Custom Module Displays Blank Page

Question

I am trying to add my own module to the admin in version 1.x but I'm getting the blank page when I try to open the module

This is what I have managed to achieve so far;

1. My module appears as a menu item within the admin
2. When I click the link the controller/action fires but when I try to add the content and create the block I get a blank page.

My controller is as follows:

Foobar/Storelocator/controllers/Adminhtml/Store/IndexController.php

public function editAction() {  

    echo "We got here...";
    ....

    $this->_addContent($this->getLayout()->createBlock('storelocator/adminhtml_store_edit')

    ....

}

I have the following block setup:

Foobar/Storelocator/Block/Adminhtml/Store/Edit.php

class Foobar_Storelocator_Block_Adminhtml_Store_Edit extends Mage_Adminhtml_Block_Widget_Form_Container 
{

   public function __construct() {

        echo "____________";exit;

   }

}

  }

My config.xml:

<config>

....

<admin>
        <routers>
            <adminhtml>
                <args>
                    <modules>
                        <storelocator before="Mage_Adminhtml">Foobar_Storelocator_Adminhtml</storelocator>
                    </modules>
                </args>
            </adminhtml>
        </routers>
    </admin>

    <adminhtml>
        <layout>
            <updates>
                <storelocator>
                    <file>storelocator.xml</file>
                </storelocator>
            </updates>
        </layout>
    </adminhtml>

</config>

It seems that the construct of the block isn't reached. I've spent a day checking my class names and folder structure over and over and the server logs have not revealed anything.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

So the reason I was experiencing the issue was I was missing a <blocks> declaration in my config.xml. This is pretty obvious when you think about it but as a newbie who didn't set up a block in my previous module, I was missing some knowledge. Thanks to Marius who pointed me in the right direction.

Hopefully, this might save someone else suffering in pain with this issue!