Is it possible to customize magento admin area

Question

Hi guys,

We can extend the existing functionality of magento for frontend by copying modules in local area and doing some other required stuff but how I can extend or customize the magento admin area to meet my requirements without touching the core code.

For example I want to extend magento indexing functionality. During re-indexing catalog search Magento add the indexed data in catalgosearch_fulltext table and I also want to add the data to the one of the my custom database table, so that later I can look up into this database table when user search for product in my store.

Is it possible to customize magento admin area?

Please guide me.

Thanks

Answer 1

The preferable way to handle this is actually to override the models you want to change using Magento's class override system (both for FrontEnd and Admin changes). That way, you'll have a much easier time upgrading your Magento installations.

Answer 2

Sure, you can customize everything you want. All admin-related modules are in app/code/core/Mage/Adminhtml you can rewrite them.

Answer 3

For the love of god, don't rewrite core code as WebFlakeStudio suggested - that can get you into a world of hurt when you need to update, as the update will overwrite your changes.

The correct way is as Joseph Mastey suggested, to override the core models.