Events, is there a predefined list of events or not

Question

I want to know if there is a predefined list of events like this one https://www.nicksays.co.uk/magento-events-cheat-sheet-1-7/ or not because most of the events are dynamically named ?

Answer 1

I think that every Object extended from Mage_Core_Model_Abstract dispatches a lot events around loading, saving and deleting.

app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Abstract.php:255
Mage::dispatchEvent($this->_eventPrefix.'_load_before', $params);
// e.g. sales_order_load_before, checkout_cart_load_before

add checks, after the object was loaded

app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Abstract.php:267
Mage::dispatchEvent($this->_eventPrefix.'_load_after', $this->_getEventData());
// e.g. cms_page_load_after

to add additional data to the object before it is saved

app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Abstract.php:391
Mage::dispatchEvent($this->_eventPrefix.'_save_before', $this->_getEventData());
// e.g. catalog_product_save_before

To save other models after the "parent" was saved

app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Abstract.php:466  
Mage::dispatchEvent($this->_eventPrefix.'_save_after', $this->_getEventData());
// e.g. catalogrule_rule_save_after

clean up, before the model is deleted

app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Abstract.php:501
Mage::dispatchEvent($this->_eventPrefix.'_delete_before', $this->_getEventData());
// e.g. store_delete_before

Answer 2

Interessting question ... just to add to your answer ... there are a lot more "predefined" events:

Others from Mage_Core_Model_Abstract

• $this->_eventPrefix.'_delete_after'
• $this->_eventPrefix.'_delete_commit_after'
• $this->_eventPrefix.'_clear'

For DB collections from Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Db_Collection_Abstract

• $this->_eventPrefix.'_load_before
• $this->_eventPrefix.'_load_after

Good idea, but for module development it's very limited since a lot of Magento model classes have no _event_prefix set. Good example for missing prefixes is class cms_block where you have to use

$object = $observer->getObject();
if ($object instanceof Mage_Cms_Model_Block) {

This just covers the model classes ...for blocks and EAV collections there are no "eventPrefixes", just some very generic events like ...

• adminhtml_block_html_before
• eav_collection_abstract_load_before

If your are going to write custom extenions and want to take advantage of $this->_eventPrefix add one line to your model classes:

protected $_eventPrefix = 'some_model';

So you can observe events only for this model like some_model_save_before.

---

Note:

_save_after is a bit missleading, it is not after saving an object, it more the last data that should be saved.

/**
 * Save object data
 *
 * @return Mage_Core_Model_Abstract
 */
public function save()
{
    ...
    try {
        $this->_beforeSave();
        if ($this->_dataSaveAllowed) {
            $this->_getResource()->save($this);
            $this->_afterSave();
        }
        $this->_getResource()->addCommitCallback(array($this, 'afterCommitCallback'))
            ->commit();
        ...
    }
}

If you want to access the saved data (i.e. the new autoincrement ID) you should use _save_commit_after.

/**
 * Callback function which called after transaction commit in resource model
 *
 * @return Mage_Core_Model_Abstract
 */
public function afterCommitCallback()
{
    Mage::dispatchEvent('model_save_commit_after', array('object'=>$this));
    Mage::dispatchEvent($this->_eventPrefix.'_save_commit_after', $this->_getEventData());
    return $this;
}