Extending Community Extensions – Helper/Data.php in Magento

extensionshelper

I'm planning to extend a community extension by creating relevant files in app/code/local/myname/myext. The community extension has multiple files that I want to customise but let's start simply. How would I implement the local equivalent of Helper/Data.php, even just to show it's working?

For example the community extension is like

class Compasser_Diogenes_Helper_Data extends Mage_Payment_Helper_Data
{
    //
    public function startDiogenes($cId, $stId, $shId, $mCode)
    {
        // working code is here, can output to log files

My local file is just trying to prove it's getting called. app/code/local/Kaska/Diogenesext/Helper/Data.php

include_once 'Compasser/Diogenes/Helper/Data.php';
// I also tried require_once Mage::getConfig()->getModuleDir('Helper', 'Diogenes') . '/Data.php';

class Kaska_Diogenesext_Helper_Data extends Compasser_Diogenes_Helper_Data
{

    public function startDiogenes($cId, $stId, $shId, $mCode)
    {

        Mage::log('test', null, 'test.log');

This is app/code/local/Kaska/Diogenesext/etc/config.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
<modules>
    <Kaska_Diogenesext>
        <version>0.0.1</version>
    </Kaska_Diogenesext>
</modules>
<global>
    <helpers>
        <kaska_diogenesext>
            <rewrite>
                <data>Kaska_Diogenesext_Helper</data>
            </rewrite>
        </kaska_diogenesext>
    </helpers>

This is the what's in the app/etc/modules/Kaska_Diogenesext.xml file. It's showing as enabled in admin.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
<modules>
    <Kaska_Diogenesext>
        <active>true</active>
        <codePool>local</codePool>
        <depends>
            <Compasser_Diogenes></Compasser_Diogenes>
        </depends>
    </Kaska_Diogenesext>
</modules>

In my log files I just see the community extension working, there's nothing from the local extension, nothing in test.log and no errors either. Cache not enabled but flushed anyway.

Best Answer

There is no need to include the helper from Compasser because helpers are autoloaded (you have to include only controllers if you like to extend them). Also in your config.xml please try to change <kaska_diogenesext> to <compasser_diogenes> and <data>Kaska_Diogenesext_Helper</data> to <data>Kaska_Diogenesext_Helper_Data</data>.

Related Solutions

Magento 1.7 – Class Not Found Error While Extending Core Helper

Follow bellow steps:

Step : 1 Create config.xml file at location

app\code\local\AR\Themeswitcher\etc\config.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <AR_Themeswitcher>
            <version>1.0.0</version>
        </AR_Themeswitcher>
    </modules>
    <global>
        <blocks>
            <themeswitcher>
                <class>AR_Themeswitcher_Block</class>
            </themeswitcher>
        </blocks>
        <models>
            <themeswitcher>
                <class>AR_Themeswitcher_Model</class>
            </themeswitcher>
            <core>
                <rewrite>
                    <design_package>AR_Themeswitcher_Model_Core_Design_Package</design_package>
                </rewrite>
            </core>
        </models>
        <helpers>
            <themeswitcher>
                <class>AR_Themeswitcher_Helper</class>
            </themeswitcher>
        </helpers>
    </global>
    <frontend>
        <routers>
            <themeswitcher>
                <use>standard</use>
                <args>
                    <module>AR_Themeswitcher</module>
                    <frontName>themeswitcher</frontName>
                </args>
            </themeswitcher>
        </routers>
    </frontend>
</config>

Step : 2 Create Data.php file at location

app\code\local\AR\Themeswitcher\Helper\Data.php

<?php
class AR_Themeswitcher_Helper_Data extends Mage_Core_Helper_Abstract
{
    const FULL_SITE_COOKIE = 'USE_FULL_SITE';

    public function getMobileToDesktopUrl() {
        return Mage::getUrl('themeswitcher/switch/desktop');
    }

    public function getDesktopToMobileUrl() {
        return Mage::getUrl('themeswitcher/switch/mobile');
    }
}

?>

Step : 3 Create SwitchController.php file at location

app\code\local\AR\Themeswitcher\controllers\SwitchController.php

<?php
class AR_Themeswitcher_SwitchController extends Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action
{
    /**
     * Switch to Desktop theme
     */
    public function desktopAction()
    {
        setcookie(AR_Themeswitcher_Helper_Data::FULL_SITE_COOKIE, 1, 0, '/');
        $this->_redirectReferer();
    }

    /**
     * Switch to Mobile theme
     */
    public function mobileAction()
    {
        setcookie(AR_Themeswitcher_Helper_Data::FULL_SITE_COOKIE, 0, 0, '/');
        $this->_redirectReferer();
    }
}
?>

Step : 4 Create Package.php file at location

app\code\local\AR\Themeswitcher\Model\Core\Design\Package.php

<?php
class AR_Themeswitcher_Model_Core_Design_Package extends Mage_Core_Model_Design_Package
{
    /**
     * Get regex rules from config and check user-agent against them. We override to
     * determine if the design exception should be ignored based on presence of a cookie.
     * 
     * @param string $regexpsConfigPath
     * @return mixed
     * @see Mage_Core_Model_Design_Package
     */
    protected function _checkUserAgentAgainstRegexps($regexpsConfigPath)
    {
        $ignoreException = null;
        if (isset($_COOKIE[AR_Themeswitcher_Helper_Data::FULL_SITE_COOKIE])) {
            $ignoreException = $_COOKIE[AR_Themeswitcher_Helper_Data::FULL_SITE_COOKIE];
        }
        return $ignoreException ? false : parent::_checkUserAgentAgainstRegexps($regexpsConfigPath);
    }
}

Step : 5 Create AR_Themeswitcher.xml file at location

app\etc\modules\AR_Themeswitcher.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <AR_Themeswitcher>
            <active>true</active>
            <codePool>local</codePool>
            <depends>
                <Mage_Core/>
            </depends>
        </AR_Themeswitcher>
    </modules>
</config>

Step : 6 Called helper in the footer.phtml

<a href="<?php echo $this->helper('themeswitcher')->getMobileToDesktopUrl() ?>">View</a>

Magento – Magento 1.9.2.3 isn’t finding Data helper in custom extension

After hours of fiddling and searching, I found the magic sauce in a comment thread on this SO post. I had to expand the comments to find it!

For posterity and in case you're banging your head on the same thing, here's the solution.

Check your logs (tail -f <magento_root>/var/log/system.log).

If you have copied any XML from the web, view it in a text editor and ensure that you do not have invisible characters!

Does not work:

<config>
    <menu>
        <namespace module="namespace_package">
            <title>Namespace</title>
            <sort_order>200</sort_order>
                <children>
                    <overview>
                    <title>Overview</title>
                    <sort_order>1</sort_order>
                    <action>adminhtml/namespace/index</action>
                </overview>
            </children>
        </namespace>
    </menu>
    <acl>
     <resources>
        <admin>
            <children>
                <namespace module="namespace_package">
                    <title>Top Level Namespace Menu Item</title>
                    <sort_order>1</sort_order>
                </namespace>
                </children>
            </admin>
        </resources>
    </acl>
</config>

Solution: make sure your module defined for the <config><menu> in adminhtml.xml is correctly using ONLY the namespace and not Namespace_Package or namespace_package.

This works:

<config>
    <menu>
        <namespace module="namespace">
            <title>Namespace</title>
            <sort_order>200</sort_order>
                <children>
                    <overview>
                    <title>Overview</title>
                    <sort_order>1</sort_order>
                    <action>adminhtml/namespace/index</action>
                </overview>
            </children>
        </namespace>
    </menu>
    <acl>
     <resources>
        <admin>
            <children>
                <namespace module="namespace">
                    <title>Top Level Namespace Menu Item</title>
                    <sort_order>1</sort_order>
                </namespace>
                </children>
            </admin>
        </resources>
    </acl>
</config>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Magento 1.7 – Class Not Found Error While Extending Core Helper

Magento – Magento 1.9.2.3 isn’t finding Data helper in custom extension

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