Question

Ok so I’ve setup a new module to override the Contacts controller so that I can add a newsletter sign up option to it. My setup is as follows:

/app/code/local/MyNamespace/ContactsPlus/controllers/Contacts/IndexController.php:

<?php
# Controllers are not autoloaded so we will have to do it manually:
require_once 'Mage/Contacts/controllers/IndexController.php';
class MyNameSpace_ContactsPlus_Contacts_IndexController extends Mage_Contacts_IndexController
{
    # Overloaded indexAction
    public function indexAction() {
        # Just to make sure
        error_log('Yes, I did it!');
        parent::indexAction();
    }
}

/app/code/local/MyNamespace/ContactsPlus/etc/config.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <mynamespace_ContactsPlus>
            <version>0.1.0</version>
        </mynamespace_ContactsPlus>
    </modules>
    <global>
        <rewrite>
            <mynamespace_contactsplus_contacts_index>
                <from><![CDATA[#^/contacts/index/#]]></from>
                <to>/contactsplus/contacts_index/</to>
            </mynamespace_contactsplus_contacts_index>
            <mynamespace_contactsplus_contacts_index>
                <from><![CDATA[#^/contacts/#]]></from>
                <to>/contactsplus/contacts_index/</to>
            </mynamespace_contactsplus_contacts_index>            
        </rewrite>
    </global>
    <frontend>
        <routers>
            <mynamespace_contactsplus>
                <use>standard</use>
                <args>
                    <module>mynamespace_ContactsPlus</module>
                    <frontName>contactsplus</frontName>
                </args>
            </mynamespace_contactsplus>
        </routers>
    </frontend>    
</config>

/app/etc/modules/MyNamespace_All.xml:

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

THe module appears in the admin modules list and it has produced the following error on my /contacts/ page:

Fatal error: Call to a member function setFormAction() on a non-object in /srv/www/foo.com/app/code/core/Mage/Contacts/controllers/IndexController.php on line 54 

That’s this line:

        $this->getLayout()->getBlock('contactForm')->setFormAction( Mage::getUrl('*/*/post') );

I’m not sure where to go from here though, a guess is that it can’t set the form action on whatever is being returned from Mage::getUrl(‘//post’) but I’m clutching at straws tbh.

Any help of advice would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Ok after much research, help and general frustration here is how I got it working:

First up, my module directory is set out as follows (note the caps on the directories):

/app/code/local/MyNamespace/ContactsPlus/etc/

• config.xml

/app/code/local/MyNamespace/ContactsPlus/controllers/

• IndexController.php

/app/code/local/MyNamespace/ContactsPlus/Helper/

• Data.php

Now for the config files:

/app/code/local/MyNamespace/ContactsPlus/etc/config.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <MyNameSpace_ContactsPlus>
            <version>0.1.0</version>
        </MyNameSpace_ContactsPlus>
    </modules>
    <frontend>
        <routers>

        <!-- Creates route to my module via /contactsplus/ - I used this for testing -->
            <contactsplus>
                <use>standard</use>
                <args>
                    <module>MyNameSpace_ContactsPlus</module>
                    <frontName>contactsplus</frontName>
                </args>
            </contactsplus>

        <!-- Sets Mage_Contacts route to MyNameSpace_ContactsPlus -->              
            <contacts>
                <args>
                    <modules>
                        <MyNameSpace_ContactsPlus before="Mage_Contacts">MyNameSpace_ContactsPlus</MyNameSpace_ContactsPlus>
                    </modules>
                </args>
            </contacts> 
        </routers>
    <!-- Sets layout config file (essential for this to work) -->   
        <layout>
            <updates>
                <contactsplus>
                    <file>contactsplus.xml</file>
                </contactsplus>
            </updates>
        </layout>        
    </frontend>
    <global>
    <!-- Sets a helper class for the module, when overriding contacts this is also essential. -->   
        <helpers>
            <contactsplus>
                <class>MyNameSpace_ContactsPlus_Helper</class>
            </contactsplus>
        </helpers>        
    </global>
</config>

/app/code/local/MyNamespace/ContactsPlus/controllers/Contacts/IndexController.php:

<?php
# Controllers are not autoloaded so we will have to do it manually:
require_once 'Mage/Contacts/controllers/IndexController.php';
class MyNameSpace_ContactsPlus_IndexController extends Mage_Contacts_IndexController
{
    # Overloaded indexAction
    public function indexAction() {
        # Just to make sure
        //die('Yes, I did it!');
        parent::indexAction();
    }
}

/app/code/local/MyNamespace/ContactsPlus/Helper/Data.php:

<?php
class MyNameSpace_ContactsPlus_Helper_Data extends Mage_Core_Helper_Abstract
{

}

/app/etc/modules/MyNamespace_ContactsPlus.xml:

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

/app/design/frontend/mythemepackage/mytheme/layout/contacts.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout version="0.1.0">
    <default>
        <reference name="footer_links">
            <!-- <action method="addLink" translate="label title" module="contacts" ifconfig="contacts/contacts/enabled"><label>Contact Us</label><url>contacts</url><title>Contact Us</title><prepare>true</prepare></action>
         --></reference>
    </default>
    <contacts_index_index translate="label">
    <!-- had to comment this out in order to prevent a duplicate form issue, if anyone has a better method for this then I'd love to here it :) 
        <label>Contact Us Form</label>
        <reference name="head">
            <action method="setTitle" translate="title" module="contacts"><title>Contact Us</title></action>
        </reference>
        <reference name="root">
            <action method="setTemplate"><template>page/2columns-right.phtml</template></action>
            <action method="setHeaderTitle" translate="title" module="contacts"><title>Contact Us</title></action>
        </reference>
        <reference name="content">
            <block type="core/template" name="contactForm" template="contacts/form.phtml"/>
        </reference>
    -->
    </contacts_index_index>

    <!-- added this to rewrite contacts handle to the new modules handle -->
    <contacts_index_index>
        <update handle="contactsplus_index_index"/>
    </contacts_index_index>
</layout>

/app/design/frontend/mythemepackage/mytheme/layout/contactsplus.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout version="0.1.0">
    <default>
        <reference name="footer_links">
            <!-- <action method="addLink" translate="label title" module="contacts" ifconfig="contacts/contacts/enabled"><label>Contact Us</label><url>contacts</url><title>Contact Us</title><prepare>true</prepare></action>
         --></reference>
    </default>
    <contactsplus_index_index translate="label">
        <label>Contact Us Form</label>
        <reference name="head">
            <action method="setTitle" translate="title" module="contactsplus"><title>Contact Us</title></action>
        </reference>
        <reference name="root">
            <action method="setTemplate"><template>page/2columns-right.phtml</template></action>
            <action method="setHeaderTitle" translate="title" module="contactsplus"><title>Contact Us</title></action>
        </reference>
        <reference name="content">
            <block type="core/template" name="contactForm" template="contactsplus/custom_form.phtml"/>
        </reference>
    </contactsplus_index_index>

</layout>

I also made a copy of /app/design/frontend/mythemepackage/mytheme/template/contacts/form.phtml and placed it in /app/design/frontend/mythemepackage/mytheme/template/contactsplus/ and then modified it to suit my requirements.

Resources I found particularly useful during this process were google, IRC #magento and

http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/5_-_modules_and_development/0_-_module_development_in_magento/custom_module_with_custom_database_table

http://alanstorm.com

Hope this helps someone else at some point.

Now it’s onto adding a newsletter sign up option to my new form!