Custom layout and template design with Magento

In the first part of this series, we learned the basics of Magento module development, including the Magento directory structure, custom module structure, and created a basic "Hello World" module to understand how controllers work in Magento work.

In this article, we will learn how to create block and layout files. Specifically, we will see how layout files and block files work in Magento, and we will learn about the rendering of layout files.

Looking for a quick solution?

If you are looking for a quick solution, there are tons of Magento themes and templates on Envato Market. This is a great way to quickly build a collection of high-quality low-poly items for your project.

But, let’s continue with the tutorial! First, we will understand what layout files and block files are and how they are useful when rendering front-end pages in Magento, and then we will see how to include them in our custom modules.

What is a layout file?

As the name suggests, layout files are very useful when rendering the home page of Magento. Layout files are XML files located in App > Design > Front End > Interface > Themes > Layout. Here you can see that there are many layout files for any given module. Each Magento module has its own layout file, just like the customer module has customer.xml layout file, The catalog module has catalog.xml layout files, etc. These layout files contain structure blocks and content blocks.

If you’re wondering why Magento requires these blocks, you can learn more in the first part of this series.

Let’s delve into the layout files

Let's take a closer look at layout files through an example. Go to App > Design > Front End > Basics > Layout and open the customer.xml 我> file. Here, all blocks are centered around the main <layout></layout> tag. You can see different <tag></tag> which contain specific blocks.

See the following code snippet:

<!--
New customer registration
-->

    <customer_account_create translate="label">
        <label>Customer Account Registration Form</label>
        <!-- Mage_Customer -->
        <remove name="right"/>
        <remove name="left"/>

        <reference name="root">
            <action method="setTemplate"><template>page/1column.phtml</template></action>
        </reference>
        <reference name="content">
            <block type="customer/form_register" name="customer_form_register" template="customer/form/register.phtml">
                <block type="page/html_wrapper" name="customer.form.register.fields.before" as="form_fields_before" translate="label">
                    <label>Form Fields Before</label>
                </block>
            </block>
        </reference>
    </customer_account_create>

Handle

The handle is the main entity used by Magento to identify the block to be loaded when calling a specific module. <customer_account_create> is a module-specific handle. This handler is fired when someone opens the customer registration page.

Each nested block handles page-specific content. Some layout files contain <default> handles. At this stage, you might ask about the difference between module-specific handles and default handles. In short, a module-specific handle only renders the blocks inside it when the module is rendered in the browser, whereas the default handle loads in most pages.

<块>

There are different blocks inside the handle that specify the template file to be rendered when the block is called. There are two types of blocks:

1. Building Blocks
2. Content block

In the layout file, we only define content blocks and then wrap them in structure blocks . For example, if someone is calling the customer registration page and we want it to load on the left, right, content, or footer, we will wrap that block in its respective structure block. Here we have wrapped two blocks inside a "content" block, which is a structural block.

The block contains the following attributes:

1. type defines the block class in which we can define different functions
2. NameDefinition A unique name for a specific block so that other blocks can refer to the existing block by name and extend it
3. before/after are properties we can set, allowing us to define the position of the block within the structure block
4. TemplateDefines the actual phtml file name and path where the HTML and PHP code resides
5. actionAllows us to use this attribute to trigger any action, such as loading JavaScript, etc.
6. as is an attribute, mainly used for structure blocks

<参考>

<reference> tag is used to extend an already existing block. In this example, we extend the content block and insert our own block into it. You must use the correct block name to expand.

<删除>

<remove> tag is used to delete specific blocks. For example, let's say you don't want to display the right and left columns on your account registration page. In this case, you can simply delete the block using the following syntax: <remove name="your block name">.

son<块>

When you wrap a block under another block, the wrapped block is called a subblock. Whenever our module calls the parent block, the child block is automatically called.

<block type='core/template' name='parent' template='parent.phtml'>
<block type='core/template' name='child' template='child.phtml'/>
</block>

You can also call the child block individually using the following syntax in the template file echo $this->getChildHtml('child');

根<块>

打开page.xml 布局文件，你会发现<root> 块看起来像下面这样

 <block type="page/html" name="root" output="toHtml" template="page/3columns.phtml">

Magento 从根块开始渲染。所有其他块都是根块的子块。根块定义页面的结构。在这里，您可以看到当前它设置为 3columns.phtml，您可以将其更改为 1column.phtml、2columns-right.phtml 或2columns-left.phtml.

将 CSS 和 JavaScript 添加到布局 XML

对于任何特定页面，您可以将 CSS 和 JavaScript 文件添加到布局标记中，如下所示：

<customer_account_create>
 <reference name='head'>
  <action method="addCss"><stylesheet>css/styles.css</stylesheet></action>
  <action method="addJs"><script>varien/js.js</script></action>
 </reference>
</customer_account_create>

在这里您可以看到我们在客户帐户页面的 head 中添加了一个 CSS 文件和一个 JavaScript 文件。

什么是块类？

块类用于定义特定于特定块的功能。块类文件位于应用程序>代码>本地/社区/核心>您的模块命名空间>您的模块名称>块目录中。这些文件包含我们可以直接与 $this 块特定模板文件中的关键字。让我们通过一个例子来了解块类。

转到位于 app > design > frontend > base > default > layout 目录中的 review.xml 文件，并找到以下代码行：

<!--
Customer account home dashboard layout
-->

    <customer_account_index>

        <!-- Mage_Review -->
        <reference name="customer_account_dashboard">
            <block type="review/customer_recent" name="customer_account_dashboard_info1" as="info1" template="review/customer/recent.phtml"/>
        </reference>

</customer_account_index>

在这里您可以看到引用模板 review/customer_recent  的块 review/customer_recent ">最近.phtml。 转到应用 > 设计 > 前端 > 基础 > 默认 > 模板 > 审核 > 客户 并打开 最近的.phtml。

在此文件中，您可以看到使用 $this 关键字调用两个函数。它们是 $this->getCollection() 和 $this->count()。 这些函数在其块类文件 recent.php  中定义，该文件位于 应用 > 代码 > 核心 > Mage > 审查 > 阻止 > 客户 目录。

这里，块 type = "review/customer_recent" 指的是在 recent. 文件中定义的 Mage_Review_Block_Customer_Recent 块类。无论您在此类中定义什么函数，都可以直接在相应的模板文件中使用 $this 来使用它。

创建自定义模块布局和块文件

最后，我们留下了带有控制器的自定义“Hello World”模块。在这里，我们创建了自定义模块的布局文件。所以让我们创建它。

要创建布局文件，我们需要首先创建块类文件。在添加类文件之前，我们需要告诉模块我们正在包含块文件。因此，转到 app > code > local > Chiragdodia > Mymodule > etc > config.xml  并添加以下内容代码行：

<frontend>
<layout>
        <updates>
            <mymodule>
                <file>mymodule.xml</file> <!-- Our layout file name-->
            </mymodule>
        </updates>
</layout>
</frontend>
<global>
        <blocks>
            <mymodule>
                <class>Chiragdodia_Mymodule_Block</class>
            </mymodule>
        </blocks>
</global>

最终的 XML 文件包含以下代码行：

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <Chiragdodia_Mymodule>
            <version>0.1.0</version>    <!-- Version of module -->
        </Chiragdodia_Mymodule>
    </modules>
    <frontend>
        <routers>
            <mymodule>
                <use>standard</use>
                <args>
                    <module>Chiragdodia_Mymodule</module>
                    <frontName>mymodule</frontName>
                </args>
            </mymodule>
        </routers>
         <layout>
            <updates>
                <mymodule>
                    <file>mymodule.xml</file> <!-- Our layout file name-->
                </mymodule>
            </updates>
         </layout>
    </frontend>
    <global>
        <blocks>
            <mymodule>
                <class>Chiragdodia_Mymodule_Block</class>
            </mymodule>
        </blocks>
    </global>
</config>

创建块类文件

接下来，转到 app > code > local > Chiragdodia > Mymodule > Block 并创建文件 Mymodule.php < /b>包含以下代码行

<?php
class Chiragdodia_Mymodule_Block_Mymodule extends Mage_Core_Block_Template
{
    public function myfunction()
    {
        return "Hello tuts+ world";
    }
}

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout version="0.1.0">
    <mymodule_index_index>
        <reference name="content">
            <block type="mymodule/mymodule" name="mymodule" template="mymodule/mymodule.phtml" />
        </reference>
    </mymodule_index_index>
</layout>

<?php
    echo $this->myfunction();
?>