How can I update the mini-cart without refreshing the page?

Question

After I have programmatically added an item to the cart, without reloading the cart page is possible to update the mini-cart, and, if so, how?

Answer 1

Yes possible.

You can update mini-cart ,without reloading the cart page .

Assume that you have using magento RWD mini-cart. In default magento, minicart_content block give mini-cart section content,so you need get that block content using ajaxfor your requirement

Let create a controller and render the content from an action.

<?php

class [CompnayName]_[ModuleName]_CustomController extends Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action
{
  public function ajaxcontentAction()
    {

        $result = array();

            try {
                $cart =Mage::getSingleton('checkout/cart');
            $this->loadLayout();
                $result['content'] = $this->getLayout()->getBlock('minicart_content')->toHtml();
                $result['qty'] = Mage::getSingleton('checkout/cart')->getSummaryQty();
                $result['success'] = 1;
            } catch (Exception $e) {
                $result['success'] = 0;
                $result['error'] = $this->__('some error');
            }

        $this->getResponse()->setHeader('Content-type', 'application/json');
        $this->getResponse()->setBody(Mage::helper('core')->jsonEncode($result));
    }

}