Magento Layout Update – Unable to Add a Child Block in Layout XML by Reference

layoutlayout-update

I'm having a problem where I can't seem to add a child block in a layout XML file. What am I doing wrong in mylayout.xml that I can't load abc? I have the following files.

onestepcheckout.xml

<onestepcheckout_index_index>
    ...
    <reference name="content">
        <block type="onestepcheckout/checkout" name="onestepcheckout.checkout" template="onestepcheckout/checkout.phtml">
            ...
            <!-- this child block can be loaded -->
             <block type="block/class" template="path/to/template/template.phtml" name="qwe" as="qwe" />
            ...
        </block>
    </reference>
    ...
</onestepcheckout_index_index>

mylayout.xml

<onestepcheckout_index_index>
    <reference name="onestepcheckout.checkout">
        <!-- this child block can not be loaded -->
        <block type="block/class" template="path/to/template/template.phtml" name="abc" as="abc" />
    </reference>
</onestepcheckout_index_index>

checkout.phtml

...
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('abc') // doesn't work ?>
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('qwer') // works ?>
...

Best Answer

If its a module loading issue, I think you should add a tag in your module declaration file. like below

<depends> <companyname_modulename/> </depends>

This will insure that your module will be loaded after companyname_modulename

Related Solutions

Magento 1 – How to Pass Data to getChildHtml() or Call Method on Child Block

You can add a method on the parent block to fetch the child depending on the product type (I've seen this kind of logic a couple of times in core or something similar):

class ParentBlock 
{
    public function getIntuitiveNameChild($item)
    {
        return $this->getChild("intuitive_child")
                    ->setProductType($item->getProductType()) 
                    // You can also decide the product type in this setter, in the Child block.
                    ->setItem($item);
    }

    public function getIntuitiveNameChildDinamically($item)
    {
        return $this->getChild("intuitive_child_" . $item->getProductType())
                    ->setItem($item); 
    }    
}

// parent tpl
// i suggest you avoid getChildHtml(), unless you're certain that methods won't need to be called from the tpl
echo $this->getIntuitiveNameChild($_item)
          // ->someOtherMethod()
          ->toHtml();

Still, seeing how you modify the layout xml to add children blocks, you may be interested in how Magento decided to work with rendering markup depending on product types in Mage_Sales_Block_Items_Abstract::getItemHtml() and Mage_Checkout_Block_Cart_Abstract::getItemHtml().

Magento – Layout XML Block Rendered Twice in Skin

You don't need the line

<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('favicon.extra') ?>

in head.phtml.
There is already this line that renders all child blocks

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

[EDIT]
If for some reason you want to add the block in a specific place, you can use this:

<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('favicon.extra') ?>
<?php this->unsetChild('favicon.extra');?>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Magento 1 – How to Pass Data to getChildHtml() or Call Method on Child Block

Magento – Layout XML Block Rendered Twice in Skin

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