Magento – rendering custom form in default theme

layout

I have a custom form which I have made and want to display within the magento default theme (for now, until create specific css for it). To do this I have set out to try and understand magento's layouts, I've read this and this as well as a couple of other pages to try and learn the basics before I dive in, but the articles seems really unhelpful (or am I missing some nuggets of quality information?). So I had a look around at the layout files that come with magento to try and learn from them, the goal being, work out what handles I need to use. IVE FAILED, hence this question.

How do I add my form in to a Magento theme?

indexController.php

$this->loadLayout('handle_name')->renderLayout();

module/modulename.xml

<handle_form>
    <block type="core/template" name="the_form" output="toHtml" template="ps/prefcentre/signup.phtml" />
</handle_form>

I realise the above will only render the form but how do I create this file to render a default layout around it.

Ive tried so many different options i've lost track of what ive done. From what I have read I first assumed that the default tags held within other .xml files would cause the basic template to load.

I know once I have got this I will be able to learn how to use the layouts, I'm so stuck on this point.

Best Answer

Your controller action should look like this:

$this->loadLayout()->renderLayout();

Let's assume your module is called modulename, your controller IndexController and the action indexAction. In this case your layout file should be:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout>
    <firstmodule_index_layout>
        <reference name="content"><!-- this means you add a block to the content-->
            <block type="core/template" name="the_form" as="the_form" template="ps/prefcentre/signup.phtml" />
        </reference>
    </firstmodule_index_layout>
</layout>

Basically, each action has it's own layout handled built like this: <module_controller_action>

Related Solutions

Magento – Is it possible to handle success / error messages from within blocks

You can do this by overwriting the _prepareLayout() function in your block:

protected function _prepareLayout() {
    // IF statement check for config  or something else
        $this->getMessagesBlock()->addError('oh what');
    // End of IF
    return parent::_prepareLayout();
}

_prepareLayout() is called before all of the _toHtml() functions are called on every block and after the layout has been loaded.

Magento – using local.xml to avoid repetition

Yes, you seem to have misunderstood the syntax involved in what you want to do (though it seems you've understood the principles, and that's half the battle!).

Don't use an output block with a typical Magento layout, as the root block is already set as an (the) output block (ref. page.xml):
```
<block type="page/html_head" name="head" output="toHtml"> 
```

You should not be redeclaring the head block; rather, you should reference the one already created (again, ref page.xml):

<!-- <block type="page/html_head" name="head" output="toHtml"> This replaces the original! -->
<reference name="head">
    <action method="addCss"><stylesheet>css/normalize.css</stylesheet></action>
</reference>

Collect would-be-repeated directives in a custom layout update handle and use the <update> directive to include them in other handles:

<UTILITY_HANDLE>
    <reference name="head">
        <action method="addCss"><stylesheet>css/normalize.css</stylesheet></action>
    </reference>
    <reference name="content">
        <block type="core/template" name="prefcentre_regform" template="ps/prefcentre/signup.phtml" />
    </reference>
</UTILITY_HANDLE>
<!-- include the above on catalog product view page -->
<catalog_product_view>
    <update handle="UTILITY_HANDLE" />
</catalog_product_view>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Magento – Is it possible to handle success / error messages from within blocks

Magento – using local.xml to avoid repetition

Related Topic