Block Template not rendering

Question

I'm using Magento 1.9.1.1 with the latest patches on PHP 5.6.

I am attempting to add a dynamic link to the top.links nav on the frontend. I have managed to get to the point where my block seems to be loaded, but I do not see anything from my template. Here are the relevant files:

app/design/frontend/callcenter/default/layout/local.xml

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<layout>
    <default>
        <reference name="top.links">
            <block type="callcenter_frontadmin/adminaccount" name="adminaccount" template="frontadmin/adminaccount.phtml" />
        </reference>
        <remove name="left.permanent.callout"/>
        <remove name="right.permanent.callout"/>
    </default>
</layout>

app/design/frontend/callcenter/default/template/frontadmin/adminaccount.phtml

Hello, world!

My block is located in app/code/local/Callcenter/Frontadmin/Block/Adminaccount.php and is in fact being loaded (if I die() inside it, the site dies). If I substitute the <block> tag for something else, like an <action method="addLink" whatever I add seems to appear in the correct place.

Caching is turned off. Logging does not reveal anything suspicious in the logfiles.

EDIT: Here is my block

app/code/local/Callcenter/Frontadmin/Block/Adminaccount.php

<?php

class Callcenter_Frontadmin_Block_Adminaccount extends Mage_Core_Block_Template {

}

Answer 1

the top.links block is an instance of a template block. As such it doesn't automatically render child blocks. To render your block as a child of top.links you will have to edit the page/template/links.phtmltemplate within your theme and add an explicit render like this:

echo $this->getChildHtml('adminaccount');

...

gonna correct myself slightly, you should also be able to do this:

    <reference name="top.links">
        <action method="addLinkBlock"><blockName>adminaccount</blockName></action>
    </reference>

within your existing default node

Answer 2

UPDATE 1

Try this way from xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout>
<default>
<reference name="top.links">
  <action method="addLink" translate="label title">
       <label>Blog</label>
       <url>/blog</url>
       <title>Blog</title>
       <prepare/>
       <urlParams/>
       <position>1</position>
       <liParams />
       <aParams><![CDATA[target="_blank"]]></aParams>
  </action>
  </reference>
  <remove name="left.permanent.callout"/>
  <remove name="right.permanent.callout"/>
</default>

We are utilising a method called addLinks from Mage_Page_Block_Template_Links.php

/**
 * Add link to the list
 *
 * @param string $label
 * @param string $url
 * @param string $title
 * @param boolean $prepare
 * @param array $urlParams
 * @param int $position
 * @param string|array $liParams
 * @param string|array $aParams
 * @param string $beforeText
 * @param string $afterText
 * @return Mage_Page_Block_Template_Links
 */
public function addLink($label, $url='', $title='', $prepare=false, $urlParams=array(),
    $position=null, $liParams=null, $aParams=null, $beforeText='', $afterText='')
{
    if (is_null($label) || false===$label) {
        return $this;
    }
    $link = new Varien_Object(array(
        'label'         => $label,
        'url'           => ($prepare ? $this->getUrl($url, (is_array($urlParams) ? $urlParams : array())) : $url),
        'title'         => $title,
        'li_params'     => $this->_prepareParams($liParams),
        'a_params'      => $this->_prepareParams($aParams),
        'before_text'   => $beforeText,
        'after_text'    => $afterText,
    ));

    $this->_addIntoPosition($link, $position);

    return $this;
}

I am ignoring your app/code/local/Callcenter/Frontadmin/Block/Adminaccount.php class, if you have any function inside there, then you will need to create a simple extension for better approach.

OR like @Dave suggested

You will have to call <?php echo $this->getChildHtml('adminaccount');?> from your page/template/links.phtml file.

I would still call it from xml, easy to maintain in future.

Answer 3

If you are using modman to deploy your module, make sure that your Admin -> Configuration -> Advanced -> Developer -> Template settings -> Allow symlinks is "Yes".

This can also be done with an SQL query:

update core_config_data \
    set value = '1' \
    where path = 'dev/template/allow_symlink';