Why Mage::getStoreConfig always return NULL

Question

I create a system.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <sections>
        <checkout translate="label" module="checkoutext">
            <groups>
                <remove_step_login translate="label">
                    <label>Remove Step Login</label>
                    <sort_order>10</sort_order>
                    <show_in_default>1</show_in_default>
                    <show_in_website>1</show_in_website>
                    <show_in_store>1</show_in_store>
                    <fields>
                        <step_login translate="label">
                            <label>Step Login</label>
                            <frontend_type>select</frontend_type>
                            <source_model>adminhtml/system_config_source_yesno</source_model>
                            <sort_order>3</sort_order>
                            <show_in_default>1</show_in_default>
                            <show_in_website>1</show_in_website>
                            <show_in_store>1</show_in_store>
                        </step_login>
                    </fields>
                </remove_step_login>
            </groups>
        </checkout>
    </sections>
</config>

i tried get value from field and display to screen but failed:

public function testAction(){
        $test = Mage::getStoreConfig('checkout/remove_step_login/step_login');
        echo $test;
    }

it's alway return null.

Answer 1

So for the sake of having an answer on a question. For a value to return from the function getStoreConfig it has to be saved in the database.

The default return of this function is null.

Note: there is also a function getStoreConfigFlag which returns a boolean