Question

Still learning magento coding. I wonder is there a way I can print out all the values in the collections on any page I load on magento? This would be assuming I don’t know the names of the collections being used.

This would be very helpful if it is possible.

Answer 1

First, a word of warning – if you are var_dump’ing collections, let alone every collection loaded for a given request, then you are most likely going to run in to problems – collections contain huge amounts of data.

What is it exactly that you require from each collection that you would need to do this?

Anyway, the only way to get this data that comes to mind would be to use an observer subscribed to:

core_collection_abstract_load_after

So as a head start…

Your config.xml would look similar to this…

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <YourCompany_YourModule>
            <version>1.0.0</version>
        </YourCompany_YourModule>
    </modules>
    <frontend>
        <events>
            <core_collection_abstract_load_after>
                <observers>
                    <yourmodule>
                        <class>YourCompany_YourModule_Model_Observer</class>
                        <method>core_collection_abstract_load_after</method>
                    </yourmodule>
                </observers>
            </core_collection_abstract_load_after>
        </events>
    </frontend>
    <global>
        <models>
            <yourmodule>
                <class>YourCompany_YourModule_Model</class>
            </yourmodule>
        </models>
    </global>
</config>

Your observer would look like this…

<?php

class YourCompany_YourModule_Model_Observer
{
    public function core_collection_abstract_load_after(Varien_Event_Observer $observer)
    {
        $collection = $observer->getEvent()->getCollection();
        //Do what you want with each collection here
    }
}