Schogini

You see an XML error either on your screen or in your system.log but, you do not know which XML file has caused it? These tips should help you get started:

• Edit this file on line 432
  [magento root]/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Layout/Update.php
  add this code:

  if (!$fileXml instanceof SimpleXMLElement) {
      // add this log statement - ensure to enable error logging on your shop Mage::log(print_r($filename, true));
      continue;
  }

• Edit this file on line 515
  [magento root]/lib/Varien/Simplexml/Config.php

  if ($xml instanceof Varien_Simplexml_Element) {
      $this->_xml = $xml;
      return true;
  } else { // add this else statement to the if - ensure to enable error logging on your shop Mage::log(print_r($string, true)); }

• Clear the Magento cache and reload the page you are working on
• Now check your /var/lib/system.log file – you should see the XML filename or the XML string that is causing the error.

Additional Help:
As you must have guessed from the file names of the above files:

• If the error is from this file:
  [magento root]/lib/Varien/Simplexml/Config.php on line 510
  then it, means there is an error in one of your module config files. Check one of these config.xml files:
  • [magento root]/app/etc/modules/config.xml
  • [module path]/etc/config.xml
• If the error is from this file:
  [magento root]/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Layout/Update.php on line 431
  then, there is an error in your theme layout XML file.

Hope, this helps you debug faster.

As of 1.4.2 it is deprecated to define order statues and states via config.xml. Then, how will you get more order statuses in the admin order details page?

Consider for example you have an order in ‘Pending Payment’ state and you want to change it to ‘Processing’. If, you go to the order details page in the admin you will find only one option in the order status drop down (which is ‘Pending Payment’ itself!)
What if you want to show ‘Processing’ too in the drop down?
You will need to make changes in the Magento sales_order_status_state table like this:

INSERT INTO `sales_order_status_state` (`status`, `state`, `is_default`) VALUES ('processing', 'pending_payment', '0');

[EDIT] Just for your info:
Before 1.4.2 you would need to override the Mage/Sales/etc/config.xml file and modify the <global><sales><order><states> section to look like this:

<global>
.....
.....
	<sales>
.....
.....
		<order>
.....
.....
			<states>
.....
.....
				<pending_payment translate="label">
					<label>Pending Payment</label>
					<statuses>
						<pending_payment default="1"/>
						<processing default="0"/>
					</statuses>
				</pending_payment>
.....
.....
			</states>
.....
.....
		</order>
.....
.....
	</sales>
.....
.....
</global>

You have created a static block and now you want to add it to your CMS page.
You can do it in 2 ways. Assume you have created a block called sch_myblock:

1. CMS Page “Content” tab:
// In the CMS page “content” you can include a custom static block like this

{{block type="cms/block" block_id="sch_myblock" template="cms/content.phtml"}}

2. CMS Page “Design” tab:
// In the “Page layout” section you can add a custom block like this

// In the "Page layout" section you can add a custom block like this
<reference name="left">
	<block type="cms/block" name="sch_myblock" before="-">
		<action method="setBlockId"><block_id>sch_myblock</block_id></action>
	</block>
</reference>

By default Magento Admin Url is:
http://[your magento shop]/admin

But, what if you do not want to use admin in the URL? For example, you want your admin URL to look like this:
http://[your magento shop]/shopadmin

If, you check your files via FTP you will not see a folder called admin. So, how do you do it?
Open app/etc/local.xml – you will find a section like this:

    <admin>
        <routers>
            <adminhtml>
                <args>
                    <frontName><![CDATA[mybiz]]></frontName>
                </args>
            </adminhtml>
        </routers>
    </admin>

The name that you enter in the “frontend” tag is the name that will be used to view the admin.
In this example, the Magento admin URL will be
http://[the magento shop]/mybiz

If you need to change the Magento {{base_url}} manually (hopefully, you have a very good reason to do this) – all you need to do is edit 2 rows in the core_config_data table:

#1 path: web/unsecure/base_url and
#2 path: web/secure/base_url

That’s it! Don’t forget to clear the cache (deleting var/cache should help)

Assuming you know how to create a custom module, consider a case where you need to create a URL for your module. Follow these steps:

In your module’s config.xml file:

<modules>
.....
</modules>
<global>
....
</global>
<frontend>
	<routers>
		<schurl> --> name that will used in the URL
			<use>standard</use>  ---> standard means its a frontend url; admin will mean it is a backend url
			<args>
				<module>Mage_Schogini</module>  ---> which is the module to be used
				<frontName>schurl</frontName>   ---> name that will used in the URL
			</args>
		</schurl>
	</routers>
</frontend>
<default>
.....
</default>

Create a controller file TestController.php in your module’s controller folder like this (as you may have guessed, my modules name is Schogini):

class Mage_Schogini_TestController extends Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action
{
	public function showmsgAction()
	{
		echo 'Here';
	}
}

This is what happens when you browse this URL
http://mymagentostore.com/schurl/test/showmsg/

• schurl tells that the controller to check is Mage_Schogini (the name that is specified in the config file in the section: args > module)
• test tells that controllers/TestController.php file must be checked
• showmsg tells that showmsgAction() method must be called.

Hence, it will look for the method showmsg() inside the Mage_Schogini_TestController class

If, you get a message like this:  “Please enter a valid credit card verification number.” every time you enable “CVV check” in your payment gateway, and you are sure that your payment module settings are correct and your card details are valid then, its most likely that the message is not coming from your payment module.

Instead it could be that the control is not reaching the payment module at all and the message is coming from this Magento file:
app/code/core/Mage/Payment/Model/Method/Cc.php line #150, validate credit card verification number section.

Why is this happening? Does this error occur for ‘Saved CC’ payment method too (it is the default card payment method got with Magento)?

Well, one reason that I found is – custom checkout module. Are you using any custom checkout module? If yes, then disable it and try the normal Magento one page checkout. The chances are all will work fine. I have noticed that some custom checkout modules fail to send the CVV number back to the code – hence, Magento will catch it and throw back the error – the payment module is nowhere in the picture yet.

So, before you panic that your card details are invalid or your Payment Gateway or payment module is not working, confirm that it is not your custom checkout module that is the culprit.

Try the following steps,1. Try accessing your admin using your ip (if it is localhost, try 127.0.0.1). 2. If you cant get around with the above step then as a last step try the following steps,                            Navigate within your Magento database to the MySQL table core_config_data and look for a row with the field path set to the valueweb/cookie/cookie_domain. There might be multiple entries, but the one with the scope_id set to 0 should be matching the domainname you’re using to access Magento.3. Another problem could be that the so-called Secure URLs and/or Unsecure URLs do not match the current hostname.                             In the same MySQL table core_config_data you might find various entries with path starting withweb/secure/base or web/unsecure/base. These also need to point to the right hostname. Note that the number of occurances could range from 0 (nothing configured) to 10 (everything configured).

EDIT: This article is applicable for Magento versions 1.5.0.1 too

The latest 1.4.x series of Magento has some small changes/enhancements which are not exactly backward compatible. This is especially true with themes.

As payment module developers, we get a lot of people coming back saying that after upgrade or fresh installation of the latest version, the payment step on the one page checkout doesn’t work.

If, you have a custom theme installed and, after upgrade, you find that your checkout is not working – that is after entering your credit card information and click ‘Next’ nothing happens – follow these steps: More »