Asia Connect Technology JSC » Magento Tutorials

Internal Server Error 500 in Magento

lydh — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:14:27 +0000

Many of us who started experimenting with this interface and tried to place various values for Base URL, came to a dead end where Magento breaks. Usually, we get Internal Server Error 500 with each page load. The problem lies in the fact that we can no longer open the Magento administration to correct the error. What needs to be done in such a scenario?

One of our clients wrote me a message today:

I have put www.mydomain.com in a bad spot. I changed the base URL to {{base_URL}} and now im getting a 500 server error on both the front end and the admin panel. I have looked through the database and cannot find the right field to change this value back. Can you point me in the right direction?

The client went to System> Configuration> Web> Unsecure and placed an invalid value for Base URL field. Beware of this field. Unfortunately, Magento just updates it without any pre-warnings, but change of this specific value can cause Magento to crash.

Usually, we get an error that looks like this:

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@mysite.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

The client was on right path to find a solution. We need to open MySQL (usually via php MyAdmin) and find core_config_data table. Once there, manually update 2 rows:

config_id:3 web/unsecure/base_url => http://www.mydomain.com/
config_id:4 web/secure/base_url => https://www.mydomain.com/

Everything should work now. Hope this will help someone.

By Tomislav Bilic from Inchoo.net

Custom Transactional Emails

lydh — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:40:17 +0000

Since transactional emails are very important for the process of online shopping you need to have them set up just the you want them and the default templates just don’t cut it. You need your own logo, email data and custom verbiage to be consistent with the image of your company.

Here how it’s done :

1. Creating custom transactional e-mails via Admin

a) In the admin panel of your magento installation go to: System->Transactional Emails

You’ll be presented with a list of default emails. You’ll need to create a custom email so the only way to avoid writing our custom templates from scratch is to use the existing code of the template.
Hint: If you want to see the template before copying, first click on the “Preview” button on the right.

b) To create the new template click on the “Add new template” above the “Transactional Emails” list. This is the part where Magento helps you with the option to load a deafult template for you to customize. Nice feature indeed.

Once you have loaded the deafult template give it a unique name under the “Template name” input field by adding a prefix of your own but leaving the deafult name as well. Example: ” mysite :: New account “.

That way you can easily spot them in the long list of default and custom emails.

Afterwards you can easily customize the verbiage and styling within the “Template subject” and “Template content”.

The “Template content” is the body of the message that the user will recieve upon transaction so be sure to change the E-mail, name of the company etc. You’ll need to upload the logo of your company in the images folder of the skin you’re using.

Once you are done with editing, save the changes and repeat the process for the rest of the email templates.

2. Assigning the templates to different stores and storeviews

Assigning is the easiest part. Just go to the System > Configuration > Sales > Sales Emails and select the corresponding template minding the configuration scope.

After you’re done with setting your new templates save the configuration by clicking on the “Save config”.

That’s it. Wise thing to do now would be to check how the emails look when received so make a test purchase to verify everything is the way it should be.

By Željko Prša from Inchoo.net

Magento Connect

lydh — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:16:06 +0000

One of the first things that really confused me when i start using Magento is Magento connect. I just started learning things, so i was looking for some plugin examples. I visited Magento connect page with extensions and looked for download button, instead i found “Get extension key” one.

If i recall correctly their What is this? explanation wasn’t the same back then .. or i was just so terrified of Magento at start that i didn’t understand anything at that point I knew i need to paste that key somewhere, in something they called my Magento connect manager or Magento downloader, but i didn’t understand where it is.

1. Magento extensions

Visit Magento connect page. There are really some great extensions there and many of them are free.
Find extension that interest you, click “Get extension key”, agree with license agreement and get key. Pay attention to Stability description field (stable, alpha, beta).

Also read What is this? explanation and follow the instructions. Or just navigate to
http://www.yourmagentoshop.ext/downloader in your favorite browser.

If you click Settings tab of your connect manager you will see “Preferred State” option there. If you’re installing extension with different “stability” or you get something similar to

“Failed to download magento-community/xyz within preferred state “stable”, latest release is version 0.1, stability beta .. ”

you should change this option to appropriate one. You should of course be careful with alphas and betas and know what you’re doing.

If you are developer or just interested, ftp to downloader/pearlib/download after you install extension and you’ll find packed downloaded extensions there.

2. Magento upgrade

You can also automatically upgrade your Magento installation through connect manager with key

magento-core/Mage_All_Latest

Enjoy!

By Ivan Weiler from Inchoo.net

Simple product with custom options in grouped product in Magento

lydh — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:36:58 +0000

Does the title sound complicated? Grouped Products display several products on one page. For example – if you’re selling chef’s knives and you have the same knife in four sizes, you can make a grouped product to display all four sizes. Customers can select the size(s) they want and add to cart from this page. Another example would be a themed bedroom set – you can create a grouped product and sell the sheets, comforter, and pillow cases all from the same page.

Technically, we create a simple products and after that a grouped products. When we edit the grouped product, we will associate simple products to it.It works very fine, but some of you might have issue if a simple product has custom options. If that’s the case, and if costum options are set as required (default way), the simple product will not be associative to the grouped product. Let’s see what needs to be changed in that case.

On Magento site, there is a nice tutorial how to create a grouped product. Please read it first to become familiar with the process. If you don’t have to assign simple products with custom options to a grouped product, that tutorial will be enough.

In case you wish to have simple products with custom options listed, be sure you don’t set any of the custom options to be required.

By Tomislav Bilic from Inchoo.net

Manual creation of Google Sitemap in Magento

lydh — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:15:19 +0000

Most of you probably know this, but let’s define what the sitemaps are. Sitemaps are a simple way for site creators to give search engines the information about pages on their site that are available for public. Basically, those are just 1 or more XML files that lists URLs for a site along with additional meta informatio about each URL (like last update, how often it changes, its importance relevant to other pages). With this in mind, search engines can be more clever while crawling the site. Click here see how sitemap of this site looks like.

You will hear the term Google Sitemap a lot, but XML Schema for the Sitemap protocol is not related only to Google at all. It can be used in many places, but the most important ones are Google Webmaster Tools and Yahoo! Site Explorer.

How do we create Google Sitemap in Magento?

1. Sitemap File Configuration

First we need to create sitemap file in Magento. This is basically pointer to tell Magento where to create sitemap file and how to name it. Log in to Magento Administration and go to:
Catalog -> Google Sitemap

Check to see if the sitemap file is already present. Lets assume we wish to create sitemap in the URL: http://www.yourstore.com/sitemap/sitemap.xml
To do it successfully,

FTP to the server
create sitemap folder
chmod the folder to 777

On some servers, previous steps will not be required, but it is better to create the file first so that Magento can edit it.

Let’s go to Magento administration now and click on “Add Sitemap” button. Just insert the default values.

After this step, we just told Magento where to create sitemap file. It is not yet created.

2. Configure Sitemap

Sitemap can be configured from the interface System -> Configuration -> Catalog->Google Sitemap. If you are not sure what does it all mean, check XML Tag definitions section from “Sitemaps XML format” document.

3. Create Sitemap Manually

Looks like Magento folks were thinking that sitemap should only be created by a cron job. Yes, it can be done that way also. Be sure to read Wiki article How to Set Up a Cron Job to get familiar with it. If you are looking for manual creation, quit your search for “Create Sitemap” button. You will not find it. But there is a workaround. You can enter manual URL to execute sitemap creation:

http://www.yourstore.com/index.php/admin/sitemap/generate/sitemap_id/[ID of Sitemap from step 1]

Of course, replace the content with square brackets with actual Sitemap ID.

By Tomislav Bilic from Inchoo.net

Designer’s Guide to Magento PDF download

lydh — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:36:18 +0000

After many developed CRE Loaded’s online stores and watching Magento development progress for quite some time, I decided it was time to use Magento with my next client. My starting point for development was official Designer’s guide. I’m the type of guy who likes to have documents nice&clean, so I tried to print it but print was a mess. That’s when I decided to create PDF of the official documentation for easy print. This is probably the best starting tutorial for creating a fresh new Magento template.
Download Designer’s Guide to Magento PDF

I plan to write a short related tutorials in the days of 1st Magento development project, so I invite you to subscribe to RSS if you wish to be posted.

By Tomislav Bilic from Inchoo.net

Magento, products on sale

lydh — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:17:07 +0000

Most of you probably know this, but here’s a little code snippet for every Magento beginner that needs page with products on sale listing.
So, easiest way to accomplish that is to follow these steps…

1) Make CMS page called “Products on sale”, or whatever you wanna call it…
2) Put this code:

{{block type="core/template" template="callouts/products_on_sale.phtml"}}

in CMS page you created
3) Make app/design/frontend/default/YOUR_THEME/template/callouts/products_on_sale.phtml
4) Put this code in products_on_sale.phtml

< ?php
$product    = Mage::getModel('catalog/product');
$collection = $product->getCollection();

foreach ($collection as $product)
{
$result[] = $product->getId();
}

$j = 0;
$product_ = array();
foreach ($result as $_product_id)
{
$in_stock = 0;

$_product = new Mage_Catalog_Model_Product();
$_product->load($_product_id);

#var_dump(get_class_methods(get_class($_product)));exit();
$time = time();
if(strtotime($_product->getSpecialFromDate()) < time() &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; strtotime($_product->getSpecialToDate()) > time()) {
$product_[$j]['price'] = $_product->getPrice();
$product_[$j]['special_price'] = $_product->getSpecialPrice();
$product_[$j]['name'] = $_product->getName();
$product_[$j]['image'] = $_product->getSmallImageUrl();
$product_[$j]['url'] = $_product->getProductUrl();

$in_stock = $_product->isInStock();
if($in_stock) {
$in_stock = 'In Stock';
}else {
$in_stock = 'Out of Stock';
}

$product_[$j]['in_stock'] = $in_stock;

$j ++;
}
}

if(empty($product_)) {
echo $this->__('There is no product on sale');
}

foreach($product_ as $item)
{
?>


" alt="< ?php echo $item['name'];?>" />

< ?php echo $item['name'];?>

< ?php echo $item['price'];?>
< ?php echo $item['special_price'];?>
< ?php echo $item['in_stock'];?>


< ?php
}
?>

Style it at will
Enjoy!

P.S. Of course you need to add some products on sale
itemsonsale

By Tomas Novoselic from Inchoo.net

Display Promotion & Random Products in Magento

lydh — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:33:41 +0000

There are two unused product list blocks in Magento which can be very useful if you push a few buttons, edit few layouts ..

1. Promotion
Block located in app\code\core\Mage\Catalog\Block\Product\List\Promotion.php

This is basically built in featured product functionality. It reacts to “promotion” attribute which needs to be created, so let’s click
Catalog->Attributes->Manage Attributes->Create New Attribute

Attribute Code: promotion
Scope: Global
Catalog Input Type for Store Owner: Yes/No

Label: Promotion (second tab)

Other params can be left alone, but it’s up to you of course. I also labeled it Promotion just for this article.

Now we need to add created attribute to attribute set, so navigate to
Catalog->Attributes->Manage Attribute Sets
select attribute set you’re using and drag promotion to General group for example.

Now when you’re editing your products, there is new “Promotion” option under General tab.

Products on which you select Yes will be shown on promotion block which can be displayed through layouts with

or as cms content with

{{block type=’catalog/product_list_promotion’ template=’catalog/product/list.phtml’}}

This attribute should really be included in default attribute set or in Magento sample data.

2. Random
Block located in app\code\core\Mage\Catalog\Block\Product\List\Random.php

This block loads random product collection from current store.

The fastest way to display it would also be something like

since it also extends product_list block, however, since it is random product listing, that toolbar has no purpose here, so create phtml that will suit your shop needs, based on catalog/product/list.phtml. For example, i’m using similar Random block to display random products in sidebar.

So long, take care, i’m off …

By Ivan Weiler from Inchoo.net

NaviGate by MerchantPlus in Magento

lydh — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:25:16 +0000

Some merchants use NaviGate payment gateway from MerchatPlus because of the lesser costs than its big brother Authorize.net. Interesting this about this payment gateway is its compatibility with Authorize.net. So, if you need to enable it in Magento, you will not have to find someone who will have to write the module from scratch. You just need to use standard Authorize.net module, but with some modifications.

So, to use Navigate, you have to enable Authorize.net module. NaviGate is compatible with Authorize.net’s AIM Integration method. This means that any shopping cart or online store software that can connect to Authorize.net via this method can connect to NaviGate by following this steps:

In the Magento Administration panel, go to Configuration> Payment Methods.
Open the Authorize.net module and update the title as you see fit. Enter your NaviGate username and transaction key, which you generate under “Profile & Settings” in the NaviGate interface.
Change the Gateway URL to: https://gateway.merchantplus.com/cgi-bin/PAWebClient.cgi
Enable Credit Card Verification, if you want to use the CVV code.
Then, go to your source code and open the file: /app/code/core/Mage/Paygate/Model and find the string “setCardCodeResponseCode” . Change the line to: ->setCardCodeResponseCode($r[38]);

Save the file and you should be good!

To assist your integration, MerchantPlus created the following developer tools (you will not need them in our case):

For more information on the connection API, see Authorize.net’s AIM documentation.

By Tomislav Bilic from Inchoo.net

Magento custom emails

lydh — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:42:25 +0000

Ever wanted to “just send the email” using the built in email features in Magento? Ever hit the wall trying to do something with Magento? OK, I know the answer to the other one, just had to ask . Anyhow, sending the emails with Magento turned out to be a process of “just” a few hours of tracing Magento code.

I cant wait for smart comments like, “few hours, huh its so easy…”. Yea, thats the beauty of Magento… few hours of bashing your head against the wall while you are sipping the 4th cup of coffee until the solution hits you. Interesting do, just when you get the hang of it, Magento gets you this “have you tried this” attitude .

What am I talking about? Scenario: I want to create email template named activecodeline_custom_email1.html, I want to pass few variables to it during runtime, I want to send emails programmaticaly. I dont want to create 56 lines of xml file just to call one template.

Here is how.


...
/*
* Loads the html file named 'custom_email_template1.html' from
* app/locale/en_US/template/email/activecodeline_custom_email1.html
*/
$emailTemplate  = Mage::getModel('core/email_template')
->loadDefault('custom_email_template1');

//Create an array of variables to assign to template
$emailTemplateVariables = array();
$emailTemplateVariables['myvar1'] = 'Branko';
$emailTemplateVariables['myvar2'] = 'Ajzele';
$emailTemplateVariables['myvar3'] = 'ActiveCodeline';

/**
* The best part inchoo.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)">
* Opens the activecodeline_custom_email1.html, throws in the variable array
* and returns the 'parsed' content that you can use as body of email
*/
$processedTemplate = $emailTemplate->getProcessedTemplate($emailTemplateVariables);

/*
* Or you can send the email directly,
* note getProcessedTemplate is called inside send()
*/
$emailTemplate->send('john@someemail.com','John Doe', $emailTemplateVariables);
...

And here we go again, nothing without xml files -In order for above piece of code to work, you need to add an entry to your config.xml file like shown below.

...



...

And lets not forget the email template itself, app/locale/en_US/template/email/activecodeline_custom_email1.html.




ActiveCodeline custom email example by Branko Ajzele
Hi there {{var myvar1}} {{var myvar2}} from {{var myvar3}}. This is just some example template to test custom email module.

Hope this was helpful. Cheers.

By Branko Ajzele from Inchoo.net