Show static image on category if no category banner uploaded

Question

I have the following code that displays my category banner image:

          <?php
            $_helper    = $this->helper('catalog/output');
            $_category  = Mage::registry('current_category');
            $_imgHtml   = '';
            if ($_imgUrl = $_category->getImageUrl()) {
                $_imgHtml = '<p class="category-image"><img src="'.$_imgUrl.'" alt="'.$this->escapeHtml($_category->getName()).'" title="'.$this->escapeHtml($_category->getName()).'" /></p>';
                $_imgHtml = $_helper->categoryAttribute($_category, $_imgHtml, 'image');
            }
            ?>

          <?php if($_imgUrl): ?>
          <?php echo $_imgHtml ?>
          <?php endif; ?>

I'd like to adapt the code, so that if no category banner exists an alternative banner is displayed. The alternative banner is stored in a static block called 'alternative_cat_banner'.

Can anyone suggest an edit to the code above to achieve this please?

Answer 1

Try this...

<?php if($_imgUrl) { ?>
<!-- Category has Image uploaded -->
<?php echo $_imgHtml ?>
<?php }else{ ?>
<!-- Category has NO Image uploaded, show static block named alternative_cat_banner -->
<?php echo $this->getLayout()->createBlock('cms/block')->setBlockId('alternative_cat_banner')->toHtml() ?>
<?php }?>