Creating a magento component from scratch

Question

I am trying to create a magento shopping cart module but things arent working out. Here is my steps

I first create a xml in the app etc...

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

Then I create my folder in the local pool

/local/mywebwow/AdvancedCatalog/

In that folder I put the following files

/Block/AdvanceCatalog.php
/controllers/indexController.php
/etc/config.xml

I put the following in the block

AdvancedCatalog.php

<?php
class mywebwow_AdvancedCatalog_Block_Advancedcatalog extends Mage_Core_Block_Template
{
    public function _prepareLayout()
    {
        return parent::_prepareLayout();
    }

    public function getHelloworld()
    {
        return 'Hello world';
    }
}

indexController.php

<?php
class mywebwow_AdvancedCatalog_IndexController extends Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action
{
    public function indexAction()
    {
        $this->loadLayout();
        $this->renderLayout();
    }
}

config.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <mywebwow_AdvancedCatalog>
            <version>0.1.0</version>
        </myweboww_AdvancedCatalog>
    </modules>
    <frontend>
        <routers>
            <AdvancedCatalog>
                <use>standard</use>
                <args>
                    <module>mywebwow_AdvancedCatalog</module>
                    <frontName>advancedcatalog</frontName>
                </args>
            </AdvancedCatalog>
        </routers>
        <layout>
            <updates>
                <AdvancedCatalog>
                    <file>advancedcatalog.xml</file>
                </AdvancedCatalog>
            </updates>
        </layout>
    </frontend>
    <global>
        <blocks>
            <AdvancedCatalog>
                <class>mywebwow_AdvancedCatalog_Block</class>
            </AdvancedCatalog>
        </blocks>
        <helpers>
            <AdvancedCatalog>
                <class>mywebwow_AdvancedCatalog_Helper</class>
            </AdvancedCatalog>
        </helpers>
    </global>
</config>

when i type in website.com/index.php/advancedcatalog/

I get a 404. no page found.

[EDIT]

I changed the block class from MyWebwow_AdvancedCatalog_Block_AdvancedCatalog to MyWebwow_AdvancedCatalog_Block_Advancedcatalog

I added advancedcatalog.xml it looks like the following...

advancedcatalog.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout version="0.1.0">
    <advancedcatalog_index_index>
        <reference name="content">
            <block type="advancedcatalog/advancedcatalog" name="advancedcatalog" template="advancedcatalog/helloworld.phtml" />
        </reference>
    </advancedcatalog_index_index>
</layout>

then there is the following which I already had

/template/advancedcatalog/helloworld.phtml

helloworld.phtml

<h2><?php echo $this->getHelloworld(); ?></h2>

Answer 1

A few things to fix, hopefully one will get you moving:

1. Move your controller from indexController.php to IndexController.php. On case-sensitive systems, this very well could cause the controller not to be found.

2. Have you defined a layout file? (e.g. advancedcatalog.xml). Your file defines advancecatalog.xml, which seems like it might be a typo, though it could work if you defined that file.

3. Do you have any views defined? loadLayout will try to load a layout handle for the page and render blocks accordingly. This is where you'll have to specify your advancedcatalog/advancedcatalog block. If you do have a layout and templates, please post those.

4. Don't use camelcase for the block name, it will confuse Magento. The block will need to be defined as advancedcatalog/advancedcatalog, but that will resolve to mywebwow_AdvancedCatalog_Block_Advancedcatalog (note no second cap). This will be an issue.

Fix those and see if it starts working, let me know if you still have trouble.

Thanks, Joe

---

You don't necessarily need a model unless you are invoking one. As for #4, it's up to you whether you want to use mixed case on that one. In your config file, you specified the prefix for AdvancedCatalog blocks to be mywebwow_AdvancedCatalog_Block, so the mixed case shouldn't be a problem. Conversely, though, you may want the tag inside of blocks to be lowercased, so that when you invoke your models you can stick w/ the existing Magento convention of lowercase. Do this:

<global>
    <blocks>
        <advancedcatalog>
            <class>mywebwow_AdvancedCatalog_Block</class>
        </advancedcatalog>
    </blocks>
....