Magento Custom Module - Use PHP code in CMS page - Magento design and development

Using PHP code on a CMS page (custom Block/module)

Posted on 02. Sep, 2008 by Fido in CMS, Magento, Module

If you have ever wanted to do some sort of PHP processing within a CMS page that you created, here is how you do it.
A limitation of this tutorials is form processing. That involves creating and/or extending and/or overriding a controller class (which I’ll save for another day).
This code will allow your code to accept arguments, making it handy for some sort of dynamic use!
These are the basic instructions to create any custom module as well!
Off we go:

1) 1. declare your module: app/etc/modules/MyCompany_All.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
<modules>
<MyCompany_Custom>
<active>true</active>
<codePool>local</codePool>
</MyCompany_Custom>
</modules>
</config>

2. create module config: app/code/local/MyCompany/Custom/etc/config.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
<global>
<blocks>
<mycompany_custom>
<class>MyCompany_Custom_Block</class>
</mycompany_custom>
</blocks>
</global>
</config>

3. Create your custom PHP code: app/code/local/MyCompany/Custom/Block/Test.php

<?php

class MyCompany_Custom_Block_Test extends Mage_Core_Block_Abstract
{
protected function _toHtml()
{
// put here your custom PHP code with output in $html;
// use arguments like $this->getMyParam1() , $this->getAnotherParam()

return $html;
}
}

4. Use your custom PHP logic in CMS page/block:

{{block type="mycompany_custom/test" my_param1="value 1" another_param="value 2"}}

Some notes on use:

Anything returned in the _toHtml() method will be outputted to the browser (no need to use any $this->getChildHtml() or anything).
Also, there’s no template (.phtml file) associated with this method, although you can certainly use one! (And create your own methods to use within that template).

Additionally, I found that if you override the __construct() method, you cannot retrieve your custom parameters from within it (presumable because the __construct method is always the first run and the class has yet to retrieve the parameters passed).

Tags: block, CMS, custom module, magento customization, php

18 Comments

Johannes

28. Oct, 2008

There’s an error in the config.xml

line 6. mycompany_Custom_Block

The classname is key sensitive.

i changed it to

MyCompany_Custom_Blocklike the classname in Test.php

-> class MyCompany_Custom_Block…

then it works for me

wilson

25. Nov, 2008

Hi thanks for posting this, just waht we needed. How would we do 2 or more on one cms page?

Thanks.

Fido

25. Nov, 2008

Johannes – Thanks for catching that! I believe I copied and pasted from a working module, but I can’t say at the moment

Wilson – You can keep creating modules all day long and add them all in a CMS page via snippets such as this:
{{block type=”mycompany_custom/test” my_param1=”value 1″ another_param=”value 2″}}

(Just keep using those within on CMS page).

You can also gain a little more control using the Layout Update XML within the CMS page.

macfred

26. Nov, 2008

Hey,

Nice piece of code. I have trouble to have the customer name, how can i do it without using $this or toString()? Here is my code :

getCustomer()->toString(’{{firstname}} {{lastname}}{{email}}’);
return $html;
}
}
?>

macfred

26. Nov, 2008

ok, I figured it out Thanks for that module!

Stephan

11. Feb, 2009

first thanks for this, great work!

But if I use this one in the layout configuration it doesn’t work!

i tried this in the layout area

instead of this in the html-area

{{block type=”company_example/view” message=”hello” template=”example/view.phtml”}}

both show up, but at the first call the message parameter is empty!

Whats the Problem?

Sailcomp

20. May, 2009

How can I use Sessions or Cookies?

22. May, 2009

Хм… Как раз на эту тему думал, а тут такой пост шикарный, спасибо!

mike.bowen

25. Jun, 2009

Fido…

You going to extend this to form processing etc. anytime in the near future?

I’d love to hear about this.

David

17. Jul, 2009

Hello.
I have a small PHP and JS code that checks and sets some coockies as soon as a new visitor comes to our website. These coockies determine which website to direct the visitor to
http://www.domain.com
or
http://www.domain.com/international
and than it will remember to always direct him to the same ‘domain’

So based on this tutorial I thought I need to do this as a module and place the block code on the app/design/………/layout/page.xml

but, ofcourse since I’m not sure of what I’m doing I get the following error:
Fatal error: Call to a member function toHtml() on a non-object in C:\AppServ\www\app\code\core\Mage\Core\Block\Abstract.php on line 503

Got ideas?
Here is the code: http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewreply/155785/

Tom

10. Aug, 2009

If you don’t want to create a module, the most simplest way is create an phtml file, and in your CMS page, call block {{block type=”core/template” param1=”value1″ param2=”value2″ template=”your_folder/your_file.phtml”}}
In your_file.phtml, you can do whatever you want

Ahsan

04. Sep, 2009

nice article!
@Tom Wao! will b great if it works …
trying to implement Tom’s way …

rizwan

11. Sep, 2009

thanks but there is another problem that how can i show my products images in a customize way in category page ……

Kyle

24. Nov, 2009

Tom,

Thank you. Thank you Thank you. I love the simple solutions. Worked perfectly. Been beating my head on this for a couple of hours now.

Oleksii

11. Dec, 2009

{{block type=”mycompany_custom/test” …}} my_param1=”value 1″ another_param=”value 2″}}
How i understand, type=”mycompany_custom/test” initiate call to class MyCompany_Custom_Block_Test, but i don’t understand HOW called exactly _toHtml() function??

Oleksii

11. Dec, 2009