Question

A cart dropdown plug-in I’m using has the following XML and I’m having trouble moving it to top links.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout version="0.1.0">
    <default>
        <reference name="head">
            <action method="addCss"  ifconfig="cartdrop/general/enabled"><stylesheet>css/cartdrop.css</stylesheet></action>
            <action method="addJs"  ifconfig="cartdrop/general/enabled"><script>lib/jquery-1.4.2.min.js</script></action>
            <action method="addJs"  ifconfig="cartdrop/general/enabled"><script>lib/cartdrop.js</script></action>
        </reference>

     <reference name="top.container">
            <!--<action method="setTemplate" ifconfig="cartdrop/general/enabled"><template>cartdrop/template/header.phtml</template></action>-->

<block type="core/template" name="cartheader_sidebar" template="cartdrop/cartheader.phtml">         
    <block type="checkout/cart_sidebar" name="cart_sidebar" template="checkout/cart/sidebar.phtml" before="-">
        <action method="addItemRender"><type>simple</type><block>checkout/cart_item_renderer</block><template>checkout/cart/sidebar/default.phtml</template></action>
        <action method="addItemRender"><type>grouped</type><block>checkout/cart_item_renderer_grouped</block><template>checkout/cart/sidebar/default.phtml</template></action>
        <action method="addItemRender"><type>configurable</type><block>checkout/cart_item_renderer_configurable</block><template>checkout/cart/sidebar/default.phtml</template></action>
        <block type="core/text_list" name="cart_sidebar.extra_actions" as="extra_actions"/>
    </block>
</block>

        </reference>
    </default> 
</layout>

I’ve tried changing the reference name to reference name="topLinks" and reference name="top.Links"

I’ve also tried copying the block and pasting it in local.xml under <reference name="top.links"> and putting it in page.xml but to no avail.

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Answer 1

It should be <reference name="top.links"> as the attribute said -> reference NAME

The problem why it is not displayed is:
– Look at the definition of top.links -> <block type="page/template_links" name="top.links" as="topLinks"/>
– Then go to Mage/Page/Block/Template/Links.php

class Mage_Page_Block_Template_Links extends Mage_Core_Block_Template
{
    ...

    protected function _construct()
    {
        $this->setTemplate('page/template/links.phtml');
    }

    ...
}

Now we know that top.links extend from core/template.
For those blocks which extend from core/template require a template (simple isn’t it),
it will display everything inside the template (in your case, the template is page/template/links.phtml)

For a template, to be able to render its child, it should explicitly call getChildHtml

<?php echo $this->getChildHtml(); ?> -> will render all child under it

<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('cartheader_sidebar'); ?> -> will render child with alias/name cartheader_sidebar

It means if you want cartheader_sidebar to be displayed in top.links, you need to put <?php echo $this->getChildHtml('cartheader_sidebar'); ?> in page/template/links.phtml

PS: I don’t check your layout, I assume it is already correct