Magento 1.4 Extensions – How to Extend a Core Helper vs. Copying to Local

extensionshelpermagento-1.4

I have extended a Magento core class (i.e. Model) but am not sure how to extend a core Helper. The documentation varies and I have not found anything that works.

Currently I want to extend this Helper class:

app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Helper/Category.php

And the "hack" (though perfectly legal) is to copy the entire class to here:

app/code/local/Mage/Catalog/Helper/Category.php

I would, however, prefer to EXTEND that class so my code was more portable, so I had this file:

app/code/local/Mycompany/Catalog/Helper/Category.php

with this class:

class Mycompany_Catalog_Helper_Category extends Mage_Catalog_Helper_Category{
    .. etc..
}

How would I do this?

By the way, irritatingly enough, there appears to be a great tutorial on this but the critical XML information is missing!! If anyone can fill that in and post here, I'll back-reference it for everyone's benefit:

https://www.thirdandgrove.com/extending-magento-core-classes

Best Answer

You can extend the class, the missing piece of the puzzle is to add an entry into your etc/config.xml

<config>
    ...
    <global>
        ...
        <helpers>
            <catalog>
                <rewrite>
                    <category>Mycompany_Catalog_Helper_Category</category>
                </rewrite>
            </catalog>
        </helpers>
        ...
    </global>
   ...
</config>

This will tell Magento to override the catalog/category helper, so the call Mage::helper('catalog/category') will return your class.

Related Solutions

Magento – checkout Helper Url overload not working

I'm on my phone so I can't search for you, but you need to determine if the class is being invoked directly i.e. new Mage_Checkout_Helper_Url or if another class is extending it. That's the only way this rewrite won't work.

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>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Magento – checkout Helper Url overload not working

Magento 1.7 – Class Not Found Error While Extending Core Helper

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