CODEWITHSUNDEEP
magentomagento-layout-xml
Nick Rolando
Nick Rolando

Reputation: 26167

Adding template block to another block dynamically for a module

I'm trying to add a template block to my footer block in the product view (only), the product detail page. I've tried the following in the catalog.xml layout file, but with no luck:

<catalog_product_view translate="label">
  ...
  <reference name="footer">
      <block type="core/template" name="uniqueName" template="catalog/product/mytemplate.phtml" />
  </reference>
</catalog_product_view>

and

<catalog_product_view translate="label">
  ...
  <reference name="footer">
      <block type="core/template" name="uniqueName">
          <action method="setTemplate"><template>catalog/product/mytemplate.phtml</template></action>
      </block>
  </reference>
</catalog_product_view>

I was able to put the template block into the content block using the latter method the same way, <reference name="content">, so I don't understand why this isn't working. It seems like I'm not referencing the footer properly.. I see in the page.xml file the footer being created added as <block type="page/html_footer" name="footer" as="footer" template="page/html/footer.phtml">. Can somebody help me figure this out? Much appreciated!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2649

Answers (2)

Alana Storm
Alana Storm

Reputation: 166046

In page.xml, take a look at the layout update xml fragment that instantiates the content block object

<block type="core/text_list" name="content" as="content" translate="label">

The content block is core/text_list block. The core/text_list blocks automatically render their child blocks (i.e. they're a contain block for a list of text blocks). The core/text_list alias resolves to Mage_Core_Block_Text_List, take a look at this classes rendering method to see why appending things to your content block works.

Now, take a look at the layout update XML fragment that instantiates the footer block.

<block type="page/html_footer" name="footer" as="footer" template="page/html/footer.phtml">

The foot block is not a text list block. It's a page/html_footer block, which is a template block. You can determine this by looking at the class that the page/html_footer block inherits from 

class Mage_Page_Block_Html_Footer extends Mage_Core_Block_Template

Template blocks do not automatically render all their child blocks. Instead, inside the block's template, you must explicitly render a child with a call to

echo $this->getChildHtml('block_name');

So when you say

<reference name="footer">
     <block type="core/template" name="uniqueName" template="catalog/product/mytemplate.phtml" />
</reference>

you're telling Magento to insert a block named uniqueName as a child block of the footer block. However, in order to render the block, the footer's template must call 

$this->getChildHtml('uniqueName')

Upvotes: 2

Nick Rolando
Nick Rolando

Reputation: 26167

You need to make sure the block template (footer block in my case) that you are trying to add your block to is calling your child block that you have added in your layout xml..

footer.phtml:

<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('uniqueName'); ?>

Upvotes: 1

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