admin page not showing my template

Question

I have a custom module with the following:

magento-project/app/code/local/Hunique/Customs/etc/config.xml

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
 <config>
<modules>
    <Hunique_Customs>
        <version>1.0.1</version>
    </Hunique_Customs>
</modules>

<global>
    <models>
        <custommodule>
            <class>Hunique_Customs_Model</class>
            <resourceModel>custommodule_resource</resourceModel>
        </custommodule>
        <custommodule_resource>
            <class>Hunique_Customs_Model_Resource</class>
            <entities>
                <custommodule>
                    <table>custommodule</table>
                </custommodule>
                <questions>
                    <table>questions</table>
                </questions>
                <answers>
                    <table>answers</table>
                </answers>
            </entities>
        </custommodule_resource>
    </models>

    <resources>
        <custommodule_setup>
            <setup>
                <module>Hunique_Customs</module>
            </setup>
            <connection>
                <use>core_setup</use>
            </connection>
        </custommodule_setup>
        <custommodule_read>
            <connection>
                <use>core_read</use>
            </connection>
        </custommodule_read>
        <custommodule_write>
            <connection>
                <use>core_write</use>
            </connection>
        </custommodule_write>
    </resources>

    <blocks>
        <custommodule>
            <class>Hunique_Customs_Block</class>
        </custommodule>
    </blocks>

    <helpers>
        <hunique_customs>
            <class>Hunique_Customs_Helper</class>
        </hunique_customs>
    </helpers>

</global>

<frontend>
    <routers>
        <custommodule>
            <use>standard</use>
            <args>
                <module>Hunique_Customs</module>
                <frontName>custommodule</frontName>
            </args>
        </custommodule>
    </routers>

    <layout>
        <updates>
            <custommodule>
                <file>custommodule.xml</file>
            </custommodule>
        </updates>
    </layout>

</frontend>    
<admin>
    <routers>
        <adminhtml>
            <use>admin</use>
            <args>
                <modules>
                    <Hunique_Customs before="Mage_Adminhtml">Hunique_Customs</Hunique_Customs>
                </modules>
            </args>
        </adminhtml>
    </routers>
</admin>

<adminhtml>
    <layout>
        <updates>
            <custommodule>
                <file>custommodule.xml</file>
            </custommodule>
        </updates>
    </layout>
</adminhtml>

Then I have the /magento-project/app/code/local/Hunique/Customs/etc/adminhtml.xml in the same folder

<config>
<menu>
    <hunique>
        <title>Hunique</title>
        <sort_order>1</sort_order>
        <children>
            <customs_qa module="hunique_customs">
                <title>Questions And Answers</title>
                <sort_order>1</sort_order>
                <action>adminhtml/custommodule</action>
            </customs_qa>
        </children>
    </hunique>
</menu>

Then in the desing i have: /magento-project/app/design/adminhtml/default/default/layout/custommodule.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout>
  <adminhtml_custommodule_index>
    <reference name="content">
        <block type="core/template" output="toHtml" name="templateBlock" template="custommodule/questions-and-answers.phtml" />
    </reference>
   </adminhtml_custommodule_index>
 </layout>

and I have the file /magento- project/app/design/adminhtml/default/default/templates/custommodule/questions-and-answers.phtml but that just contains an h1 tag with TEST in it now.

I also have the controller: /magento-project/app/code/local/Hunique/Customs/controllers/CustommoduleController.php

<?php
class Hunique_Customs_CustommoduleController extends Mage_Adminhtml_Controller_Action
{   
  public function indexAction()
  {    
    var_dump(Mage::getSingleton('core/layout')->getUpdate()->getHandles());
    $this->loadLayout();
    $this->renderLayout();
  }
}

I have the var dump to see if i had any handles but that is an empty array. My page loads from the admin menu.. My routes and admin menu work fine, i just can't get my phtml to show up... anyone that can point me in the right direction?

Answer 1

The code you provided should work as it is. Although both your config.xml and adminhtml.xml files don't have their <config> tags closed, I suspect you just made this mistake when pasting code here, because otherwise you'd see an error instead of a page with empty content area.

My advice is that you should search for typos in file names or wrong directories nesting. Also, your var_dump is empty, because you try to show layout handles before actually loading the layout. You have to switch the first two lines in your action:

public function indexAction() {  
    $this->loadLayout();
    var_dump(Mage::getSingleton('core/layout')->getUpdate()->getHandles());
    $this->renderLayout();
}

Also, you can also make sure that your admin panel uses the default/default package/theme or that it's in the fallback chain. If it's using some other package (e.g. custompackage/default), it won't look in default/default. If you're not sure, you can always place your layout update xml and your template in base/default instead. It doesn't exist in the admin panel, but you can create it and it will be used as the last fallback.

Let me know if it helps.