Magento – passing variables to static blocks for dynamic use

static-block

recently i had an opportunity to pimp some cms pages of a customer. While we were exchanging ideas, we cam up with something that as far as i know is not going to work out of the box.

The Goal is to create one static block that can receive up to 5 variables ( in this case product ids ). With those ids, the static block should render the products related to those and create html-snippets. It shall work like a static block, where you easily enter a couple of ids and the static block should show them in a proper way.

i thought of something like:

{{widget type="cms/widget_block" template="cms/widget/static_block/default.phtml" block_id="16" variables="3,5,28,29"}}

where 3,5,28,29 is a comma seperated List of ids which the block could render via php…

Is there any way to achieve this? It would help so much to combine and relate content pages with products.

I am helpful for any idea!

Best Answer

I'm not sure whether this works the easy way.

You can try in your template to call

$blockId = $this->getData('variables');

this should contain your comma separated values.

If this doesn't work, you have to extend Mage_Cms_Block_Widget_Block and check there, where your values are and how to get them.

If you can't find them in Mage_Cms_Block_Widget_Block either, they are not passed. I have no clue where the widgets are parsed, so find this and change it, so you get your variable.

But I cross my fingers, that the first thing works.

Challenge

Your biggest hurdle here is that your static block does not hole punch by default, but widgets will hole-punch automatically. So your goal should be to output all 3 widget rotators without the use of a static block.

So, then, my suggestion is that you get rid of the static block approach and instead create block reference areas to target with your widget. Classy Llama has a list of default regions available on their blog, referenced here:

Breadcrumbs

Left Column

Main Content Area

My Cart Extra Actions

Navigation Bar

Page Bottom

Page Footer

Page Header

Page Top

Right Column

Store Language

How to do it:

Creating a block reference is easy:

Define the block in layout XML:

<default>
    <reference name="content">
        <block type="core/text_list" name="some_block_name" as="some.block.name" translate="label">
            <label>Widget Rotator Target Region</label>
        </block>
    </reference>
</default>

And then you'll need to echo it from your template to force it and all dynamically inserted widget blocks to render:

#file: 1column.html
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('some_block_name'); ?>

Then, it should show up in your widget list:

enter image description here

This should output in your template now when FPC is enabled wrapped in hole punch comments.

Cheers!

Image and bullet content sourced from:

http://www.classyllama.com/blog/widgets-magento-enteprise

Magento 1.9 – Config Path Variables Available in Static Blocks

Welcome to Magento.SE!

I am not having the same issue as you are. It seems to be working for me - so I'm wondering how you're referencing your static block; perhaps you're missing something?

Here's my static block:

enter image description here

And a demo test.php file to output it:

<?php

require('app/Mage.php');
Mage::app();

$block = Mage::app()->getLayout()->createBlock('cms/block')->setBlockId('test');
echo $block->toHtml();

And the output I get:

> php test.php
images/logo.gif

Some things to check:

Make sure you're calling toHtml on the static block. If so, make sure that the static block is set to use the correct store view (in multistore mode). Make sure that you're using the right block id.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Magento Enterprise – Punch Hole in FPC for Static Block Inside CMS Page

Challenge

How to do it:

Magento 1.9 – Config Path Variables Available in Static Blocks

Related Topic