Latching onto magento events is very simple – however, after a lot of searching I couldn’t find a lot of resources documenting how to do it.

I’ll more than likely research magento events a bit more in a later post, but for reference here is a cheatsheet of dispatched magento events Credit: Branko Ajzele of Active Codeline. (a little outdated – from version 1.3)

Let’s keep it simple…
The namespace for my module will be “Ifuel”
The name of my module will be “Aftercheckout”

I will want to latch onto one of the many dispatched events during the checkout process (to name a few: checkout_controller_onepage_save_shipping_method, sales_order_place_after, checkout_type_onepage_save_order_after, checkout_onepage_controller_success_action). For reference about checkout events, check out Yireo’s Events with Magento Checkout. For this module, I want to execute my class after the order has been completely checked out – so I will latch onto the “checkout_onepage_controller_success_action” event.

Here is the bare bones of my config.xml file located at /app/code/local/Ifuel/Aftercheckout/etc/config.xml. Make sure to read the comments in the code, they’re helpful. P.s. don’t forget to declare your module in /app/etc/modules/

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <Ifuel_Aftercheckout>
            <version>0.1.0</version>
        </Ifuel_Aftercheckout>
    </modules>
    <frontend>
        <routers>
            <aftercheckout>
                <use>standard</use>
                <args>
                    <module>Ifuel_Aftercheckout</module>
                    <frontName>aftercheckout</frontName>
                </args>
            </aftercheckout>
        </routers>
    </frontend>
    <global>
        <events>
            <checkout_onepage_controller_success_action>
			<!-- The name of the event you're latching
			onto, all lowercase -->
                <observers>
                    <sendaftercheckout>
					<!-- Some description for your event
					listener, doesn't matter what it is
					as long as there are no spaces and
					it's all lowercase -->
                        <type>singleton</type>
                        <class>aftercheckout/doaftercheckout</class>
						<!-- the <frontName> of your module
						(aftercheckout) slash the name of your Event
						Listener (doaftercheckout), case sensitive.
						In this case it will be located at
						/app/code/local/Ifuel/Aftercheckout/Model
						/Doaftercheckout.php -->
                        <method>sendSomethingAfterCheckout</method>
						<!-- the public function name within your
						class that will listen for this event,
						case sensitive -->
                    </sendaftercheckout>
                </observers>
            </checkout_onepage_controller_success_action>
        </events>
    </global>
</config>

Now you’ll want to create your Listener. In my case it will be located at /app/code/local/Ifuel/Aftercheckout/Model/Doaftercheckout.php. Make sure to create a public function within your new class that you’ve defined in the <method> node of your config.xml file. The contents of my listener will look something like:

<?php
class Ifuel_Aftercheckout_Model_Doaftercheckout {
	public function sendSomethingAfterCheckout() {
		Mage::log("I am now able to execute something after checkout");
	}
}

And that’s it. That’s the bare bones of latching onto a magento event. It’s that simple. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in a comment.