Magento URL Rewrite Nightmare

Question

I have been at this for sometime now. I have read article after article and watched videos on youtube and I STILL can't figure this out. So I am asking for help on explaining how to use URL Rewrites with Magento and what I am doing wrong.

Here is what I have and what I am looking to do. Could you please describe to me in detail what I need to do?

System > Configure > Web Settings

Add Store Code to Urls = No
Auto-redirect to Base URL = No
Use Web Server Rewrites = Yes

1. Navigational Bar

   In my navigational bar I have a link called "Cost of Savings" . Nav path WHY ERG > Cost Of Savings

   Name = Cost of Savings Comparison
   URL Key = cos
   

2. CMS Page

   I have a CMS Page created CMS > Pages > Cost of Savings Comparison

   Name = Cost of Savings Comparison
   URL Key = cos
   

3. URL Rewrite System Settings for cos

   Type = System
   ID Path = category/41
   Request Path = about-erg/cos.html
   Target Path = catalog/category/view/id/41
   Redirect = No
   

4. Custom URL (I Created)

   Type = Custom
   ID Path = category/41
   Request Path = about-erg/cos.html
   Target Path = cos
   Redirect = No
   

5. What I am doing

   1. I go in to URL rewrites and I create the Custom rewrite using the info in step 4. Then before I save the new custom rewrite I delete the system rewrite magento created (step 3) because if I try to save the custom one it will error while the system one is present. After the system one has been deleted I then I save the new custom rewrite I created (step 4).

   2. Once I do this I go to the front-end and refresh the site then click on Why ERG > Cost of Savings and the pages loads wonderfully. But if I go to Magento's Index Managment (system > index management) and re-index tables then go back to the front-end and refresh the site the Cost of Savings doesn't work any more and Magento replaces my deleted System URL rewrite (step 3).

Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong and how do I get it so this doesn't happen and the Cost of Savings link works?

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you VERY very Much!!

Frank G.

Answer 1

If all you are wanting is to have an item in your main navigation that links to a CMS page without having to hardcode it into the navigation template or include it via a static block then you can use this guide here -> http://jc-designs.net/blog/2012/09/magento-adding-cms-pages-to-the-main-navigation/

There are a few out there but I always use this one (as I can never remember how to do it even after doing it umpteen times). Yes, it is ludicrously convoluted.

Answer 2

The best approach on this is to make the category display a static block and create a static block with the contents of your current cms page. and avoid all this url rewrite 's...tuff'.
An other approach would be to include the link of your cms page in the menu. Starting with Magento CE 1.7 there is an event that lets you add anything to the top menu page_block_html_topmenu_gethtml_before. See more details about it here.
The event above will allow you to put the link to your page at the beginning or the end of the menu. You cannot insert a link between the categories.
If you want to insert the link between some categories this might work: Have a category (like you do now) and hook on the predispatch event of the category view page to tell magento that for that specific category you want to display a cms page.
For this you will need a custom module. Let's call it Easylife_Redirects with the following files: app/etc/modules/Easylife_Redirects.xml - the declaration file

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <Easylife_Redirects>
            <active>true</active>
            <codePool>local</codePool>
            <depends>
                <Mage_Core />
            </depends>
        </Easylife_Redirects>
    </modules>
</config>

app/code/local/Easylife/Redirects/etc/config.xml - the configuration file

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <Easylife_Redirects>
            <version>0.0.1</version>
        </Easylife_Redirects>
    </modules>
    <global>
        <models><!-- declare extension models alias -->
            <redirects>
                <class>Easylife_Redirects_Model</class>
            </redirects>
        </models>
    </global>
    <frontend>
        <events>
            <controller_action_predispatch_catalog_category_view><-- hook on the predispatch of the category view page-->
                <observers>
                    <redirects>
                        <class>redirects/observer</class>
                        <method>redirectToPage</method>
                    </redirects>
                </observers>
            </controller_action_predispatch_catalog_category_view>
        </events>
    </frontend>
</config>

app/code/local/Easylife/Redirects/Model/Observer.php - the observer
Let's assume you category id is 41 (like your example) and the id of the CMS page is 3

<?php
class Easylife_Redirects_Model_Observer{
    function redirectToPage($observer){
        if (Mage::app()->getRequest()->getParam('id') == 41){//if on the specified category
            //I like naming my exceptions `up` before throwing them :)
            $up = new Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Exception();
            //prepare the forward to the cms page - The magento router will take care of the rest. 
            //The forward is done to the `view` action, from the `page` controller in the `cms` module. `array('page_id'=>3)` are the additional GET parameters.
            $up->prepareForward('view', 'page', 'cms', array('page_id'=>3));
            throw $up;
        }
        return $this;
    }
}