List of methods used in layout action?

Question

Hi could any one tell

methods used in in layout file and its functionality in magento

for example

<action method=”insert”>
<action method=”setImgSrc”>

can any one list defalut methods used in layout file.

Answer 1

1.You can use any public methods of block (or it's parent blocks) class in layout, for ex.:

<block type="catalog/product_list" name="product_list" template="catalog/product/list.phtml">
    <action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>empty</layout><count>6</count></action>
    <action method="setToolbarBlockName"><name>product_list_toolbar</name></action>
</block>

Block class of catalog/product_list is Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_List. And parent class of this block Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_Abstract has method addColumnCountLayoutDepend with two arguments:

//<action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend">'empty'      '6'
  public function addColumnCountLayoutDepend( $pageLayout, $columnCount)
  {
      $this->_columnCountLayoutDepend[$pageLayout] = $columnCount;
      return $this;
   }

We can dispatch this method using <action method="doSomeMethod"><param1>value</param1><param2>value</param2></action>. By the way this is actual methods of classes.

2.You can set any data to the block using magick getter and setters of Magento Object: setSomeData($value). Because of all blocks of Magento inherits from Varien_Object class:

<block type="core/template" name="left.permanent.callout" template="callouts/left_col.phtml">
    <action method="setImgSrc"><src>images/media/col_left_callout.jpg</src></action>
    <action method="setImgAlt" translate="alt" module="catalog"><alt>Our customer service is available 24/7. Call us at (555) 555-0123.</alt></action>
    <action method="setLinkUrl"><url>checkout/cart</url></action>
</block>

This is same with $block->setImgSrc('images/media/col_left_callout.jpg') and in template file you can use $this->getImgSrc() to retrive already setted data.

3.Dispath methods via reference:

<reference name="footer_links">
    <action method="addLink" translate="label title" module="catalog" ifconfig="catalog/seo/site_map"><label>Site Map</label><url helper="catalog/map/getCategoryUrl" /><title>Site Map</title></action>
</reference>

footer_links block is defined in page.xml layout:

<block type="page/template_links" name="footer_links" as="footer_links" template="page/template/links.phtml"/>

Open block class Mage_Page_Block_Template_Links:

public function addLink($label, $url='', title='', ....)
{
   //....
}

I hope this is helpfull.