Magento – How to create a getChildHtml block and call it in another

blockslayouttemplate

Currently i'm working to redesign a custom Magento template.

I'm facing the following problem.

In file called: 2columns-left.phtml i am facing code like this several times:

<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('global_messages') ?>

or

<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('global_messages') ?>

These code lines makes me think that they are calling blocks and the content in them by getting the name of .phtml file.

So i have file called slider_layred_nav.phtml and i want to call all the content in it in file 2columns-left.phtml so i tried this code:

So in file 2columns-left.phtml i put:

<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('slider_layred_nav') ?>

But it is just not displaying anything.

I assume that i have to do something with the layout but i have no idea what.

Can you help me our resolve this mystery ?

Thanks in advance!

Best Answer

So in file 2columns-left.phtml i put:

<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('slider_layred_nav') ?>

First, check your spelling ("slider_layred_nav" => "slider_layered_nav"). You will then want to specify in some layout XML file (e.g. local.xml, which you can create in your theme) the following directive:

<reference name="root">
    <block type="core/template"
           name="slider_layered_nav"
           template="path/to/template.phtml" />
</reference>

You may need to change the type based on the behaviors you need. Also, this directive needs to go inside a layout update handle. If you want this block to show up on every page, you would put it inside <default />:

<default>
    <reference name="root">
        <block type="core/template"
               name="slider_layered_nav"
               template="path/to/template.phtml" />
    </reference>
</default>
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