inserting custom block above coupon block in shopping cart

Question

How do I insert a custom block right above the coupon code field in the shopping cart by just using the layout.xml (without editing the template using getChildHtml()).

I had done it before now i just cant seem to remember the block name..

Answer 1

Add the following code in your themes local.xml and check.

<checkout_cart_index translate="label">
<reference name="checkout.cart">
<block type="core/template" before="coupon" name="sample" template="sample.phtml"/>
</reference>
</checkout_cart_index>

Answer 2

Magento provides a placeholder for extensions or custom blocks that you can use which is called checkout.cart.extra as you can see from the cart.phtml template:

<div class="col-2">
    <?php /* Extensions placeholder */ ?>
    <?php echo $this->getChildHtml('checkout.cart.extra') ?>
    <?php echo $this->getChildHtml('coupon') ?>
    <?php if (!$this->getIsVirtual()): echo $this->getChildHtml('shipping'); endif; ?>
</div>

So you can totally do the following in your local.xml file:

<checkout_cart_index>
    <reference name="checkout.cart">
        <block type="core/text_list" name="checkout.cart.extra" translate="label">
            <label>Checkout Forms Extra</label>
            <block type="core/template" name="my.custom.block" template="path/to/template.phtml"/>
        </block>
    </reference>
</checkout_cart_index>