Author Archives: jontas

About jontas

I like to make things that people find useful.

Magento: Installing on a debian server

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To install magento on a fresh server use the following.

  • Install apache, mysql and PHP5 “$ apt-get install apache2 mysql-server php5 php5-mysql php-soap php5-mcrypt php5-curl php5-gd”
  • Edit the vhost config for the apache site [/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default]
    • Verify that “AllowOverride” is set to All for the magento directory
  • Make sure that mof_rewrite is loaded; use “$ a2enmod rewrite” and then reload apache2
  • Edit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini
    • “memory_limit” [the manual says] no less than 256Mb (preferably 512)
    • “max_execution_time” [this is the max time that a script may be left running] SOAP requests take time, so make suer it is at a reasonable time
    • “upload_max_filesize” Set this to a size that is reasonable depending on what you plan to upload (manuals might be large)
    • “post_max_size” Set this to a size that is reasonable depending on what you plan to post (manuals might be large); also make sure that the value and the modifier is correct (so that it says 8M and not just 8 for instance)
    • “display_errors” Set to Off
    • “log_errors” Set to On
    • “error_log” Set to a file that you will be able to find [if you wish to have it in a subdir; create that as root and give it permissions as apache log dir]
  • download magento (lastest version from magento
  • Upack it (I choose bzip2 format) “$ tar -jxvvf magento-downloader-1.3.2.1.tar.bz2” and make sure the files gets put in the directory you wish
  • Some directories have to be writable to the webserver (and all subdirectories, where there are)
    • var
    • var/.htaccess
    • app/etc
    • media
  • If you are using the downloader installation
    • “$./pear mage-setup .”
    • “$./pear install magento-core/Mage_All_Latest”
    • “$rm -rf downloader/pearlib/cache/* downloader/pearlib/download/*”
  • Create database and database user [this is to do it manually via mysql console]
    • “$mysql -uroot -p”
    • “mysql> create database magento;”
    • “mysql> use mysql;”
    • “mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password) VALUES (‘localhost’, ‘magento’, PASSWORD(‘password’));”
    • “mysql> GRANT ALL ON magento.* TO ‘magento’;”
    • “mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;”
    • “mysql> exit”
  • Go to the webserver and complete the installation
  • If you get stuck on the configuration page [that you get back to it even after adding correct information]:
    • Check “AllowOverride” in the apache config.
    • Check “post_max_size2 in the php.ini [also check so that the value is either absolute or has a modifier; 8 means 8 bytes while 8M means 8Mb]

Magento: Selling string (cloth or any other item with a decimal value)

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Some items (such as string, cloth, fluids etc) can be sold in decimal values.

This example will show how to sell string in meters (price etc) but where the customer can order any length – but at least 30 centimeters.

In admin->catalog make the string as a product and under inventory set “Minimum Qty Allowed in Shopping Cart” to “0.3” and “Qty Uses Decimals” to yes. Set up the price as the price per meter.
Also please make sure that the information about the product states that the any length (over 0,3 m) can be ordered and that the price is per meter.

When the customer adds 2.5678 m in the basket, magento will calculate the correct price and show it to the customer.

Magento: Using SOAP to get detailed product information

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Here a code solution to using the SOAP interface in magento. This example will get all products (and plenty of information about each product).

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$time_start = microtime(true);	
try{
	$devClient = new Soapclient('http://192.168.1.61/magento/index.php/api/?wsdl', array('trace'=>1, 'exceptions'=>1));
	$devSession = $devClient->login('apiuser', 'apipassword');
 
	$productList = $devClient->call($devSession, 'catalog_product.list');
	foreach ($productList as $product){
		$theProduct = array();
		$theProduct['product'] = $product;
		$theProduct['attributeSet'] = current($devClient->call($devSession, 'product_attribute_set.list'));
		$theProduct['info'] = $devClient->call($devSession, 'catalog_product.info', $product['sku']);
		$theProduct['related'] = $devClient->call($devSession, 'catalog_product_link.list', array('related', $product['sku']));
		$theProduct['up_sell'] = $devClient->call($devSession, 'catalog_product_link.list', array('up_sell', $product['sku']));
		$theProduct['cross_sell'] = $devClient->call($devSession, 'catalog_product_link.list', array('cross_sell', $product['sku']));
		$theProduct['grouped'] = $devClient->call($devSession, 'catalog_product_link.list', array('grouped', $product['sku']));
		$theProduct['images'] = $devClient->call($devSession, 'catalog_product_attribute_media.list', $product['sku']);
		$theProduct['tierprice'] = $devClient->call($devSession, 'product_tier_price.info', $product['sku']);
		$theProduct['stock'] = $devClient->call($devSession, 'product_stock.list', $product['sku']);
 
		$allProducts[] = $theProduct;
	}
	echo '$allProducts: <pre>' . print_r($allProducts, true) . '</pre>';
 
}
catch (Exception $e){
	echo 'Error on line '. $e->getLine().' in '. $e->getFile() . $e->getMessage();
}
 
$time_end = microtime(true);
$time = $time_end - $time_start;
echo "<br/><br/>execution time " . $time;

More info on the SOAP API at Magento wiki

PHP5: Quick on exceptions

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Very quick (&dirty):

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try{
	doStuff();
}
catch (Exception $e){
	echo 'Error on line '. $e->getLine().' in '. $e->getFile() . $e->getMessage();
	//Or if you are working inside an object, you could use.
	echo 'Error on line '.$this->getLine().' in '.$this->getFile() . $e->getMessage();
}

Now to catch a specific kind of exception (in this case CustomException), and say woups, but to re-throw all other Exceptions.

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try{
	doStuffThatCanGiveCustomException();
}
catch (Exception $e){
	//echo get_class($e) . "<br/>";
	if (get_class($e) == "CustomException" && $e->getMessage() === "My custom exception message."){
		echo "woups";
	}
	else
		throw $e;
}

To throw a custom exception:

 throw new Exception('My exception message');

For more informaion about this please check out the php manual

ubuntu: what version is installed?

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The quick way is to run “lsb_release -a”

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 9.10
Release:        9.10
Codename:       karmic

Or just read the info from /etc/lsb-release

$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=9.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=karmic
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 9.10"

It is also possible to check the file “/etc/issue”

$ cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 9.10 \n \l

From X check out System->about.

Magento – using etc/system.xml to controll a modules visibility in the admin interface

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In the admin interface it is possible to alter setting on a “default”, “website” or “store” level.
Whether or not the module is visible [and configurable] in these is controlled by the modules config file (most commonly saved as “etc/system.xml”)

There are some lines that looks like:

<show_in_default>1</show_in_default>
<show_in_website>0</show_in_website>
<show_in_store>0</show_in_store>

The variables are fairly self explanatory; 0 is don’t show, 1 is show [I have also seen 2 but I haven’t figured that one out yet]