The first is quick and easy to drop into a Magento theme, but only gets the static block content:

<?php echo $this->getLayout()->createBlock('cms/block')->setBlockId('indentifer')->toHtml() ?>

Where, by calling the static block model, you can then get all fields associated with that block such as the static block title

<?php
$block = Mage::getModel('cms/block')->load('identifier');
echo $block->getTitle();
echo $block->getContent();
?>

Hope this helps you with static blocks in your custom magento theme. Happy coding!

Developer Extensions

Developer toolbar:

http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/2271/developer-toolbar

Blueprint Theme:

http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/2245

Free Magento Extensions

Product Image lightbox:

http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/1487/magento-easy-lightbox

Product Detail tabbing:

http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/1725/magento-easytabs

Teaser Box:

http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/1778/teaserbox

Free Magento Themes

Absolute Magento Theme

http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/2031/magento-absolute-theme

Paid Magento Extensions

Abandoned Cart Alerts

http://adjustware.com/shop/magentomods_abandoned_carts_alerts.html

Quickview

http://www.magentocommerce.com/extension/574/quickview-1.1

First we have to create a module. Create file: app/etc/modules/Mage_Page.xml

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

Then copy this whole folder: app/code/core/Mage/Page to app/code/local/Mage

What we’ve done is taken a core module and copied it into our local module. This lets us override any core functionality without have to worry about it breaking in future update (or undoing if you mess up).

Now we need to edit: app/code/core/Mage/Page/etc/config.xml and look around line 46 and you can define your own layout, I’m going to call mine “home”

<layouts>
	<home module="page" translate="label">
        <label>Home</label>
        <template>page/home.phtml</template>
        <layout_handle>page_home</layout_handle>
    </home>
    <empty module="page" translate="label">
        <label>Empty</label>
        <template>page/one-column.phtml</template>
        <layout_handle>page_empty</layout_handle>
    </empty>
    <one_column module="page" translate="label">
        <label>1 column</label>
        <template>page/1column.phtml</template>
        <layout_handle>page_one_column</layout_handle>
    </one_column>
    <two_columns_left module="page" translate="label">
        <label>2 columns with left bar</label>
        <template>page/2columns-left.phtml</template>
        <layout_handle>page_two_columns_left</layout_handle>
    </two_columns_left>
    <two_columns_right module="page" translate="label">
        <label>2 columns with right bar</label>
        <template>page/2columns-right.phtml</template>
        <layout_handle>page_two_columns_right</layout_handle>
    </two_columns_right>
    <three_columns module="page" translate="label">
        <label>3 columns</label>
        <template>page/3columns.phtml</template>
        <layout_handle>page_three_columns</layout_handle>
    </three_columns>
</layouts>

Now all you have to do is make a template for this page. Navigate to your theme directory: app/design/frontend/YOUR_THEME/YOUR_THEME/template/page/ and create a new template called home.phtml. I suggest using another existing template as a starting point, such as 3columns.phtml so that you know what variables to work around. This will enable a custom layout option for CMS pages once you’re finished. I’ve tested this with 1.3 series but nothing previous or after that. If you have any comments or questions feel free to post them here or read the forum on Magento’s site for more details.

First we have to create a module: app/etc/modules/Mage_Sales.xml
Then copy this whole folder: app/code/core/Mage/Sales to app/code/local/Mage

What we’ve done is taken a core module and copied it into our local module. This lets us override any core functionality without have to worry about it breaking in future update (or undoing if you mess up).

Now we need to edit: app/code/core/Mage/Sales/etc/config.xml and look around line 544 and you’ll want to replace tags with:

<label>Pending</label>
<label>Pending PayPal</label>
<label>Processing</label>
        <label>On Hold</label>
        <label>Complete</label>
        <label>Closed</label>
        <label>Canceled</label>
 
	    <label>New</label>
 
	    <label>Pending</label>
 
	    <label>Processing</label>
 
	    <label>Complete</label>
 
	    <label>Closed</label>
 
	    <label>Canceled</label>
 
	    <label>On Hold</label>

This will enable all default magento statuses on the order page. In edition to enabling statuses you can also create your own custom order status here as well. As far as I know this solution works on Magento 1.1 up to 1.3 but if you have any comments or questions feel free to post them here or read the forum on Magento’s site for more details.

Creating the Block

The first thing you need to do is create a block in your layout. Navigate to /app/design/frontend/default/default/layout/catalog.xml

The first thing in your layout is a definition of the default layout noted by the comment “Default layout, loads most of the pages” depending on where you want to put your category nav (right sidebar, left sidebar, footer, etc) you’ll need to define the block a little differently. I’m going to do it with the left sidebar so you see what’s going on.

<reference name="left">
            <block type="catalog/navigation" name="catalog.leftnav" template="catalog/navigation/left_nav.phtml" />
</reference>

Okay, so what i did was locate the left sidebar which is referenced simply as “left” inside those tags i define my block type and template. The next thing you’ll want to do is create that template file, note that i defined it within /app/design/frontend/default/default/template/catalog/navigation/left_nav.phtml so i will need to create that file.

Creating the Template

Once I’ve created the file, it’s time to put in my code to populate my links automatically of all my categories:

<h2>Browse</h2>
<div class="block">
<ul id="nav_category" class="nav_category">
	<?php foreach ($this->getStoreCategories() as $_category): ?>
		<?php echo $this->drawItem($_category) ?>
	<?php endforeach ?>
</ul>
</div>
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('topLeftLinks') ?>

If you want to take this a step further, you can target subcategories based on current page with this little script (via Pratthost

<?php
$obj = new Mage_Catalog_Block_Navigation();
$store_cats	= $obj->getStoreCategories();
$current_cat 	= $obj->getCurrentCategory();
$current_cat	= (is_object($current_cat) ? $current_cat->getName() : '');
 
foreach ($store_cats as $cat) {
	if ($cat->getName() == $current_cat) {
		echo '<li class="current"><a href="'.$this->getCategoryUrl($cat).'">'.$cat->getName()."</a>\n<ul>\n";
		foreach ($obj->getCurrentChildCategories() as $subcat) {
			echo '<li><a href="'.$this->getCategoryUrl($subcat).'">'.$subcat->getName()."</a></li>\n";
		}
		echo "</ul>\n</li>\n";
	} else {
		echo '<li><a href="'.$this->getCategoryUrl($cat).'">'.$cat->getName()."</a></li>\n";
	}
}
?>

Now refresh the cache and you should be set!

The Good

All around, Magento beats the competition. Here are just a few highlights if you’re not familiar with Magento:

• Magento is Object Oriented
• Magento is secure and scalable
• Magento has a large community that is rapidly growing
• Magento can be extended very easily
• Magento allows for multiple stores and store fronts

The Bad

Magento has a few things that I’m not too excited about:

• Magento is HUGE and bulky
• Magento lacks a WYSIWIG and CMS
• Magento uses a lot of JavaScript in a bad way

Some Useful Code

I’ll feed you baby birds..

Add a CMS Static Block to a page:
Within Magento:

{{block type="cms/block" block_id="identifier"}}

With PHP:

<?php echo $this->getLayout()->createBlock('cms/block')->setBlockId('identifier')->toHtml() ?>

Display products from a specific category on the page:
Many people ask how to display products on the home page.. this is the easiest and most universal solution. Replace category ID with whatever category you want to display

{{block type="catalog/product_list" template="catalog/product/list.phtml" catagory_id="0"}}

Shortcuts:
Store URL within Magento:

{{store url=""}}

Define a new CMS Page Layout

Depending on what version of Magento you’re running, this may be different, but in the 1.3x series, this is how you’d define a new page layout. We’ll define a layout called home for this example:

/app/code/core/Mage/Page/etc/config.xml

        <page>
            <layouts>
                <empty module="page" translate="label">
                    <label>Empty</label>
                    <template>page/one-column.phtml</template>
                    <layout_handle>page_empty</layout_handle>
                </empty>
                <one_column module="page" translate="label">
                    <label>1 column</label>
                    <template>page/1column.phtml</template>
                    <layout_handle>page_one_column</layout_handle>
                </one_column>
                <two_columns_left module="page" translate="label">
                    <label>2 columns with left bar</label>
                    <template>page/2columns-left.phtml</template>
                    <layout_handle>page_two_columns_left</layout_handle>
                </two_columns_left>
                <two_columns_right module="page" translate="label">
                    <label>2 columns with right bar</label>
                    <template>page/2columns-right.phtml</template>
                    <layout_handle>page_two_columns_right</layout_handle>
                </two_columns_right>
                <three_columns module="page" translate="label">
                    <label>3 columns</label>
                    <template>page/3columns.phtml</template>
                    <layout_handle>page_three_columns</layout_handle>
                </three_columns>
                <home>
                	<label>Home</label>
                	<template>page/home.phtml</template>
                	<layout_handle>page_home</layout_handle>
                </home>
            </layouts>
        </page>

Please understand that this is editing the core and will not be protected in an upgrade/update. To properly define this to be compatible with future upgrades, you’ll need to define a simple module to override the core with a local file.