How to check IF getOrigData() has changed using Observer?

Question

I am using customer_address_save_after event to check do stuff when a customer address has been changed/edited.

I need to somehow prevent the execution of my code if the address hasn't changed. This is because the customer_address_save_after event fires on save customer which might mean the address hasn't been changed but a different customer config setting.

Here is what I have tried so far:

I set the $address variable with getData() and $orig_address with getOrigData()

I then want to check if the data has changed since the last save

if($address != $orig_address && $orig_address['updated_at'] < $address['updated_at']){

      Do stuff...

 }

I have done some searching and seen that there is a _hasDataChanges() method but I've never used it and cannot find any examples of it's use...

Any suggestions are welcomed

UPDATE

I've accessed the _hasDataChanges() method which is always going to be true if the save event fires due to the updated_at customer attribute. I need to find a way to exclude that part of the data from the check...

Answer 1

Before the after load events are dispatched, _origData and therefore _hasDataChanges are reset.

What you can do: Make your checks in an observer for customer_address_save_before, set a flag in your observer singleton, and check for that flag in customer_address_save_after:

public function checkAddressOnSaveBefore(Varien_Event_Observer $observer)
{
    if ($observer->getModel()->hasDataChanges()) {
        $this->addressHasChanged = true;
    }
}

public function doStuffOnSaveAfter(Varien_Event_Observer $observer)
{
    if ($this->addressHasChanged) {
        do_stuff();
        $this->addressHasChanged = false;
    }
}

The updated_at attribute is automatically set during save, so it should not influence the results in the first observer method.