Magento 1 - setTemplate in block class constructor does not work

Question

I try to overwrite the template app\design\frontend\venedor\custom\template\catalog\product\view\options\type\select.phtml with app\design\frontend\base\default\template\wr\catalog\product\view\options\type\select.phtml

So I have rewritten the constructor of the class Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_View_Options_Type_Select.

Hint: My Extensions Namespace is "WR" and the name of the Extension is "EPO".

class WR_EPO_Block_Catalog_Product_View_Options_Type_Select extends Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_View_Options_Type_Select
{

    public function __construct()
    {
        Mage::Log('my constructor was called', 7, "p.log");
        parent::__construct();

        $this->setTemplate('wr/catalog/product/view/options/type/select.phtml');
    }

The rewrite works fine, I get the log entry in p.log.

But the old template is still getting loaded. I already cleared the cache.

I successfully replaced another template in adminhtml the same way, so why does it not work in this case?

Answer 1

You just have to copy it from base to your current theme then, you clean a cache :

From :

app/design/frontend/base/default/template/catalog/product/view/options/type/select.phtml

to :

app/design/frontend/{current-theme}/{name}/template/catalog/product/view/options/type/select.phtml

Note : with your wr/ folder it will not work, in this case you should do it via xml. Magento know catalog/product/view/options/type/select.phtml and not wr/catalog/product/view/options/type/select.phtml

Update : If you want to change the architecture folders, you can do it via Xml like this :

app/design/frontend/{current-theme}/{name}/layout/local.xml

<catalog_product_view>
    <reference name="product.info.options.wrapper" >
        <block type="catalog/product_view_options" name="product.info.options" as="product_options" template="catalog/product/view/options.phtml">
            <action method="addOptionRenderer"><type>select</type><block>catalog/product_view_options_type_select</block><template>wr/catalog/product/view/options/type/select.phtml</template></action>
        </block>
    </reference>
</catalog_product_view>

Answer 2

I think you should change the template inside a xml.

Indeed, the Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_View_Options_Type_Select class (or parents) does not have a setTemplate method in constructor.

The template of this class (catalog/product/view/options/type/select.phtml) is set in app/design/frontend/rwd/default/layout/catalog.xml:251 (I just looked in the native rwd theme but you can find it in base theme too) with

<action method="addOptionRenderer">
    <type>select</type>
    <block>catalog/product_view_options_type_select</block>
    <template>catalog/product/view/options/type/select.phtml</template>    
</action>

So you should override it with the xml way.