</script>

Please see inline comments for better understanding. Now our next set should be setting up our custom controller. I’ll not get into details of setting up modules and all but directly to our controller class Ns_Mylogin_AccountController. What I’ve done is just taken the core’s loginPostAction function of Mage_Customer_AccountController and added some codes there. Please see there is a comment on each line added apart from the default Magento’s core code.

<?php
require_once("Mage/Customer/controllers/AccountController.php");
class Ns_Mylogin_AccountController extends Mage_Customer_AccountController{
	/**
	 * Login post action
	 * @return JSON Object
	 */
	public function loginPostAction()
	{
		// Added Line #1
		$result["error"]=0;

		$session = $this->_getSession();

		if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
			$login = $this->getRequest()->getPost('login');
			if (!empty($login['username']) && !empty($login['password'])) {
				try {
					$session->login($login['username'], $login['password']);
					if ($session->getCustomer()->getIsJustConfirmed()) {
						$this->_welcomeCustomer($session->getCustomer(), true);
					}
				} catch (Mage_Core_Exception $e) {
					switch ($e->getCode()) {
						case Mage_Customer_Model_Customer::EXCEPTION_EMAIL_NOT_CONFIRMED:
							//Added Line #2
							$result["error"]=1;
							$message = Mage::helper('customer')->__('This account is not confirmed. <a href="%s">Click here</a> to resend confirmation email.', 						Mage::helper('customer')->getEmailConfirmationUrl($login['username']));
							break;
						case Mage_Customer_Model_Customer::EXCEPTION_INVALID_EMAIL_OR_PASSWORD:
							//Added Line #3
							$result["error"]=1;
							$message = $e->getMessage();
							break;
						default:
							//Added Line #4
							$result["error"]=1;
							$message = $e->getMessage();
					}
					$session->addError($message);
					$session->setUsername($login['username']);
				} catch (Exception $e) {
					// Mage::logException($e); // PA DSS violation: this exception log can disclose customer password
				}
			} else {
				//Added Line #5
				$result["error"]=1;
				$session->addError($this->__('Login and password are required'));
				//Added Line #6
				$this->getResponse()->setBody(Mage::helper('core')->jsonEncode($result));
			}
		}
		//Added Line #7
		$result["url"]=$this->_loginPostRedirect();
		//Added Line #8
		$this->getResponse()->setBody(Mage::helper('core')->jsonEncode($result));
	}

What I’ve done is added an array $result that will hold value if there is error or not while processing the user’s request. If there is error that array will hold $result['error']=1 else it will be as initiallized in Added Line #1. From Added Line #2 through Added Line #5, we have various condition to check for error and set our $result variable.

On Added Line #7 we have called another function (which we we rewrite as well) that will give us the url location identifying which location should be redirect after successful login. The implementation of function is given below. Finally in Added Line #8 and Line #6 we have encoded our $result array into JSON format and send as the response.

For visuallization our $result array will be one of the following.

1. Case (No Error) : $result["error"]=0; $result["url"]=”SOME Redirect URL”
2. Case (Error) : $result["error"]=1;

This JSON encoded response will be then used by the ajax call back function defined and perform related action.

Here’s the _loginPostRedirect() function which I mentioned (Added Line #7).

/**
	 * Define target URL and redirect customer after logging in
	 */
	protected function _loginPostRedirect()
	{
		$session = $this->_getSession();

		if (!$session->getBeforeAuthUrl() || $session->getBeforeAuthUrl() == Mage::getBaseUrl() ) {

			// Set default URL to redirect customer to
			$session->setBeforeAuthUrl(Mage::helper('customer')->getAccountUrl());

			// Redirect customer to the last page visited after logging in
			if ($session->isLoggedIn())
			{
				if (!Mage::getStoreConfigFlag('customer/startup/redirect_dashboard')) {
					if ($referer = $this->getRequest()->getParam(Mage_Customer_Helper_Data::REFERER_QUERY_PARAM_NAME)) {
						$referer = Mage::helper('core')->urlDecode($referer);
						if ($this->_isUrlInternal($referer)) {
							$session->setBeforeAuthUrl($referer);
						}
					}
				}
				else if ($session->getAfterAuthUrl()) {
					$session->setBeforeAuthUrl($session->getAfterAuthUrl(true));
				}
			} else {
				$session->setBeforeAuthUrl(Mage::helper('customer')->getLoginUrl());
			}
		} else if ($session->getBeforeAuthUrl() == Mage::helper('customer')->getLogoutUrl()) {
			$session->setBeforeAuthUrl(Mage::helper('customer')->getDashboardUrl());
		}
		else {
			if (!$session->getAfterAuthUrl()) {
				$session->setAfterAuthUrl($session->getBeforeAuthUrl());
			}
			if ($session->isLoggedIn()) {
				$session->setBeforeAuthUrl($session->getAfterAuthUrl(true));
			}
		}
		// Changed Here
		return $session->getBeforeAuthUrl(true);
	}

You can download the code From Here.

Hope it helps! Happy Coding.

<core>
	<rewrite>
		<locale>Namespace_Module_Model_Locale</locale>
	</rewrite>
</core>

Then in Namespace_Module_Model_Locale class you can add the following code.

class Namespace_Module_Model_Locale extends Mage_Core_Model_Locale{
	/*
	* Code: subesh.com.np
	*/

    public function currency($currency)
    {
    	Varien_Profiler::start('locale/currency');
        if (!isset(self::$_currencyCache[$this->getLocaleCode()][$currency])) {
            try {
                $currencyObject = new Zend_Currency($currency, $this->getLocale());

				// Additionally Added Code
				// The options array's position key has other values as well.

				// 	Zend_Currency::STANDARD
				// 	Zend_Currency::RIGHT
				//	Zend_Currency::LEFT     

				$options = array(
                       'position'	=> Zend_Currency::RIGHT
                );

				$currencyObject->setFormat($options);

				// END Additionally Added Code

            } catch (Exception $e) {
                $currencyObject = new Zend_Currency($this->getCurrency(), $this->getLocale());
                $options = array(
                        'name'      => $currency,
                        'currency'  => $currency,
                        'symbol'    => $currency
                );
                $currencyObject->setFormat($options);
            }

            self::$_currencyCache[$this->getLocaleCode()][$currency] = $currencyObject;
        }
        Varien_Profiler::stop('locale/currency');
        return self::$_currencyCache[$this->getLocaleCode()][$currency];
	}	

}

You can see the comment of the code above for more detail understanding.

P.S: Be informed that you need to change the Class Name you are about to create on the basis of your Namespace and Module name.

1. Shipping Address (Actually only country_id will work)
2. Shipping Method (Set to Flatrate in the code below)

So what I did was first check if the user has already specified the shipping address (when user have added the shipping address in the checkout page and navigated back to cart page). If the shipping address is not present then I checked if the user is logged in and checked for default shipping address of the customer and used its country_id (if present), but if the user is not logged in or default shipping address is not present then I set the shipping address (country_id) to some country (NL).
After setting the country I then set the shipping method and then saved the quote so that the prices are calculated.

Here’s the snippet.

/**
* Setting Default Shipping Method
* Checking If Quote Already Has Address Or Not
* - If Yes then leave as it is
* - Else check if Customer has default Shipping Address or Not
*  -- Yes then get Default Shipping Address and set Shipping Method
*  -- No Set Default Shipping address to NL
*/

if(!Mage::getSingleton('checkout/type_onepage')->getQuote()->getShippingAddress()->getCountryId()){
$customerSession=Mage::getSingleton("customer/session");
if($customerSession->isLoggedIn()){
$customerAddress=$customerSession->getCustomer()->getDefaultShippingAddress();
if($customerAddress->getId()){
$customerCountry=$customerAddress->getCountryId();
$shipping = Mage::getSingleton('checkout/type_onepage')->getQuote()->getShippingAddress()->setCountryId($customerCountry)->setShippingMethod('flatrate_flatrate')->save();
}
else{
$shipping = Mage::getSingleton('checkout/type_onepage')->getQuote()->getShippingAddress()->setCountryId('NL')->setShippingMethod('flatrate_flatrate')->save();
}
}
}

Cheers!

LOL!

Can’t wait for the trial sessions.. HAHAHAHAHAHA

Go SPAIN!

I successfully used the same “behavior” of tabbed navigation in “front-end”, was easy at the end (always with Magento, when you get it), but I was struggling at the start. So, like my other posts, to share here’s how I used the same type of tab in Magento’s Front-end.

First thing is add the Tab’s Java-script file. You can either include by layout or in PHTML file. If you want to do from layout then,

<reference name="head">
        	 <action method="addJs"><script>mage/adminhtml/tabs.js</script></action>
</reference>

Next thing is to create Tab’s Menu inside UL & LI. Here’s the structure. (Self Explanatory)

<!-- TAB MENU STRUCTURE -->

<ul id="page_tabs">
	<!-- NORMAL TAB -->
	<li>
		<a id="normaltab" name="normaltab" class="tab-item-link" href="#"> NORMAL TAB </a>
		<!-- NOTE: class has to be tab-item-link-->

		<div id="normaltab_content"> Normal Tab HTML</div>
		<!-- NOTE: See the id of this div content it has id equal to its anchor's (<a>) id + Underscore + content -->
	</li>
	<!-- NORMAL TAB END-->

	<!-- AJAX LOADED TAB -->
	<li>
		<a id="ajaxtab" name="ajaxtab" class="tab-item-link ajax notloaded" href="http://example.com/magento/module/controller/action"> AJAX TAB </a>
		<!-- NOTE 1: class has to be tab-item-link ajax notloaded -->
		<!-- NOTE 2: Since this is Ajax Loaded Tab its Anchor should have href value = SOME URL -->

		<div id="ajaxtab_content"></div>
		<!-- NOTE 1: See the id of this div content it has id equal to its anchor's (<a>) id + Underscore + content -->
		<!-- NOTE 2: Since its innerHTML will be loaded by by Ajax you can set its innerHTML "blank" -->

	</li>
	<!-- AJAX LOADED TAB END -->
</ul>
<!-- TAB MENU STRUCTURE END -->

<!-- TAB CONTENT CONTAINER DIV-->
<div id="tabcontainer"></div>
<!-- TAB CONTENT CONTAINER DIV-->

Now its the time to use the Tabs JS included, like below.

<script>
	// Form Key Required for POST AJAX Method
	var FORM_KEY="<?php echo Mage::getSingleton('core/session')->getFormKey() ?>"; 

	// Set this to false, Guess used for some other purpose in backend, not really required in frontend.
	var varienGlobalEvents=false;

	// Initiallizing Varien Tabs
	/**
	* @param 1 : UL Menu ID
	* @param 2 : Target Tab Content ID
	* @param 3 : Initially Loading Tab's Id
	* @param 4 : Don't know yet, just use as it is (LOL)
	*/

	frontend_tabsJsTabs = new varienTabs('page_tabs', 'tabcontainer', 'normaltab',[]);

</script>

Done! You must now have a functioning Tab loading by Ajax and Normal, but yes tab would look good if you add CSS to your Tabs. Here is how it works.

1. On load it first copies the tab_content div inside the Target Tab Content ID div.
2. On tabbed menu clicked it checks its class name and if it class name does not have “ajax” it simply shows the its_content div.
3. If the menu clicked has “ajax” then it checks for another class name “notloaded”. So if its ajax and notloaded it then makes an Ajax request and updates the responseText to itsid_content div and then removes the “notloaded” class name for the menu. After that it then displays the itsid_content div, hiding previous ones.
4. If you re-click the “Ajax” typed menu, it will not find “notloaded” class in its menu, then it just shows its_content div.

A good trick, I thought while doing this, using class name to restrict the Ajax call.

Almost all the collections found inside app/code/codepool/Namespace/Module/Model/Mysql4/model/Collection.php are the child of parent Class Mage_Core_Model_Mysql4_Collection_Abstract. Primary thing done in the class constructor is initializing its resource and Model. If you look into one of the Collection class you can see in its constructor.

/**
	 * @class Mage_Checkout_Model_Mysql4_Agreement_Collection
     * Initialize resource
     *
     */
    protected function _construct()
    {
        $this->_init('checkout/agreement');
    }

And this _init function has been implemented in its parent class as

/**
     * Standard resource collection initalization
     *
     * @param string $model
     * @return Mage_Core_Model_Mysql4_Collection_Abstract
     */
    protected function _init($model, $resourceModel=null)
    {
        $this->setModel($model);
        if (is_null($resourceModel)) {
            $resourceModel = $model;
        }
        $this->setResourceModel($resourceModel);
        return $this;
    }

The resource class can be found in app/code/codepool/Namespace/Module/Model/Mysql4/model.php. And this resource class in turn initializes the database table to be used in the Module along with the table’s primary key.

class Mage_Checkout_Model_Mysql4_Agreement extends Mage_Core_Model_Mysql4_Abstract
	{

	protected function _construct()
    {
        $this->_init('checkout/agreement', 'agreement_id');
    }
	......
	}

It is this resource class that actually works out the database connections, read/write adapters and performs transactions. So this is the basic deduction about the link of collection with the database and its tables. But how are those collection formed still remains a mystery, not anymore! In this section of the post I will try to explain how are the collections really formed.

If I can, “collection” can be defined as collection or array of its resource. And in Magento case, most of the resources are database’s query results. Simply you can visualize “collection” to be array of your model’s resource. If a “query” in Magento returns a collection of all the products then it would mean that the very collection is an array of all the individual product’s object. But one question still remains how will the database query’s result transform into a Magento “collection“. To understand that we need to understand the collection class and its parents.

The class Structure for Mage_Core_Model_Mysql4_Collection_Abstract is like this.

Mage_Core_Model_Mysql4_Collection_Abstract

|__ Varien_Data_Collection_Db (C)

|__ Varien_Data_Collection (C)

|__ IteratorAggregate (I)

|__ Countable (I)

You can see that all collection implements two Interfaces IteratorAggregate & Countable.

IteratorAggregate is predefined in Standard PHP Library that extends Abstract Base Class Traversable . On using this Interface you can then Iterate Through Object using “foreach” construct. Countable returns the size of the Collection Object.

Among the two Interfaces, IteratorAggregate is particularly important. As you can see in Class Hierarchy both the interfaces are implemented by Varien_Data_Collection concrete class. IteratorAggregate has abstract public method getIterator() which returns the Iterator interface and the concrete Class has to implement the method on its own. It is this Iterator that provides the real iteration functionality. You can get a detailed description about Iterator Here.

So if you look into the Varien_Data_Collection you will find the getIterator() implemented like this.

/**
	 * @class Varien_Data_Collection
     * Implementation of IteratorAggregate::getIterator()
     */
    public function getIterator()
    {
        $this->load();
        return new ArrayIterator($this->_items);
    }

As you can see that it first loads the “items” (I will get back to this Items) and instanciates the value to an internal Class ArrayIterator . And the Iterator returned by this function can then be iterated using foreach construct.

Looks like it is going to be a looonnnnng post, let be summarize what I’ve tried to point out until now. I’ve tried to show the link between the collection class or rather object with the database table and explain the iteration behavior of the collection object. But one question still remains how will the database query’s result transform into a Magento’s “collection“. This is where the “items” explanation need to be done.

“Items” are actually array if individual object (item) of the collection which represents the array of tuple of the database query result. As you see in the snippet above the ArrayIterator takes $this->_items are parameter. But $this->_items are not populated here on Varien_Data_Collection but rather on is child class Varien_Data_Collection_Db. Here’s the snippet from Varien_Data_Collection_Db.

/**
     * Load data
     * @class Varien_Data_Collection_Db
     * @return  Varien_Data_Collection_Db
     */
    public function load($printQuery = false, $logQuery = false)
    {
        if ($this->isLoaded()) {
            return $this;
        }

        $this->_renderFilters()
             ->_renderOrders()
             ->_renderLimit();

        $this->printLogQuery($printQuery, $logQuery);

		// Getting Data from DB
        $data = $this->getData();

        $this->resetData();

        if (is_array($data)) {

		    // Looping on each result row
            foreach ($data as $row) {
			    // Creating Empty "item" Varien_Object's object
                $item = $this->getNewEmptyItem();

                if ($this->getIdFieldName()) {
                    $item->setIdFieldName($this->getIdFieldName());
                }

				// Setting Varien_Object's values to that of the row
                $item->addData($row);

				/**
				* Adding the "item" to the collection @class Varien_Data_Collection
				* So while referring to $this->_items @class Varien_Data_Collection it will return array of this "item"
				*/
                $this->addItem($item);
            }

        }

        $this->_setIsLoaded();
        $this->_afterLoad();
        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * Get all data array for collection
     * @class Varien_Data_Collection_Db
     * @return array
     */
    public function getData()
    {
        if ($this->_data === null) {
            $this->_renderFilters()
                 ->_renderOrders()
                 ->_renderLimit();

			// Fetching all the row with the Select query set
            $this->_data = $this->_fetchAll($this->_select);
            $this->_afterLoadData();
        }
        return $this->_data;
    }

You can go through the inline comments I’ve added. This is it, I’ve finally worked out the explanation of structure & creation of Magento’s Collection and its iterative behavior. I’ve tried to show pictorially (below) what I have just described. Confused! Plz comment and of course please do comment if I am wrong, because there are “times” when you try to understand things even though they actually aren’t just like you think. I’d like to quote Paulo :“I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does”!

Just a Re-Post

Magento eCommerce: How To Reset All Test Order Information and Set Unique Prefix For Orders, Invoices, Shipments, and Credit Memos.

<?php echo $this->getMessagesBlock()->getGroupedHtml() ?>

It did not work. Yes, after adding this block it had worked before. In my case, the probable case might be that I had called the module’s template from CMS page. In other case it should work. So, I looked for work around and the following did the trick.

// Getting Messages from Session
$messages=Mage::getSingleton("customer/session")->getMessages();

// Creating Block Mage_Core_Block_Messages
// Setting Message
// echoing the Message's HTML
echo $this->getLayout()->createBlock("core/messages")->setMessages($messages)->getGroupedHtml();

The Error/Success or Notice messages are set on session. So what I did was take those message/s from the session and create a new block, same as what $this->getMessagesBlock() might have called, and set those message to the created block and echoed its HTML.

Clever? or not?

Rewrite you catalog/product/view controller and add that logic.
Rewrite Block of that page and show error message accordingly.
Any other..?

Yeha, I do have another option as well. The Event-Observer Method. You can observe an event controller_action_predispatch_catalog_product_view and set up an observer where you can write your own logic there and redirect accordingly.

You can observe that event by setting up your config something like this.

<controller_action_predispatch_catalog_product_view>
	<observers>
		<mymodel>
			<type>singleton</type>
			<class>mymodel/controller_observer</class>
			<method>controller_action_predispatch_catalog_product_view</method>
		</mymodel>
	</observers>
</controller_action_predispatch_catalog_product_view>

And on the observer’s controller_action_predispatch_catalog_product_view method, you can check your logic for visibiliy of that product to the logged in user group and redirect if not visible.

Here’s the main point of this post (Did I take a lot of your time ?), in that same method you can directly redirect using the following snippet of code.

Mage::app()->getResponse()->setRedirect(Mage::getUrl("myrouter/mycontroller/noview"));

Adding an error message to the session would be a good idea, for user to understand what is happening. Else you can directly call a template in the redirected controller’s action with appropriate message.

I think this sums up the post for now..and as always hoping it helps somebody and waiting for the response.

Admin URL with Keys and Parameters

The part in “RED” are module controller(router)/action. And the part in “GREEN” is what we call as “Paramerters” and the “BLUE” part is the “Key“. The Key (which is also a URL parameter) in the URL has been added for security reasons and is checked against the session’s values for every action. If store owner does not want to use the key in admin url, then it can be set off from administrator settings.

My point in this post is, if you are a developer and creating a module that has Admin controller and you are simply calling some action of your controller lets say, mymodule/adminhtml_mycontroller/myaction/param1/1/param2/2 the it does not redirect you to your intended page, but will redirect to dashboard, IF key is enabled. You will have to add the key parameter to the URL to go to your page. So here is a simple snippet of code that will help you to build your URL with valid keys.

echo Mage::helper("adminhtml")->getUrl("mymodule/adminhtml_mycontroller/myaction/",array("param1"=>1,"param2"=>2));

The “adminhtml” helper will automatically create url with keys attached to the URL.

Next thing, if you see the key of various pages in admin you will see that those keys are not same, there is a different logic behind creating those key values. The keys generated depends upon the controller and action you are about to execute. Keys can be seperatly generated as follows.

Mage::getSingleton('adminhtml/url')->getSecretKey("adminhtml_mycontroller","myaction");

Hope this helps, and this can be particularly helpful when you are using templates in admin modules and adding buttons to redirect to some other location. At least that was my case!