Magento – Adding Widget Instance into Theme via XML

widgets

So I have a few custom widgets instances that I'd like to include into some theme .xml files. However I'd like these to be added via XML rather than as Layout Updates under
New Widget Instance.

I know I can add a widget via XML by also setting all the widget options within the XML, however i'd like to give the client some ability to configure these in the backend themselves.

At the moment the only way I can think of to add a static block and then have a widget added withint the content of that, but this seems a rather unelagant solution compared with just adding a widget instace directly.

Looking for something like below but for a widget rather than a static block

<block type="cms/block" name="cms_footer_links" before="footer_links">
                <action method="setBlockId"><block_id>footer_links</block_id</action>
</block>

Best Answer

Here an example of adding New Products widgets via catalog.xml (or any other file) layout:

<block
  type="catalog/product_widget_new" name="custom_widget_name"
  template="catalog/product/widget/new/column/new_default_list.phtml">
    <!-- populate widget by options -->
    <action method="setData"><name>products_count</name><value>3</value></action>
    <action method="setData"><name>cache_lifetime</name><value>3600</value></action>
</block>

Related Solutions

Magento – Mass Action in Widgets

First, here is why you get that error.
The mass action block button has this onclick event.

$this->getJsObjectName() . ".apply()"

Digging deeper in the methods the code above translates into

{parent_block_id}_massactionJsObject.apply();

(For a widget chooser the parent block id is some random hash but that's not important). The idea is that the object above does not exist.
Now the (possible) solution. Change the mass action block only for your widget chooser. For this create a new class:

<?php 
class Manners_Widgets_Block_Catalog_Product_Massaction extends Mage_Adminhtml_Block_Widget_Grid_Massaction{
    public function getApplyButtonHtml()
    {
        return $this->getButtonHtml($this->__('Submit'), "alert('Doh!')");//add this your js function that should do the magic.
    }
}

Now tell your grid to use this new mass action block. For this add int the class Manners_Widgets_Block_Catalog_Product_Widget_Chooser this method:

protected function _construct(){
    parent::_construct();
    $this->setMassactionBlockName('manners_widgets/catalog_product_massaction');
}

Now when you click on the "submit" button you will get an alert and no errors.
Change the alert in the code above with your actions.

Magento – Can you load a widget instance from a template

Yes, you can do something like this:

$widget = Mage::getModel('widget/widget_instance')->load($widgetId);
$widgetBlock = $this
                   ->getLayout()
                   ->createBlock($widget->getType(),
                                 $widget->getTitle(),
                                 $widget->getWidgetParameters());
echo $widgetBlock->toHtml();

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Magento – Mass Action in Widgets

Magento – Can you load a widget instance from a template

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