$value = Mage::app()->loadCache(‘my_cache_key’);

If the key isn’t found, $value will be null.

To store a value in the cache is almost as easy:

Mage::app()->saveCache($data_to_store, ‘my_cache_key’, array(), $duration_in_seconds);

(The empty array in the call above is standing in for a parameter called “tags” which, to my knowledge, is not used. Someone please correct me on that if I’ve got it wrong.)

echo Mage::app()->getLayout()->getNode()->asNiceXml('', 0);

The layout is just a Varien_Simplexml_Config.  getNode buys you access to the private $_xml variable that holds the root node of the xml document.  Then asNiceXml formats it nicely for the screen.  If you’d rather output to a file (they can be large chunks of xml) supply a file name for the first parameter of asNiceXml and the xml will be written there, too.

Now back to why my block isn’t loading…

In the past I’ve used the general log in mysql.  That can be a great source of information, but, depending on the version of mysql, it can be a pain to set up.  Other times I’ve inserted logging code into various db classes in order to print out queries that are being run, but I always have to find the right place again.  But today I stumbled on this blog entry - http://blog.nexcess.net/2011/04/15/logging-database-queries-in-magento/ that spells out exactly how you can turn on some (as far as I know) undocumented logging functionality that is built right in to the Magento data access layer.  Kudos to the author and thanks for sharing!

We were recognized as one of the 20 Fabulous New Websites For Your Inspiration.

We’re very excited to share this news with you all!

I have received dozens of e-mails from many of the stores and brands I like to shop at, and many of them offer either an amazing coupon, or a free gift for my birthday.

Examples:

Sephora: I am a member of their Beauty Rewards program, and you get a full sized free birthday presents. You don’t even need to buy anything (but I did anyway) and you can either shop online or go in the store.

Starbucks: I have a registered gift card, and was sent an e-mail saying they were mailing me a coupon for a free drink of my choice.

Hallmark: I’m a Platinum Level Crown Rewards member (thank-you-very-much) and I have gotten so many coupons and offers. I got a birthday card from my local Hallmark store, a coupon for 20% off, and an e-mail for $5 off a $20 purchase.

Ruby Tuesday: I signed up for their mailing list, and got a coupon for a free birthday burger. They cleverly called it, “We Wrapped Your Birthday Present in a Bun.”

Red Lobster: Yes, my guiltiest pleasure in the whole wide world is Red Lobster. I also signed up for their Club Rewards, and received a coupon for $5 off my bill when two adult entries are ordered.

Banana Republic: I have a Banana Republic store charge card, and they mailed me a coupon for $15 off my purchase, with no minimum purchase required.

1-800 Flowers: When I created an account, they ask for important occasions and birthday dates. They sent me an e-mail reminding me my birthday was coming up, and a promo code to save on a purchase.

And the crazy thing is, it is not even my birthday yet, and I have all these coupons and offers. I am excited to see what finds its way to my inbox on my actual birthday!

So, you may be asking yourself, “Why is she ranting on about her birthday coupons?”

The answer is simple: They are getting me to spend more money on their products, by making me feel special and feel like I am a valued customer. For Sephora, I didn’t need to buy anything to get my free gift, but because I was on their website, I decided to order my mascara for $25.00. For the restaurant coupons, they offer me some great deals, but I am not going to dine out by myself, so they know they will have at least two entries on the bill where I use my coupon. Banana Republic’s coupon states I need to use my credit card, so that total purchase will be added to my monthly bill.

It is easy to cash in on people’s birthdays with your own website. When customers need to create an account, be sure to also capture their birthday (or even just their birthday month) so you can send out newsletters with special promo-codes for their use. I’ve noticed that it is common for my coupons to expire at the end of the month, or only be valid for a specific month (ie: September). If you are able to, perhaps you can include a small free gift with any purchase made during the customer’s birthday month. You could even go as far to set a minimum purchase value, before the shopper is eligible for the free birthday gift.

Setting up all these features and promo codes are a snap when you have Magento as your e-Commerce platform. The logic and settings are easy to set in the admin area, and you can be as broad or as specific as you want.

Have questions? Contact us and we’ll be more than happy to help.

]]> http://blogs.ifuelinteractive.com/2011/09/06/profit-on-birthdays/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ifuelinteractive.com/2011/02/11/reindexing-magento-data-via-a-cron-job/ http://blogs.ifuelinteractive.com/2011/02/11/reindexing-magento-data-via-a-cron-job/#comments Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:09:45 +0000 Andy http://blogs.ifuelinteractive.com/?p=292 I like to have all Magento data re-indexed every night via a cron job. That way I KNOW the indexes are up to date.

To create the cron job, add the following to your cron file to reindex every day at 4am

0 4 * * * php -f /shell/indexer.php reindexall

Note: If you get an error telling you you’re out of memory similar to:

PHP Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 262144 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 7680 bytes) in …/app/code/core/Mage/Index/Model/Indexer.php on line 163

Try commenting out php_value memory_limit and php_value max_execution_time in your .htaccess file.

<?php
define('CRLF', '\r\n');

require_once("<path to your app folder>Mage.php");

Mage::app();

$email = "joe@blow.com";

// THE "EASY" WAY (but sends a confirmation email to the customer
$subscriber = Mage::getModel('newsletter/subscriber')->subscribe($email);

// THE "HARD" WAY (Doesn't send confirmation email to customer)
// load up the customer we want to subscribe
$customer = Mage::getModel('customer/customer')
	->setWebsiteId(1)
	->loadByEmail($email);

// if we found the customer
if ($customer->getId()){
	// load up the subscriber if possible
	$subscriber = Mage::getModel('newsletter/subscriber')->loadByEmail($email);

    if (!$subscriber->getId()
		|| $subscriber->getStatus() == Mage_Newsletter_Model_Subscriber::STATUS_UNSUBSCRIBED
        || $subscriber->getStatus() == Mage_Newsletter_Model_Subscriber::STATUS_NOT_ACTIVE) {

       	$subscriber->setStatus(Mage_Newsletter_Model_Subscriber::STATUS_SUBSCRIBED);
           $subscriber->setSubscriberEmail($email);
       	$subscriber->setSubscriberConfirmCode($subscriber->RandomSequence());
    }

    $subscriber->setStoreId(Mage::app()->getStore()->getId());
    $subscriber->setCustomerId($customer->getId());

    try {
        $subscriber->save();
    }
    catch (Exception $e) {
        throw new Exception($e->getMessage());
    }
}

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.

—————————————————————-

Now being more experienced with Magento we definitely feel the need to share our findings with the masses. We only wish we knew these things prior to trying to the hack the crap out of magento to make it do what we want.

Turning on Template Path Hints
If you’re new to Magento you will realize that it is quite a hassle to understand the logic behind the file structure and block structure of a magento layout when trying to customize your storefront. There is a very under-publicized built-in magento feature that we’d like to share with you that should help you on your journey. Magento actually has the ability to display hints showing where the different files of your layout is contained so that you can edit it.

To achieve this, Follow these simple steps…

• Log in to your administration panel. Go to Sytem > Configuration.
• From the left navigation column on top there will be “Current Configuration Scope”. In the drop down menu select “Main Website”
• Then navigate to Developer > Advance, also in the left navigation column.
• Under “Debug” you’ll see Template Path Hints. Select Yes and click the Save Config button.

Now when you navigate to your storefront you’ll see a bunch of red boxes displaying the underlying structure of the pages regarding templates and blocks.

Note: This should only be used in a development environment, considering this will make your storefront look hideous with big red blocks everywhere.

—————————————————————-

Never edit core files
Problem: When developing with Magento you will find it necesary to edit core files to achieve certain functionality. However, By editting a core file you are basically blocking yourself into a corner. DON’T DO IT! If you ever wish to upgrade at any point in the future you will not be able to because any changes that you have made in the core files will be overwritten. Never fear, there is a way around this.

Solution: The “local” folder (\app\code\local\) is your saviour. Say you need to edit the “Shipping.php” file located at “\app\code\core\Mage\Shipping\Model\Shipping.php” you can create the same basic directory structure in the local folder and copy and paste the Shipping.php file into the new directory. So, your new “local” Shipping.php file will be located at \app\code\local\Mage\Shipping\Model\Shipping.php. You will be able to safely edit anything and everything within that local file and never have to worry about it being overwritten during an upgrade. This trick works because Magento will look for files in a local directory before looking for a file in the core directory.

Note: The above solution will only overpower files that exist within the \app\code\core\ or \app\code\community\ directories. Also note that any files within your magento theme (\app\design\frontend\default\YOURTHEME\) or (\skin\frontend\default\YOURTHEME\) are not considered core files and you are free to edit them as you please.

These are just to name a few… Follow our blog to read more!

Some things you must know:

• This will only work on an Apache server
• You must have mod_rewrite installed under Apache

First, Create an .htaccess file if you don’t already have one. Then enter one of the following solutions based on your needs.

Force appending www. to only http secure (https://) requests

# Redirect non-www to www

	Options +FollowSymLinks
	# turn mod_rewrite on
	RewriteEngine On

	# If https send to https://www.
	RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^YOURDOMAIN.COM$ [NC]
	RewriteCond %{HTTPS} on
	RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.YOURDOMAIN.COM/$1 [R=301,L]

Force appending www. to both http (http://) and http secure (https://) requests

# Redirect non-www to www

	Options +FollowSymLinks
	# turn mod_rewrite on
	RewriteEngine On

	# If https send to https://www.
	RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^YOURDOMAIN.COM$ [NC]
	RewriteCond %{HTTPS} on
	RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.YOURDOMAIN.COM/$1 [R=301,L]

	# If http send to http://www.
	RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^YOURDOMAIN.COM$ [NC]
	RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
	RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.YOURDOMAIN.COM/$1 [R=301,L]

With these examples it is necesary for you to make sure that you replace “YOURDOMAIN.COM” to reflect the actual domain name of the website you will be using this on. Once you have done this, save your .htaccess file and upload it to the base directory of your website.

Believe it or not a few search engines distinguish your website as two different websites http://www.yourdomain.com and http://yourdomain.com. It is often considered good practice to add this htaccess rewrite to any website you create so that you can rest assured that your website is not being indexed as two different websites.