Adding a custom checkbox in sales orders admin grid

Question

I want to add a checkbox on admin grid in sales order page. I want to have in between "New order Rss" and "export menu".

Having a hard time figuring out how to do this as I am quite new to Magento.

Here is what I have done up to now:

I created a module and from what I have read, I should avoid doing rewrites. So I am trying to work it out with observers.

Here is the config of my module:

<config>
    <adminhtml>
        <events>
            <core_block_abstract_prepare_layout_before>
                <observers>
                    <training_testing>
                        <type>model</type>
                        <class>Training_Testing_Model_Observer</class>
                        <method>coreBlockAbstractPrepareLayoutBefore</method>
                    </training_testing>
                </observers>
            </core_block_abstract_prepare_layout_before>
        </events>
    </adminhtml>
</config>

Here is my observer:

class Training_Testing_Model_Observer {

    public function coreBlockAbstractPrepareLayoutBefore(Varien_Event_Observer $event){

        $block = $event->getBlock();
        if(!isset($block)){
            return $this;
        }

        if($block->getType() =='adminhtml/sales_order_grid'){

            // should i set a new admin grid template here??

        }



    }

} 

I am having a hard time trying to figure what should be my next step. Should I set a new template where I check if its the sales order grid block?

Added a link to show exactly where I want to have the checkbox.

Answer 1

If you want to switch out the template I wouldn't use an observer but the layout xml. Alltough I wonder what the checkbox is for. The fact that you have massactions and a mass select link should be enough no?

If you still want to add the checkbox on a custom environment, I suggest you override the app/design/adminhtml/default/default/template/widget/grid.phtml template.

and add your checkbox manually, if its for a Magento extension, I would advise you to think twice and maybe make a massaction button trough an observer like this:

<events>
    <core_block_abstract_prepare_layout_before>
        <observers>
            <myextension_core_block_abstract_prepare_layout_before>
                 <class>modeldeclaration/observer</class>
                 <method>block_abstract_prepare_layout_before</method>
            </myextension_core_block_abstract_prepare_layout_before>
        </observers>
    </core_block_abstract_prepare_layout_before>
 </events>

In your observer add:

public function block_abstract_prepare_layout_before($observer) {
        $block = $observer->getEvent()->getBlock();
        if($block instanceof Mage_Adminhtml_Block_Widget_Grid_Massaction && $block->getRequest()->getControllerName() == 'sales_order')
        {
            $block->addItem('my_action', array(
                'label' => 'My Action',
                'url' => Mage::helper("adminhtml")->getUrl('index'),
            ));
        }
}