Magento – Add CMS Static Block Underneath Categories in Left Sidebar

cmssidebarstatic-blockxml

Because my category pages are quite empty, I wanted to fill up some space with a Static Block on the left sidebar of the page. I've created a Static Block in the CMS of Magento, and I'm able to place them on the category pages and other pages. I did this by going to Pages in CMS Management in Magento and under "layout" pasting the following code:

<reference name="left">
<block type="cms/block" name="left_block" before="-">
<action method="setBlockId"><block_id>left_block</block_id></action>
</block>
</reference>

Now my Static Block is showing perfectly, but it's appearing above the 'Shop By' menu on the same left sidebar. Screenshot of my problem

Can anybody help me out with placing my new Static Block underneath the 'Shop By' (Blader Door) block?

Thanks!

Best Answer

Magento is managing block position by

after=""
before=""

tags on layout XML. Find left filter block name.

before/after:

before/after are layout attributes that we can set that allow us to define the position of our block inside structure block

Put this after='yourleftfilterBlockName' instead is before=''

As per magento rwd theme block name left hand filter is catalog.leftnav

then your solution is like:

<reference name="left_first"> <!-- use left_first instead of left for rwd theme-->
<block type="cms/block" name="left_block" after="catalog.leftnav">
<action method="setBlockId"><block_id>left_block</block_id></action>
</block>
</reference>

Challenge

Your biggest hurdle here is that your static block does not hole punch by default, but widgets will hole-punch automatically. So your goal should be to output all 3 widget rotators without the use of a static block.

So, then, my suggestion is that you get rid of the static block approach and instead create block reference areas to target with your widget. Classy Llama has a list of default regions available on their blog, referenced here:

Breadcrumbs

Left Column

Main Content Area

My Cart Extra Actions

Navigation Bar

Page Bottom

Page Footer

Page Header

Page Top

Right Column

Store Language

How to do it:

Creating a block reference is easy:

Define the block in layout XML:

<default>
    <reference name="content">
        <block type="core/text_list" name="some_block_name" as="some.block.name" translate="label">
            <label>Widget Rotator Target Region</label>
        </block>
    </reference>
</default>

And then you'll need to echo it from your template to force it and all dynamically inserted widget blocks to render:

#file: 1column.html
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('some_block_name'); ?>

Then, it should show up in your widget list:

enter image description here

This should output in your template now when FPC is enabled wrapped in hole punch comments.

Cheers!

Image and bullet content sourced from:

http://www.classyllama.com/blog/widgets-magento-enteprise

Static Block Not Showing on Left Sidebar of CMS Pages – Fix

I think the problem you have is the name of the block you are trying to insert. In the Magento rwd theme in the cms.xml layout file the block with that name is remove from the layout:

<remove name="left.permanent.callout"/>

Try changing the name from left.permanent.callout to something else and it should work.

Best Answer

before/after:

Related Solutions

Magento Enterprise – Punch Hole in FPC for Static Block Inside CMS Page

Challenge

How to do it:

Static Block Not Showing on Left Sidebar of CMS Pages – Fix

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