</h1> <article> <h1>bbPress 2.0 (plugin) – Adding User Role to Replies</h1> <p>SEM Truth — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:21:30 +0000</p> <p>In bbPress 2.0, the recent plugin version, that comes packed with the twentyten bbPress theme, I noticed that a role was not being displayed within the topic reply template.</p> <p>I ended up adapting the core design from twentyten to WooThemes Canvas and felt the forum role was an essential aspect that was missing.</p> <p>I came up with a quick solution but perhaps you can contribute a more dynamic solution for removing the bbp_ prefix that is included when simply displaying a bbPress Role.</p> <p><strong>Here is what I came up with:</strong></p> <p><code></p> <div class="bbp-user-role"> <?php //bbp_author_role( bbp_get_reply_id() );</p> <p> $user_id = bbp_get_reply_author_id();</p> <p> $user = new WP_User( $user_id );</p> <p> if ( !empty( $user->roles ) && is_array( $user->roles ) ) {<br /> foreach ( $user->roles as $role )<br /> if ( $role == bbp_moderator ) {<br /> echo 'Moderator';<br /> } elseif ( $role == bbp_participant ) {<br /> echo 'Participant';<br /> } else {<br /> echo $role;<br /> }<br /> }</p> <p> ?> </p></div> <p></code></p> </article> <article> <h1>Importing Images From External URL into Magento</h1> <p>SEM Truth — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:17:41 +0000</p> <p>There are occasions where you might not have access to downloading the images from your current setup into the Magento or it is simply easier to reference the current file path on an external URL. The following snipet will add the ability for you to grab images from an external URL when importing products through a data feed. Rather then setting up the image column within the data feed with /image-name.jpg you can now use the full URL path http://www.domain.com/image-name.jpg as an example.</p> <p>Download the following file – app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Model/Convert/Adapter/Product.php and search for the following section of code:</p> <p>foreach ($imageData as $file => $fields) {<br /> try {<br /> $product->addImageToMediaGallery(Mage::getBaseDir(‘media’) . DS . ‘import’ . $html_filename, $fields);<br /> }<br /> catch (Exception $e) {}<br /> } </p> <p>Comment out the previous section of code or replace tit with the following:</p> <p>foreach ($imageData as $file => $fields) {<br /> $path_parts = pathinfo($file);<br /> $html_filename = DS . $path_parts['basename'];<br /> $fullpath = Mage::getBaseDir(‘media’) . DS . ‘import’ . $html_filename;<br /> try {<br /> $ch = curl_init ($file);<br /> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);<br /> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);<br /> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_BINARYTRANSFER,1);<br /> $rawdata=curl_exec($ch);<br /> curl_close ($ch);<br /> if(file_exists($fullpath)) {<br /> unlink($fullpath);<br /> }<br /> $fp = fopen($fullpath,’x');<br /> fwrite($fp, $rawdata);<br /> fclose($fp);<br /> }<br /> catch (Exception $e) {}<br /> try {<br /> $product->addImageToMediaGallery(Mage::getBaseDir(‘media’) . DS . ‘import’ . $html_filename, $fields);<br /> }<br /> catch (Exception $e) {}<br /> }</p> <p>Upload the updated Product.php file to into your local setup to prevent overwriting during upgrades – app/code/local/Mage/Catalog/Model/Convert/Adapter/Product.php</p> </article> <article> <h1>Selecting Custom Magento Transactional Emails</h1> <p>SEM Truth — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 07:06:36 +0000</p> <p>For reference, these are the places the transactional e-mails can be adjusted:</p> <p><strong>General:</strong><br /> Currency Setup – Scheduled Import Settings<br /> * Contacts – Email Options</p> <p><strong>Catalog:</strong><br /> Catalog – Product Alerts<br /> Google Sitemap – Generation Settings<br /> * Email to a Friend – Email templates</p> <p><strong>Customers:</strong><br /> * Newsletter – Subscription Options<br /> * Customer Configuration – Create New Account Options<br /> * Wishlist – Share options</p> <p><strong>Sales:</strong><br /> * Sales Emails – Order<br /> * Sales Emails – Order Comments<br /> * Sales Emails – Invoice<br /> * Sales Emails – Invoice Comments<br /> * Sales Emails – Shipment<br /> * Sales Emails – Shipment Comments<br /> * Sales Emails – Credit Memo<br /> * Sales Emails – Credit Memo Comments<br /> Checkout – Payment Failed Emails</p> <p><strong>Advanced:</strong><br /> Admin – Admin User Emails<br /> System – Log Cleaning</p> <p><em>(* Per storeview/language) </em></p> </article> <article> <h1>Test Credit Card Numbers</h1> <p>SEM Truth — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 23:53:51 +0000</p> <p>Credit card numbers that can be used to test Magneto’s connection with Authorize.net in test mode.</p> <p><strong>American Express</strong></p> <p><strong>Card Number</strong> 370000000000002<br /> <strong>Expiration</strong> 05/2011<br /> <strong>Vcode</strong> 1111</p> </article> <article> <h1>Useful WordPress Template Updates</h1> <p>SEM Truth — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 01:52:00 +0000</p> <p>A continual collection of WordPress template and code changes that I find useful when designing and developing WordPress blogs.</p> <h3>Body Class Reference</h3> <p>Especially when developing a number of custom elements on specific pages of your site you will want to be able to call that specific page or body class using the following update to the header.php file</p> <p><strong>Replace</strong></p> <blockquote><p><body></p></blockquote> <p><strong>With</strong></p> <blockquote><p><code><body <?php body_class( $class ); ?>><br /> </code></p></blockquote> </article> <article> <h1>Styling Your WordPress Page List</h1> <p>SEM Truth — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:36:57 +0000</p> <p>In customizing WordPress navigation bards I have found it increasingly important to continue to add addition html into such WordPress functions as a simple page list. As as example I sought to add a <span> before and after each link in a standard page list.</p> <p>I have come across two solid solutions. One being a custom page list:</p> <pre><code><ul> <?php $list = wp_list_pages('echo=0&title_li='); $list = str_replace('<a ','<span><a ',$list); $list = str_replace('</a> ','</a></span>',$list); echo $list; ?> </ul></code> However the second solution is a simple update to the wordpress page list that is already commonly used throughout wordpress template files: <code> <ul> <?php wp_list_pages('title_li=&depth=1&link_before=<span>&link_after=</span>'); ?> </ul></code> You may want to also include the additional sort order function when adding the page list to your blog's setup: <code> <ul> <?php wp_list_pages('sort_column=menu_order&title_li=&depth=1&link_before=<span>&link_after=</span>'); ?> </ul></code> </pre> </article> <article> <h1>Why SEO is NOT Important for Blogs</h1> <p>SEM Truth — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 01:01:03 +0000</p> <p>Blogging is about creating a continual steady stream of information and building your blog as a source of information related to your market.</p> <p>Other then the traditional SEO functions such as SEF URLs, post titles, relevant content and auto-populated description tags there is little importance in keyword stuffing meta tags or any other ‘traditional’ technique of optimizing a website. Any blog design should already include a number of the beneficial aspects of SEO including H tags as the basis of your individual post page titles as well as any post information that you include.</p> <p>Because blogs do not primarily focus on building exposure for a single post or page SEO aspects such as keyword density and such simply lose their overall value. If you are creating articles about relevant topics you are most likely naturally including keyword rich content so the focus of your blog becomes more about writing articles on interesting topics and utilizing social media avenues such as social bookmarking sites to increase the exposure of your blog posts and link popularity of your blog on a whole.</p> <p>Technically you could consider optimizing the main category pages of your blog, but again, optimization on a page by page basis is not the focus of the blog itself as streamlining your blogging process is gravely important as you look to post on a daily basis. SEO overall is most beneficial for static informational or product pages on a site where you are looking to increase that specific pages exposure.</p> <p>In blogging and building relevant information pertaining to that page’s focus you will most likely look to expand upon the information you offer pertaining to that page whether it be news, product breakdowns, reviews or any other important topics surrounding your focus.</p> <p>Blog platforms are also a very diverse and powerful platform. WordPress has extensive plugins for everything from creating a review site to building your own social media platform. Especially if you are looking to utilize your blog as a way to build link popularity and increased exposure for your ,posting and social bookmarking become the most streamlined way of accomplishing this. Since link building, in my opinion, is not a traditional aspect of SEO, no single SEO technique outweighs the fundamental reason a blog is created and why any business needs to get involved in social media with their business blog as the hub.</p> <p>Any website on the other hand should have key components in place in order to target visibility in any major search engines. Contradictory to popular belief, more focus should be placed on categorization and the overall setup of your site not keyword stuffing.</p> <p>Only once you have established a solid setup will the true benefits of building link popularity be seen through your website’s natural search engine listings.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Customize the Content Layout on Magento Category Pages</h1> <p>SEM Truth — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:10:58 +0000</p> <p>Add content above and below Magento product listings using the Category Description available in 1.4, then updating where the static block displays on the category page when customizing the Display Settings to include both a static block and products.</p> <p>The main focus of being able to customize the content in Magento category pages was to add the ability for me to be able to have an introductory paragraph of content, but also add additional content after the product listing. Thus I was able to add a foundation of custom content to main category pages without pushing the products further and further down the page.<span id="more-261"></span></p> <p>First you will want to create a static block that will become the footer content for a category. Once created you can then update your category to call this static block. Navigate to the Category you want to include the content below the product listing and update the display settings. Under ‘Display Settings’, select ‘static block and products’ from the Dsiplay Mode dropdown. Then select the name of the static block you created under the CMS Block dropdown.</p> <p>This display the static block as well as the cateogry products on that category page. Currently most templates add the static black to the top of the category, we will update this.</p> <p>While you are editing the category go ahead and add a description under the General Information tab for that category which we will leave as the introductory paragraph for the category.</p> <p>Now we must simply update the layout of the product listing so that the CMS Static Block displays under the category listing.</p> <p>Navigate and edit /public_html/app/design/frontend/blank/<strong>theme_folder</strong>/template/catalog/category/view.phtml</p> <p>Find the line of code that reads:</p> <blockquote><p><?php echo $this->getCmsBlockHtml() ?></p></blockquote> <p>Currently it should be some where above the call to the Product List:</p> <blockquote><p><?php echo $this->getProductListHtml() ?></p></blockquote> <p>Move <?php echo $this->getCmsBlockHtml() ?> below, save, upload and refresh cache if necessary.</p> <p>You should now see the category description above the product listing. Then when you scroll down the update to the category view.phtml file adds the static block content we added under the Display Settings tab.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Add Pagination In Product Listings</h1> <p>SEM Truth — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 02:20:02 +0000</p> <p>I have noticed on a number of Magento websites that I have been designing, don’t include the pagination or pager links within the category listings. To remedy this oversight, simply<strong> </strong>update catalog.xml to include call to pager.phtml file wiht the following code:</p> <blockquote><p><block type=”page/html_pager” name=”product_list_toolbar_pager”/></p></blockquote> <p>You will want to locate the reference to the Product List Toolbar and updated to match the following:</p> <blockquote><p><block type=”catalog/product_list_toolbar” name=”product_list_toolbar” template=”catalog/product/list/toolbar.phtml”><br /> <block type=”page/html_pager” name=”product_list_toolbar_pager”/><br /> </block></p></blockquote> <p>Just place the pager reference inside the Product List Toolbar and you are set. Rememeber to refresh your cache before trying to view the live changes.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Insert a Custom Block into Magento Template File</h1> <p>SEM Truth — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:27:08 +0000</p> <p>As apposed to creating / adding a block to one of your Magento theme files, working directly in one of the template or .phtml files is a better way to call a static block.</p> <p>In continuing to develop and learn Magento I have made a number of discoveries that help clarify how to work within the setup of Magento. In most cases when looking to customize a given page, I was directed to making updates to the Layout .xml files.</p> <p>However if I was looking to simply add a static block to a specific section of a template file, creating a static block to the appropriate .xml file would simply add the static block above or below a given area.</p> <p>The following code for example, would add the contact_intro above my contact form, but in the setup of that page, I wanted the contact_intro to integrate into a specific section of the fonrm.phtml template. This was not possible by updating the contacts.xml file as follows:</p> <blockquote><p><reference name=”content”><br /> <block type=”cms/block” name=”contact_intro”><br /> <action method=”setBlockId”><block_id>contact_intro</block_id></action><br /> </block><br /> <block type=”core/template” name=”contactForm” template=”contacts/form.phtml”/><br /> </reference></p></blockquote> <p>Instead I needed to update the form.phtml file directly. Where I could place the contact_intro directly into the setup of the contacts page html:</p> <blockquote><p><?php echo $this->getLayout()->createBlock(‘cms/block’)->setBlockId(‘contact_intro’)->toHtml() ?></p></blockquote> <p>Now I do not have two seperate blocks, when trying to add a block to the layout file. I have placed the static block exactly where I want it to be called within the contacts page.</p> <p>I hope this helps clear things up as it has for me when trying to accomplish certain <a title="Magento layout updates" href="http://www.semtruth.com/category/website-design/magento-tutorials/magento-layout-updates/">Magento layout updates</a>.</p> </article> </main></body></html>