Display custom block on Homepage

Question

I have a problem with custom module and displaying custom block template on homepage.

I create a custom module to show product form specified category.

my config.xml file:

<config>
    <modules>
        <Vendor_Module>
            <version>0.1.0</version>
        </Vendor_Module>
    </modules>
    <global>
        <blocks>
            <vendor_module>
                <class>Vendor_Module_Block</class>
            </vendor_module>
        </blocks>
        <models>
            <vendor_module>
                <class>Vendor_Module_Model</class>
            </vendor_module>
        </models>
    </global>
    <frontend>
        <layout>
            <updates>
                <promotedproducts>
                    <file>promotedproducts.xml</file>
                </promotedproducts>
            </updates>
        </layout>
    </frontend>
</config>

my Model file:

<?php
class Vendor_Module_Model_Products extends Mage_Catalog_Model_Product
{
    public function getItemsCollection($valueId)
    {
        $category = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($valueId);
        $productCollection = $category->getProductCollection();
        $productCollection
                ->addStoreFilter()
                ->setVisibility(Mage::getSingleton('catalog/product_visibility')->getVisibleInCatalogIds())
                ->addMinimalPrice()
                ->addFinalPrice()
                ->addAttributeToSelect(Mage::getSingleton('catalog/config')->getProductAttributes())
                ->addUrlRewrite();
        return $productCollection;
    }
}

my Block file:

<?php
class Vendor_Module_Block_List extends Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_Abstract
{
    protected $_itemCollection = null;
    public function getItems()
    {
        $catid = $this->getCatid();
        if (!$catid)
            return false;
        if (is_null($this->_itemCollection)) {
            $this->_itemCollection = Mage::getModel('vendor_module/products')->getItemsCollection($catid);
        }
        return $this->_itemCollection;
    }
}

and here is my template file :

<?php $_items = $this->getItems(); var_dump($_items);die; ?>
<div id="promoted-product-list">
    <div class="block-content">
        <ul class="promoted-products-list">
        <?php foreach ($_items as $_item): ?>

        <?php endforeach; ?>
        </ul>
    </div>
</div>

and here is my custom layout file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<layout version="0.1.0">
    <default>
        <reference name="head">
            <action method="addCss"><stylesheet>css/promotedproducts.css</stylesheet></action>
        </reference>
    </default>
    <cms_index_index>
        <reference name="head">
            <action method="addCss"><stylesheet>css/promotedproducts.css</stylesheet></action>
        </reference>
        <reference name="content">
            <block type="vendor_module/list" name="promotedproduct" template="vendor/module/list.phtml"/>
        </reference>
    </cms_index_index>
</layout>

So, when i use

{{block type="vendor_module/list" name="promotedproduct" template="vendor/module/list.phtml" catid="252"}}

in my cms contact page it shows as i expected. but on cms_index_index it does not show. the custom css file is included, but the block does not show. It gives me a warning

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach()

, and when I use

$_items = $this->getItems()->getData();

it gives me an error that it is type boolean, but using var_dump($_items) on cms_contact shows me object, and var_dump($_items->getData()) shows me array with 4 elements (I have 4 product in this category).

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Try below block code

<block type="vendor_module/list" output="toHtml" name="promotedproduct" template="vendor/module/list.phtml"/>

Answer 2

O.K. I solved this problem. It was my fault. I didnt see this. When @GulshanMaurya told me to change $_itemCollection to array, i checked one more time this block code and i saw that there is $catid var, and when i called this block from cms contac page i give attribute catid="252", but when i tried to call this block on homepage i didnt give an attribute value and it return false. Set $catid solved it. When use the code from tutorial, read it twice :D