Package the extension

First of all I would recommend reading the following wiki page;

• Packaging a Magento Extension in 1.5+

Note – If your planning to upload your module to Magento Connect ensure the package name and the name you enter on Magento Connect match

Installing a module from a local package

Internally Magento uses a localised and enhanced version of Pear to manage packages and to distribute and install extensions. Since version 1.4.* the internal pear script has been renamed to mage. In order to use the mage script to run any of the commands it provides you first need to ensure that the executable bit is set for your user.

$ sudo chmod 775 ./mage

Once your user has permission to execute this script you can run it without any arguments to see a full list of commands;

$ ./mage

This will list all of the available commands. You can use this script to install remote extensions from Magento Connect or to install local packages such as the one you have just built. To install the local package you need to use the following command, changing the path and package name for the extension to the location of your files.

$ ./mage install-file var/connect/PackageName-0.1.12.tgz

Thats it your done… Or at least you should be. If you are testing the package in the version of Magento you used to build the package remember to remove the original files first or you will get a bunch of errors. The error output is generally very helpful, simply do what is suggested and try the install again.

Related Articles

• March 15, 2011 -- Testing Magento Checkout
• February 9, 2011 -- MageTool Update v0.3.0
• October 10, 2010 -- Magento command line tools MageTool
• July 29, 2009 -- How to: Magento eCommerce help and tutorials

Using Mage-Test you can easily create integration tests for the checkout process. This will allow you to ensure that your store still functions correctly after you have made any modifications.

Automated Integration Test

The example test method below is run within a Mage-Test controller test case.

    /**
     * @author Alistair Stead
     * @test
     */
    public function magentoCheckoutIntegrationTest()
    {
        // Add the product to the basket
        $this->request->setMethod('POST')
            ->setPost(
                array(
                    'product' => '16',
                    'related_product' => '',
                    'qty' => '1'
                )
            );
        // Set an initial cookie so that the Magento cookie validation passes
        $this->request->setCookie('mage-test', true);
        $this->dispatch('/checkout/cart/add/');
        $this->assertResponseCode('302', '/checkout/cart/add/ has not redirected to the cart');
        $this->assertRedirectRegex("/^.*checkout.*$/", 'We are not directed to the checkout as expected');
        $this->reset();

        // Set the checkout as guest
        $this->request->setMethod('POST')
            ->setPost(
                array(
                    'method' => 'guest'
                )
            );
        $this->dispatch('/checkout/onepage/saveMethod/');
        $this->assertResponseCode('200', '/checkout/onepage/saveMethod/ has not responded as expected');
        $this->reset();

        // Save billing address
        $this->request->setMethod('POST')
            ->setPost(
                array(
                    'billing' => array(
                        'address_id' => '',
                        'firstname' => 'Authorize',
                        'lastname' => 'Capture',
                        'company' => '',
                        'email' => 'user@mage-test.co.uk',
                        'street' => array('Flat 14b', 'Baker Street'),
                        'city' => 'London',
                        'region_id' => '',
                        'postcode' => 'W1B OW3',
                        'country_id' => 'GB',
                        'telephone' => '+44 1234 123456',
                        'fax' => '+44 1234 123456',
                        'customer_password' => '',
                        'confirm_password' => '',
                        'save_in_address_book' => '1',
                        'use_for_shipping' => '1'
                    )
                )
            );
        $this->dispatch('/checkout/onepage/saveBilling/');
        $this->assertResponseCode('200', '/checkout/onepage/saveBilling/ has not responded as expected');
        $this->reset();

        // Set shipping method
        $this->request->setMethod('POST')
            ->setPost(
                array(
                    'shipping_method' => 'flatrate_flatrate'
                )
            );
        $this->dispatch('/checkout/onepage/saveShippingMethod/');
        $this->assertResponseCode('200', '/checkout/onepage/saveShippingMethod/ has not responded as expected');
        $this->reset();

        // Save payment
        $this->request->setMethod('POST')
            ->setPost(
                array(
                    'payment' => array(
                        'method' => 'paypal_direct',
                        'cc_type' => 'SM',
                        'cc_number' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
                        'cc_exp_month' => '1',
                        'cc_exp_year' => (date('Y') + 6),
                        'cc_cid' => '444',
                        'cc_ss_issue' => '1',
                        'cc_ss_start_month' => '1',
                        'cc_ss_start_year' => (date('Y') - 2)
                    )
                )
            );
        $this->dispatch('/checkout/onepage/savePayment/');
        $this->assertResponseCode('200', '/checkout/onepage/savePayment/ has not responded as expected');
        $this->reset();

        // Save order
        $this->request->setMethod('POST')
            ->setPost(
                array(
                    'payment' => array(
                        'method' => 'paypal_direct',
                        'cc_type' => 'SM',
                        'cc_number' => 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
                        'cc_exp_month' => '1',
                        'cc_exp_year' => (date('Y') + 6),
                        'cc_cid' => '444',
                        'cc_ss_issue' => '1',
                        'cc_ss_start_month' => '1',
                        'cc_ss_start_year' => (date('Y') - 2)
                    )
                )
            );
        $this->dispatch('/checkout/onepage/saveOrder/');
        $this->assertResponseCode('200', '/checkout/onepage/saveOrder/ has not responded as expected');
        // Decode the JSON response so that we can evaluate the success
        $data = json_decode($this->response->getBody());
        $this->assertTrue(
            $data->success,
            "Unexpected status expected result :: {$data->error_messages}"
        );
    }

You can use a PHPUnit data provider to supply a set of data fixtures to be used for credit card numbers, address information and other values. Using a data provider you can test for not only the successful checkout but also the error handling within the checkout process.

Related Articles

• March 26, 2011 -- Package and Install your latest Magento 1.5+ extension
• February 9, 2011 -- MageTool Update v0.3.0
• October 10, 2010 -- Magento command line tools MageTool
• July 29, 2009 -- How to: Magento eCommerce help and tutorials

MageTool v0.3.0 now includes:

• Improved feedback when running commands for mage-core-resource
• Added commands to query and run the Magento indexer
• Added commands to query and run the Magento compiler
• Improved mage-core-cache commands
• Added functionality to run individual module setup classes directly
• Added functionality to dispatch Magento events to test your observers

All of these commands are intended to make development of Magento extensions easier and more streamlined. If you have feature requests please let me know. Or if you wish feel free to fork the project on GitHub and add the command that you need.

If you find and bugs with MageTool please raise a ticket on GitHub.

Related Articles

• October 10, 2010 -- Magento command line tools MageTool
• March 26, 2011 -- Package and Install your latest Magento 1.5+ extension
• March 15, 2011 -- Testing Magento Checkout
• July 29, 2009 -- How to: Magento eCommerce help and tutorials

Many development frameworks or other open source projects have tool that can be used by developers to issue commands quickly and easily. Magento however does not have any built in tools to improve the development workflow. This is where MageTool fits in!

MageTool

How can MageTool help? Well hopefully in a number of ways. MageTool extends the existing Zend Framework command line tool zf, adding new commands that are specific to Magento development workflow. Rather then navigating the Magento admin system to clear cache or the enable or disable caching you can issue a simple command in your terminal window and achieve the same results. You can also modify the Magento configuration quickly or issue commands that will selectively update many configuration values.

In my standard development practices I maintain a number of Magento installs on different servers. These are used for Development, Staging and UAT each using different domains to access the stores. This means however that I often need to move databases between servers, resulting in the ‘base_url’ configuration being incorrect. This can be easily updated if you have database access and is fairly simple if you only have a couple of sites setup. However if you have more sites setup this can become very very difficult to maintain and calls into question the idea of working with many environment servers during development.

MageTool can help again in any situation where you need to move a Magento install and then update the ‘base_url’ configuration. You can construct a command that will quickly and easily update all URLs in the Magento config.

Install

First install ZF:

sudo pear channel-discover pear.zfcampus.org
sudo pear install zfcampus/zf

Then install MageTool:

sudo pear channel-discover pear.magetool.co.uk
sudo pear install magetool/magetool

Once you have installed ZF and MageTool you will need to create configuration for your user by creating the following file:

vim ~/.zf.ini

Add the following lines to load the additional MageTool commands making them available to zf:

basicloader.classes.1 = "MageTool_Tool_MageApp_Provider_Manifest"
basicloader.classes.2 = "MageTool_Tool_MageExtension_Provider_Manifest"

After the install has completed successfully if you run zf you will see the additional commands available for Magento.

 MageAdminUser
    zf show mage-admin-user
    zf create mage-admin-user username email password firstname[=Admin] lastname[=User]

  MageCoreCache
    zf clear mage-core-cache
    zf enable mage-core-cache
    zf disable mage-core-cache

  MageCoreResource
    zf show mage-core-resource
    zf delete mage-core-resource path

  MageCoreConfig
    zf show mage-core-config path scope
    zf set mage-core-config path scope value
    zf replace mage-core-config match value path scope

  MageApp
    zf version mage-app

  MageExtension
    zf create mage-extension code-pool vendor-name extension-name

Example Usage

Cache

To clear the entire Magento cache simply run the following command from within the Magento project root directory:

zf clear mage-core-cache

To disable the entire Magento cache:

zf disable mage-core-cache

Core Config

MageTool provides commands to show existing configuration values and to set their values. It also has an additional command that can be used to perform a str_replace on the config values. This can be used if you have moved the database from another server with a different domain to update the config values in a single command:

zf replace mage-core-config --match www.current-domain.com --value shop.new-domain.co.uk

This will update all the config value that include the string “www.current-domain.com” and substitute it for “shop.new-domain.co.uk”. This can also be further refined to only affect specific config paths or scopes.

Core Resource

During the development of a new extension you sometimes need to remove the resource from the internal registry to force it to re-run the install scripts. MageTool can help you first see which versions of each extensions are installed:

zf show mage-core-resource --code mage_log

You can also remove specific entries:

zf delete mage-core-resource --code mage_log

Admin User

If you inherit a Magento project you may need to create a new admin user to gain access to the system. MageTool can list existing admin users and email addresses or it can create a new user for you to use.

zf create mage-admin-user --username newadmin --email newadmin@project.com --password newpassword

Roadmap

I plan to add additional functionality to create skeleton files for new extensions or themes, removing the repetitive creation of directories and configuration files when creating new extension.

If you have additional suggestions please let me know or alternatively you can fork the MageTool project on github and add the commands before sending me a pull request.

Feedback and Bugs

If you have any problems using MageTool or if you have any feedback or suggestions please submit them here.

Related Articles

• February 9, 2011 -- MageTool Update v0.3.0
• March 26, 2011 -- Package and Install your latest Magento 1.5+ extension
• March 15, 2011 -- Testing Magento Checkout
• July 29, 2009 -- How to: Magento eCommerce help and tutorials

Magento is an Open Source eCommerce platform developed using the Zend Framework by Varien. It is a fabulously customizable and extendible platform that once mastered can allow you to develop feature rich eCommerce solutions for your clients quickly and effectively. However for some mastering the Magento platform may not be that easy.

Magento uses common design patterns such as MVC, Application Controller and Two Step View to structure the application and provide mechanisms to extend and override the functionality and presentation. The platform has a huge number of files and directories that can cause confusion for newcomers to the platform. However this extended folder structure clearly defines where the platforms core files exist and where you can place your custom code and modules. Allowing you to extend the platform without modifying the core and breaking the upgrade process.

However daunting the platform appears or skeptical you may be due to the unfamiliar concepts, invest a small amount of time with the platform and it will soon start to payoff. This list of tutorials and resources will help you get up to speed quickly.

Magento eCommerce Tutorials and Resources

I have compiled the following list of resources that have helped me while developing for the Magento platform.

Developing Themes

• Learning to Design and Code for Magento Themes
• Designer’s Guide to Magento
• Configuring Templates, Adding a Product Grid in Magento
• Magento Template Advices

Custom Code and Modules

• Writing a custom module in Magento, detailed walktrough
• How To Write Magento Custom Module: Cash On Delivery Payment Method
• Magento Design and Magento Development blog
• snippi | MAGENTO CODE SNIPPETS
• Create Payment Method Module
• HOWTO: Repackageable custom extension development in magento

API Documentation

• Magento Documentation (phpdoc)

Tips and Advice

• MageTips
• Top 3 mistakes by Magento beginners

Related Articles

• March 26, 2011 -- Package and Install your latest Magento 1.5+ extension
• March 15, 2011 -- Testing Magento Checkout
• February 9, 2011 -- MageTool Update v0.3.0
• October 10, 2010 -- Magento command line tools MageTool