Tips for Twits

CRUD – Retrieve

1. Lets add a new block to the file structure

   app/
     etc/
       modules/
         - SavantDegrees_All.xml (Or what ever your company name might be)
     code/
       local/
         SavantDegrees/ (Or what ever your company name might be)
           Twits/ (Or whatever your module name might be)
             Block/
               Admin/
                 - Main.php
                 Main/
                   - Grid.php
               - HelloWorld.php
             controllers/
               - AdminController.php
               - IndexController.php
             etc/
               - config.xml
             Helper/
               - Data.php
             Model/
               - Tip.php
               Mysql4/
                 - Tip.php
                 Tip/
                   - Collection.php
             sql/
               twits_setup/
                 - mysql4-install-0.2.0.php
                 - mysql4-upgrade-0.1.0-0.2.0.php

   We’ll create folder called Admin to store all the admin related blocks. Inside we’ll have a Main.php file that contains the Grid Container. Why do we need a grid container? To put the title and Create button!

2. The Main.php code

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   <?php class SavantDegrees_Twits_Block_Admin_Main extends Mage_Adminhtml_Block_Widget_Grid_Container { public function __construct() { $this->_addButtonLabel = Mage::helper('twits')->__('Add New Tip'); parent::__construct();   $this->_blockGroup = 'twits'; $this->_controller = 'admin_main'; $this->_headerText = Mage::helper('twits')->__('Tips(s)'); } }

   Here you see a first use of the helper, which will assist in translation

3. The Grid.php itself

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   <?php class SavantDegrees_Twits_Block_Admin_Main_Grid extends Mage_Adminhtml_Block_Widget_Grid {   public function __construct() { parent::__construct(); $this->setId('tipsGrid'); $this->_controller = 'twits'; }   protected function _prepareCollection() { $model = Mage::getModel('twits/tip'); $collection = $model->getCollection(); $this->setCollection($collection);   return parent::_prepareCollection(); }       protected function _prepareColumns() {   $this->addColumn('tip_id', array( 'header' => Mage::helper('twits')->__('ID'), 'align' => 'right', 'width' => '50px', 'filter_index' => 'dt.tip_id', 'index' => 'tip_id', ));   $this->addColumn('name', array( 'header' => Mage::helper('twits')->__('Title'), 'align' => 'left', 'width' => '150px', 'filter_index' => 'dt.title', 'index' => 'title', 'type' => 'text', 'truncate' => 50, 'escape' => true, ));   $this->addColumn('tags', array( 'header' => Mage::helper('twits')->__('Author'), 'align' => 'left', 'filter_index' => 'dt.author', 'index' => 'author', 'type' => 'text', 'escape' => true, ));   $this->addColumn('summary', array( 'header' => Mage::helper('twits')->__('Contents'), 'align' => 'left', 'filter_index' => 'dt.contents', 'index' => 'contents', 'type' => 'text', 'escape' => false, ));   $this->addColumn('action', array( 'header' => Mage::helper('twits')->__('Action'), 'width' => '150px', 'type' => 'action', 'getter' => 'getTipId', 'actions' => array( array( 'caption' => Mage::helper('twits')->__('Edit'), 'url' => array( 'base'=>'*/*/edit' ), 'field' => 'id' ), array( 'caption' => Mage::helper('twits')->__('Delete'), 'url' => array( 'base'=>'*/*/delete' ), 'field' => 'id' ) ), 'filter' => false, 'sortable' => false ));   return parent::_prepareColumns(); }   public function getRowUrl($row) { return $this->getUrl('*/*/edit', array( 'id' => $row->getTipId(), )); } }

   If you scrutinize the code (which i’d advise against), you’ll see most of the code is geared towards the setup of the grid columns and the edit/delete urls i’ll eventually call to perform the other CRUD functions.
   But whats going on? Where do we use this code? The main code (being a Grid_Container automatically adds the child Grid code associated to it. By child we’re talking about the Grid.php file in the Main folder. The folder’s name follows the file. So if you changed the folder’s name to Main2, it wouldnt work. That being said, you can just put any block code in the folder and expect it to run. The reason why this all works now is cause the geniuses at Magento already did alot of work to call the Grid child to run. They have no super time travel powers to tell what else you’re gonna put in there. So, it simply wont work (yet).

4. Now lets make our adminController.php use that block instead of Hello world.

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   class SavantDegrees_Twits_AdminController extends Mage_Adminhtml_Controller_Action { public function indexAction() { $this->loadLayout() ->_addContent($this->getLayout()->createBlock('twits/admin_main')) ->renderLayout(); } }

   Well it says createBlock doesnt it? What do you think it does? twits/admin_main as always refers to the twits namespace and the admin/main.php block file.

5. Viola! Your very very very hard earned grid!
   

» Anytime now … Part 6 – CRUD – Delete