Add Customer name to my custom collection

Question

I've a custom Model, with user_entity_id on database (it's creator of object). But I need to display customer name on admin grid (not customer ID) - an on other place.

Think I need to add some code on _beforeLoad function of my custom Collection, but don't find wich code can do this..

Do you have an idea ?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

You'll actually want to use afterLoad as you'll need access to the data you've loaded. This will add the customer name into your model:

/**
 * Load customer and add in the customer name to the mode
 */
public function afterLoad() {
    $_customer = Mage::getModel('customer/customer')->load($this->getUserEntityId());
    if($_customer && $_customer->getId()) {
        $this->setCustomerName($_customer->getName());
    }
}

You can then add a new column to your grid called customer_name.

Alternatively you could add a grid renderer for this column but it seems like having the customer name stored in the model could be more beneficial for you.