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Magento Hosting - ASPHostPortal :: Random Testimonials in Magento Using CMS Blocks

clock December 24, 2010 05:35 by author Jervis

Often you want to display customer testimonials on an e-Commerce site. With Magento, you can simply create a CMS block, add your testimonial text and display it in the left or right sidebar. That’s easy but also boring for site visitors since they will only ever see the one testimonial.

Of course, you can create several CMS blocks and show them on different pages but still, they will always be “glued” to the pages you set them to.

The next logical idea is to work out a way to display a random testimonial on every page refresh. In the first part of this tutorial series, I will show you a quick way using a .phtml file and layouts. In the second part, I’m going to turn what I covered here into a Magento extension with a few nifty enhancements.

To achieve our intent, we will need to accomplish the following:

1. Create a phtml file which will display our CMS block
2. Create a CMS block “on the fly” in our code
3. Work out how to designate which CMS blocks contain our testimonials
4. Set where to show the block

The first task is easy, simply create a folder in your template:

app/design/frontend/YOUR-PACKAGE/YOUR-THEME/template/myrandom/


Create your empty phtml file, say, random_testimonial.phtml.

Point number two is pretty straight forward too. A quick web search will give you plenty of pointers on how to dynamically create Magento blocks in code (within a phtml file):


$this->getLayout()->createBlock('cms/block')->setBlockId( [block_identifier] );

The third task is to work out some convenient naming convention for your CMS block identifiers. For example, you could designate a specific prefix to your blocks you want to be part of the gambling game, like: “testimonial”.

So, create several blocks with block ID’s of:

testimonial-1
testimonial-2
testimonial-3
etc

Before we move onto point four, we need to fill in the code for our phtml template now:


<?php
$_block = $this->getLayout()->createBlock('cms/block')->setBlockId($this->getIdentifier().mt_rand(1, $this->getNumber()));
if ($_block) :
?>
<div class="block block-testimonial">
    <div class="block-title">
        <strong><?php echo $this->getTitle(); ?></strong>
    </div>
    <div class="block-content">
    <?php echo $_block->toHtml(); ?>
    </div>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

You’ll notice that we have some additional properties like Title, Identifier and Number.

It will become apparent in the next step where the values for these properties come from. Now, we can decide where to call the phtml block from.

We have several options:

1. Layout XML

Edit one of your layout XML files, for example, catalog.xml, find the element: <catalog_product_view> and within the <reference name="left"> block add:

<block type="core/template" name="random.testimonial" template="myrandom/random_testimonial.phtml">
    <action method="setTitle"><title>What Customers Say...</title></action>
    <action method="setIdentifier"><identifier>testimonial-</identifier></action>
    <action method="setNumber"><number>3</number></action>
</block>

Let’s see what’s happening here. We are using some Magento “magic” methods to set our introduced properties like the aforementioned Title, Identifier and Number effectively passing values for these properties to our .phtml block. This means we don’t have to edit our .phtml every time we need to change these properties.

2. Layout Update

You can insert the same XML as above into one of the layout update fields in your Magento CMS pages, products or categories.

If we insert the XML into one of our category layout updates:



3. CMS page block


For this approach, we will use the Magento curly braces syntax to insert the block into the page itself. This is useful if you want to drop a random testimonial into your customer services pages, for example.

Simply insert:

{{block type="core/template" template="myrandom/random_testimonial.phtml" number="2" title="Others Say:" identifier="testimonial-"}}

Where you want the block to show and save.

Remember, you can create different .phtml templates depending on the layout you need and include them in a variety of areas in your site.

Reasons why you must trust ASPHostPortal.com

Every provider will tell you how they treat their support, uptime, expertise, guarantees, etc., are. Take a close look. What they’re really offering you is nothing close to what ASPHostPortal does. You will be treated with respect and provided the courtesy and service you would expect from a world-class web hosting business.

You’ll have highly trained, skilled professional technical support people ready, willing, and wanting to help you 24 hours a day. Your web hosting account servers are monitored from three monitoring points, with two alert points, every minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The followings are the list of other added- benefits you can find when hosting with us:

- DELL Hardware
Dell hardware is engineered to keep critical enterprise applications running around the clock with clustered solutions fully tested and certified by Dell and other leading operating system and application providers.
- Recovery Systems
Recovery becomes easy and seamless with our fully managed backup services. We monitor your server to ensure your data is properly backed up and recoverable so when the time comes, you can easily repair or recover your data.
- Control Panel
We provide one of the most comprehensive customer control panels available. Providing maximum control and ease of use, our Control Panel serves as the central management point for your ASPHostPortal account. You’ll use a flexible, powerful hosting control panel that will give you direct control over your web hosting account. Our control panel and systems configuration is fully automated and this means your settings are configured automatically and instantly.
- Excellent Expertise in Technology
The reason we can provide you with a great amount of power, flexibility, and simplicity at such a discounted price is due to incredible efficiencies within our business. We have not just been providing hosting for many clients for years, we have also been researching, developing, and innovating every aspect of our operations, systems, procedures, strategy, management, and teams. Our operations are based on a continual improvement program where we review thousands of systems, operational and management metrics in real-time, to fine-tune every aspect of our operation and activities. We continually train and retrain all people in our teams. We provide all people in our teams with the time, space, and inspiration to research, understand, and explore the Internet in search of greater knowledge. We do this while providing you with the best hosting services for the lowest possible price.
- Data Center
ASPHostPortal modular Tier-3 data center was specifically designed to be a world-class web hosting facility totally dedicated to uncompromised performance and security
- Monitoring Services
From the moment your server is connected to our network it is monitored for connectivity, disk, memory and CPU utilization – as well as hardware failures. Our engineers are alerted to potential issues before they become critical.
- Network
ASPHostPortal has architected its network like no other hosting company. Every facet of our network infrastructure scales to gigabit speeds with no single point of failure.
- Security
Network security and the security of your server are ASPHostPortal’s top priorities. Our security team is constantly monitoring the entire network for unusual or suspicious behavior so that when it is detected we can address the issue before our network or your server is affected.
- Support Services
Engineers staff our data center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to manage the network infrastructure and oversee top-of-the-line servers that host our clients’ critical sites and services.



Magento Hosting - ASPHostPortal :: How can I transfer my Magento store from another provider?

clock December 14, 2010 09:08 by author Jervis

Step 1 - Create a Database

First, you need to create a new MySQL database for your store. Log in to cPanel by following the instructions given in your Account Information email. Then click on the MySQL® Database Wizard icon. Type in a name for your new database (e.g. mystore) and click Next Step (see Figure 1). Now you need to assign a new user to your database. Type in a username and password then click Next Step. Finally, check the All Privileges checkbox and click Next Step to complete the database wizard.

You can now log out of cPanel and continue with the next step.



Step 2 - Backup and Transfer Site

Now you need to make a backup of your existing store by downloading all the files in your Magento main directory to your local computer. If you have SSH (Shell) access at your current server, you can simplify the process by making a archive of your entire site first by using the 'tar' command. Run the following in your store's main directory:

tar -czf backup.tar.gz *

This will create a compressed "tarball" which can be downloaded to you local computer, then uploaded to our server. You can also transfer the file directly between the two servers by using the 'wget' command. To do this, you will need to log in to your account on our server using SSH, navigate to the directory where your site should be located. Then run the following command.

wget http://your_domain_or_ip/backup.tar.gz
tar -xzf backup.tar.gz


This will download your backup.tar.gz file to our server and uncompress it in the current directory. Note: you may transfer the backup file using e.g. FTP instead if you prefer.


Step 3 - Backup Database and Import

In this step you will make a backup of the current database and import it into the database you created in Step 1. To backup your database we recommend using SSH (if available) or a tool like phpMyAdmin.

Log in to your server with SSH, and then run the following command (replace hostname, dbUsername and dbName):

mysqldump -h hostname -u dbUsername -p dbName > db_backup.sql

This will create a "dump" of your entire database dbName and save it as db_backup.sql in the current directory. If you don't have SSH access, contact you current host for assistance on how to backup the database.

To import the backup into your newly created database, log in to SSH on our server and run the following command (replace dbUsername and dbName with the username and database name from step 1):

wget http://your_domain_or_ip/db_backup.sql
mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u dbUsername -p dbName < db_backup.sql


This will download the backup file from your old server to ours and import the data into the database named dbName. Note: you may transfer the backup file using e.g. FTP instead if you prefer.

Step 4 - Reset File Permissions

To make sure that all javascript files, CSS, and images load correctly, you should reset the file permissions to the recommended settings for our servers. Some other providers require file permission settings which are not compatible with our setup, or may even be unsecure.

Run the following commands from your Magento root directory (e.g. public_html):

find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;


This will reset permissions for all files to CHMOD 644, and CHMOD 755 for directories.

Step 5 - Modify Configuration Settings

The final step is to edit the Magento configuration file to use the new database. Open the file local.xml under the "/home/username/public_html/magento_dir/app/etc/" directory in your favorite text editor (tip: use the File Manager in cPanel). Locate the <default_setup> and make the necessary changes as illustrated below.

<default_setup>
  <connection>
    <host><![CDATA[localhost]]></host>
    <username><![CDATA[dbUsername]]></username>
    <password><![CDATA[dbPassword]]></password>
    <dbname><![CDATA[dbName]]></dbname>
    <active>1</active>
  </connection>
</default_setup>

Save the file and you are all set! You should now be able to open your site at our server. You may have to log in to the admin panel and change the Base URL for links to work if you are using a different domain.

PS: In order to use the Magento Connect Manager you may have to reset the PEAR configuration settings. To do this, simply remove the file downloader/pearlib/pear.ini, and a new one will be created automatically.

If you have any questions regarding this tutorial, feel free to contact us.

Reasons why you must trust ASPHostPortal.com

Every provider will tell you how they treat their support, uptime, expertise, guarantees, etc., are. Take a close look. What they’re really offering you is nothing close to what ASPHostPortal does. You will be treated with respect and provided the courtesy and service you would expect from a world-class web hosting business.

You’ll have highly trained, skilled professional technical support people ready, willing, and wanting to help you 24 hours a day. Your web hosting account servers are monitored from three monitoring points, with two alert points, every minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The followings are the list of other added- benefits you can find when hosting with us:

- DELL Hardware
Dell hardware is engineered to keep critical enterprise applications running around the clock with clustered solutions fully tested and certified by Dell and other leading operating system and application providers.
- Recovery Systems
Recovery becomes easy and seamless with our fully managed backup services. We monitor your server to ensure your data is properly backed up and recoverable so when the time comes, you can easily repair or recover your data.
- Control Panel
We provide one of the most comprehensive customer control panels available. Providing maximum control and ease of use, our Control Panel serves as the central management point for your ASPHostPortal account. You’ll use a flexible, powerful hosting control panel that will give you direct control over your web hosting account. Our control panel and systems configuration is fully automated and this means your settings are configured automatically and instantly.
- Excellent Expertise in Technology
The reason we can provide you with a great amount of power, flexibility, and simplicity at such a discounted price is due to incredible efficiencies within our business. We have not just been providing hosting for many clients for years, we have also been researching, developing, and innovating every aspect of our operations, systems, procedures, strategy, management, and teams. Our operations are based on a continual improvement program where we review thousands of systems, operational and management metrics in real-time, to fine-tune every aspect of our operation and activities. We continually train and retrain all people in our teams. We provide all people in our teams with the time, space, and inspiration to research, understand, and explore the Internet in search of greater knowledge. We do this while providing you with the best hosting services for the lowest possible price.
- Data Center
ASPHostPortal modular Tier-3 data center was specifically designed to be a world-class web hosting facility totally dedicated to uncompromised performance and security
- Monitoring Services
From the moment your server is connected to our network it is monitored for connectivity, disk, memory and CPU utilization – as well as hardware failures. Our engineers are alerted to potential issues before they become critical.
- Network
ASPHostPortal has architected its network like no other hosting company. Every facet of our network infrastructure scales to gigabit speeds with no single point of failure.
- Security
Network security and the security of your server are ASPHostPortal’s top priorities. Our security team is constantly monitoring the entire network for unusual or suspicious behavior so that when it is detected we can address the issue before our network or your server is affected.
- Support Services
Engineers staff our data center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to manage the network infrastructure and oversee top-of-the-line servers that host our clients’ critical sites and services.



Magento Hosting - ASPHostPortal :: Setup Conversion Tracking in Magento

clock December 12, 2010 04:55 by author Jervis

Magento Commerce has the ability to track eCommerce sale with Google Analytics out of the box (more on that in a future post). Something that a lot of merchants struggle with is how to set up conversion tracking for other tracking software or comparison shopping engines.

How To

Here is an easy hack to track conversions for Shopzilla, PriceGrabber and the likes:

Open the file: app\design\frontend\XXXX\XXXX\template\checkout\success.phtml

At the end of the file, add the following code, this will create two variables with the order number and the order total:

1    <?php
2        //Get Order Number & Order Total
3        $order = Mage::getModel('sales/order')->loadByIncrementId(Mage::getSingleton('checkout/session')->getLastRealOrderId());
4        $amount = number_format($order->getGrandTotal(),2);
5    ?>


After the above code snippet, copy and paste the tracking code from the third party analytics software of comparison shopping engine. Insert the following variable where they suggest placing the order ID and the order total:

1    <?php echo $amount; ?> // Order Total
2    <?php echo $this->getOrderId() ?> // Order Number


Here is a code example for the Shopzilla conversion tracking tool:

1    <script language="javascript">
2        var mid            = 'XXXXX'; // Your Shopzilla Merchant ID
3        var cust_type      = '';
4        var order_value    = '<?php echo $amount; ?>'; // Order Amount
5        var order_id       = '<?php echo $this->getOrderId() ?>'; //Order Number
6        var units_ordered  = '';
7    </script>
8    <script language="javascript" src="https://www.shopzilla.com/css/roi_tracker.js"></script>
9    <script language="JavaScript" src="https://eval.bizrate.com/js/pos_193511.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

Reasons why you must trust ASPHostPortal.com

Every provider will tell you how they treat their support, uptime, expertise, guarantees, etc., are. Take a close look. What they’re really offering you is nothing close to what ASPHostPortal does. You will be treated with respect and provided the courtesy and service you would expect from a world-class web hosting business.

You’ll have highly trained, skilled professional technical support people ready, willing, and wanting to help you 24 hours a day. Your web hosting account servers are monitored from three monitoring points, with two alert points, every minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The followings are the list of other added- benefits you can find when hosting with us:

- DELL Hardware
Dell hardware is engineered to keep critical enterprise applications running around the clock with clustered solutions fully tested and certified by Dell and other leading operating system and application providers.
- Recovery Systems
Recovery becomes easy and seamless with our fully managed backup services. We monitor your server to ensure your data is properly backed up and recoverable so when the time comes, you can easily repair or recover your data.
- Control Panel
We provide one of the most comprehensive customer control panels available. Providing maximum control and ease of use, our Control Panel serves as the central management point for your ASPHostPortal account. You’ll use a flexible, powerful hosting control panel that will give you direct control over your web hosting account. Our control panel and systems configuration is fully automated and this means your settings are configured automatically and instantly.
- Excellent Expertise in Technology
The reason we can provide you with a great amount of power, flexibility, and simplicity at such a discounted price is due to incredible efficiencies within our business. We have not just been providing hosting for many clients for years, we have also been researching, developing, and innovating every aspect of our operations, systems, procedures, strategy, management, and teams. Our operations are based on a continual improvement program where we review thousands of systems, operational and management metrics in real-time, to fine-tune every aspect of our operation and activities. We continually train and retrain all people in our teams. We provide all people in our teams with the time, space, and inspiration to research, understand, and explore the Internet in search of greater knowledge. We do this while providing you with the best hosting services for the lowest possible price.
- Data Center
ASPHostPortal modular Tier-3 data center was specifically designed to be a world-class web hosting facility totally dedicated to uncompromised performance and security
- Monitoring Services
From the moment your server is connected to our network it is monitored for connectivity, disk, memory and CPU utilization – as well as hardware failures. Our engineers are alerted to potential issues before they become critical.
- Network
ASPHostPortal has architected its network like no other hosting company. Every facet of our network infrastructure scales to gigabit speeds with no single point of failure.
- Security
Network security and the security of your server are ASPHostPortal’s top priorities. Our security team is constantly monitoring the entire network for unusual or suspicious behavior so that when it is detected we can address the issue before our network or your server is affected.
- Support Services
Engineers staff our data center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to manage the network infrastructure and oversee top-of-the-line servers that host our clients’ critical sites and services.



About ASPHostPortal.com

We’re a company that works differently to most. Value is what we output and help our customers achieve, not how much money we put in the bank. It’s not because we are altruistic. It’s based on an even simpler principle. "Do good things, and good things will come to you".

Success for us is something that is continually experienced, not something that is reached. For us it is all about the experience – more than the journey. Life is a continual experience. We see the Internet as being an incredible amplifier to the experience of life for all of us. It can help humanity come together to explode in knowledge exploration and discussion. It is continual enlightenment of new ideas, experiences, and passions

Corporate Address (Location)

ASPHostPortal
170 W 56th Street, Suite 121
New York, NY 10019
United States

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