But if you work with clients or users who aren’t at your level of coding genius, you might want to bookmark a couple of resources to make your life easier for when you get questions. Sometimes it’s good to teach the basics so that we’re all on the same page.

Model View Controller

MVC, which stands for “model view controller”, is a common framework for web development. You need to understand MVC to grasp how Magento is put together. Rather than try to fumble my way through an explanation of MVC, I’ve included a couple of good resources below.

MVC Explained

• Nettuts featured a MVC guide for novices last month written by Pablo Pastor
• phpro.org offers a more in-depth how-to guide for the MVC framework

So why does any of this matter? Magento is feature-rich and complex. Half of setting a store owner up for success involves educating them. Give someone a sophisticated tool without explaining how it works, and they’ll think that it’s junk because it isn’t useful to them. But teach a man to fish…, eh, you get the picture.

Quick Summary:

1. High-level explanation of SVN
2. Who should use SVN
3. Why it should be used
4. Specific things to watch out for with Magento
5. Bonus: optional tools

1. A high-level explanation SVN

“SVN” (aka “Subversion”) changes and improves the development process. It is an “enhancement” to “CVS” which allows developers to maintain local, staging, and production environments. This is a best proactive for most software development (and Magento) projects. SVN relates to “Git” (though some prefer one more than the other) and is free to use.

Simply put, SVN is a tool that keeps a revision history of code over a period of time. You keep project code located within the repository and pull a copy of the entire code with one simple command (a total of about 6 seconds). In addition, any updates to the code are committed to the repository, which allows anyone who is “linked” to the repository to sync their code with the latest changes via one click of a button. A simultaneous, multi-user environment is thus organized for development and proper administration.

Just to reiterate – there are an incredible number of benefits to SVN… too many to mention here.

2. Who should use SVN

Everyone who works with Magento should use SVN. As a rule of thumb, SVN should be used in any significant software development project (unless you use Git).

3. Why SVN should be used

SVN allows multiple developers to build simultaneously in an organized fashion with a detailed history of the progress. This ensures that the live storefront (production environment) is always intricately cared for (read open for business). Every developer has experienced early on in their career the inevitable mistake of removing a file via FTP, only left to realize that file is lost in space and no longer retrievable. But large cocktails are no longer necessary to cope with such an event thanks to SVN. The developer’s life becomes easier; and the client’s business is safer. When used properly, SVN ensures reliability, integrity, speed, and fall-back recovery.

4. Specific things to watch out for with Magento

In our experience, there are a few specifics to watch out for when using SVN with Magento. Without getting too technical, here are a few things we’ve learned along the way:

+ You need to watch out for the caching within Magento. Utilizing SVN:Ignore is the key to allowing the local environment to cache correctly. I would recommend setting SVN to “ignore” for the following (at least) when maintaining separate environments:

• app/etc/local.xml (or use SVN lock instead for this)
• media/catalog/product/cache
• var/

+ If you use Beanstalk then you can streamline SVN managing with the “Deployment” tool within BeanstalkApp’s repository storage.

+ Use a test script. We’ve learned the hard way to stick to a quality test script as we merge different branches into the main SVN repository (used for production). Maintain a staging environment and use the test script from every angle prior to going “live” to production with the new changes.

+ For phases of a project, it helps to create a “branch” for each phase and a staging environment for each branch (assuming the project is large enough to call for it). This makes it easier to rollback and merge updates.

+ We prefer to keep the entire Magento directory maintained via a SVN repo. We do this so that we can upgrade, modify, and perform other changes locally prior to streamlining the changes to the staging and production environments.

5. Bonus: optional tools

At Elias, we fancy apps that make our lives easier. We invest a lot of time researching and trying out new apps to see how well they fit our business. So far we have found a few SVN tools that are worth mentioning. (Note: these may be Apple-specific. Forgive us):

• VersionsApp: A high-quality desktop application that allows one to manage repositories locally for streamlined management of code.
• BeanstalkApp: A sweet as online SVN storage service to host repositories full of code, revisions, and a great interface for management.
• Coda App: A quality code editor that integrates with SVN
• TextMate: Another quality code editor with SVN integration
• MAMP: A personal Mac server with Apache, Mysql and PHP
• VirtualHostX: A virtual hosting utility that works well with MAMP
• VirtualBox: A sweet virtualization product to run multiple operating systems
• Spoon.net: A browser-compatibility testing tool we’re just becoming familiar with

Those of you who are already familiar with SVN know that there is obviously much more to rave about. This post is intended to be a simplified “business use-case” for SVN and explanation of why it is a Magento best practice. We welcome you to chime in with other suggestions for us all to benefit from!

Houston, we have a problem

Elias faces this tension on a daily basis. Let’s say we receive an estimate request with project description from a new potential client. Ok, now what? We try to get more information. The potential client is trying to understand price. And agency partners want a faster way to incorporate Elias development costs into their bids for client Magento ecommerce opportunities. So I created packaged services to frame scope and help clients see the effects of feature configuration/development on price.

Solution (v1)

• Package services for typical client requests to quickly set expectations for scope and budget.
• Reduce package variation to minimal number of factors.
• Establish a conversational starting point when discussing a project with a new client.
• Make the purchase decision easier for clients.
• Distill scope differences between packages into an easy to consume format.

Result (v1)

Packages v1

While this initial version of our Magento service packages did set expectations for scope and budget upfront, it failed on multiple levels of design:

• The pricing was not simple.
• Awful borders held the table captive.
• Don’t even get me started on my poor original names

Solution (v2)

Tyler Tate recently featured a fantastic article in Smashing Magazine about minimizing complexity in user interfaces. He illustrated one of his points with a pricing chart from Typekit. Their example gave me the inspiration I needed to create version 2 of Elias’ packages:

Result (v2)

Packages v2

The great part about healthy teams is that a foundation of trust and respect makes it easier for conflict to lead to a better outcome than any individual could arrive at on their own.  In our case, Lee’s concern slowed down the conversation and made for a very healthy reality check with the partner .  After a quick conversation with his client, the partner modified the project scope to something more realistic and asked us to throw together an estimate for it.  Not only will we create an immediate benefit for the partner by finishing the project and creating cashflow, we will also built a solid relationship with this partner who likes us and will most likely choose to work with us on future Magento stores.

I am convinced that this type of interaction would not have happened even 2 months ago.  This is the sort of trust and mutual respect that is developed over time.  If you are looking for this type of team to interact with for your Magento store, theme, customization, or module then we would be happy to speak with you.  Just drop us a message on this form and we’ll be in touch.

James Turner: Just to be balanced, what are some of the perils that companies need to watch out for when they start to adopt open source?

Jeffrey Hammond: I’ll tell you: The number one peril that I run into is an overinflated set of expectations. And it usually goes something along the lines of, “Well, we’re going to dramatically reduce our software costs.” And there are some scenarios where that can happen. But in reality, what open source does, especially at the start, is it tends to shift your software costs. So, yes, you’re reducing the capital expenses and expenditures that you are paying for software bits and bytes. But, in most cases, firms that are starting with open source are still buying support contracts from organizations.

Given the typical expense for ecommerce systems, an enterprise etailer will still come out way ahead in the switch to Magento.  But it is important to note that the spending shifts from software costs to labor cost.  This is why it is imperative to work closely with your selected development team on the front end of a project to map out a solid solution.  As our lead developer at Elias, Lee, likes to say, “We want to have this project won before we get started.”

Here’s a head’s up for those interested in Scene 7 integration with Magento.

We’re excited for what Scene 7 brings to the table, and we hope to see it more throughout the Magento community in the near future. In an effort to back that up, we’re going to come out with a 4-part series on a project we recently did to integrate Scene 7 with Magento.

For those interests that are being peaked, feel free to check back with us to catch up on the following:

1. How we integrated the two (a high-level overview of Magento and Scene 7)

2. How to structure Magento for Scene 7

3. How to structure Scene 7 for Magento

We’ll try to keep it as straight-forward and basic as we can, as we’re very excited to see the Magento community start utilizing Scene 7 more.

Cheers,

Lee

Who’s Interested: Informative to the technical gurus
What: An alternative direction on how to show featured products on your Magento storefront home page
Magento Version Relevance: Any
Magento Store Setup: Any

My thought: “Why not let the Admin choose what products to display on the home page like every other category?”

If you’ve been involved in the community dialogue that constantly evolves through the Magento boards, you may have run across a topic mainly focused on ways for developers to display featured products on the home page.

There have been many directions taken with this, including the following as only a few to mention:

1. Install a extension and configure
2. Create an attribute, assign each product a value for that attribute, and then display products based upon the value they contain for that attribute
3. Use the CMS template code to display a certain category

I didn’t want to override any other solutions, but simply offer another approach – one that does not do the following:

• Modify any core code
• Require per-product management
• Install any extension

After my review, I still wanted a way that was more convenient for our client/administrators to be able to manage the products that display on their home page. Going through each product can become cumbersome, so what if they had one specific category that gets displayed all the time, and any products within it show up on the home page? That’s what I went for, and came up with the following:

1. Create a new “structural block” within Magento (see example, thanks Inchoo)
2. Create a (hidden) category within the Magento Admin
3. Modify the structural block to display that category in a specific way
4. Set the Category Id

Here are the files/modifications:

Structural Block

• app/design/frontend/*/*/template/catalog/product/featured-products.phtml

/*
Magento

NOTICE OF LICENSE

This source file is subject to the Academic Free License (AFL 3.0) that is bundled with this package in the file LICENSE_AFL.txt. It is also available through the world-wide-web at this URL:

http://opensource.org/licenses/afl-3.0.php

If you did not receive a copy of the license and are unable to obtain it through the world-wide-web, please send an email to license@magentocommerce.com so we can send you a copy immediately.

DISCLAIMER

Do not edit or add to this file if you wish to upgrade Magento to newer versions in the future. If you wish to customize Magento for your needs please refer to http://www.magentocommerce.com for more information.

@category   design_default
@package    Mage
@copyright  Copyright (c) 2008 Irubin Consulting Inc. DBA Varien (http://www.varien.com)
@license    http://opensource.org/licenses/afl-3.0.php  Academic Free License (AFL 3.0)
*/

<?php
/*
Product list template

@see Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_List
*/
?>

<?php //$_productCollection=$this->getLoadedProductCollection()

//var_dump($cModel); echo $cModel->getName(); die;

$cat_id = "7"; // category_id for "Featured Products"
$_productCollection = Mage::getResourceModel('catalog/product_collection')
->addAttributeToSelect(array('name', 'price', 'small_image'), 'inner')
->addCategoryFilter(Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($cat_id));

?>

<?php if(!$_productCollection->count()): ?>
<div class="padder">
<div class="note-msg">
<?php echo $this->__('There are no products matching the selection.') ?>
</div>
</div>
<?php else: ?>

<? // Removed List Mode ?>

<?php // Grid Mode ?>
<?php $_iterator = 0; ?>
<?php $_collectionSize = $_productCollection->count() ?>
<?php //var_dump($_productCollection->count()); ?>
<div class="listing-type-list catalog-listing padder">
<table cellspacing="0" class="generic-product-grid" id="product-list-table">
<?php $i=0; foreach ($_productCollection as $_product): ?>
<?php if ($i++%2==0): ?>
<tr>
<?php endif ?>
<td>
<p class="product-image">
<a href="<?php echo $_product->getProductUrl() ?>" title="<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($this->getImageLabel($_product, 'small_image')) ?>">
<img src="<?php echo $this->helper('catalog/image')->init($_product, 'small_image')->resize(95, 95); ?>" alt="<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($this->getImageLabel($_product, 'small_image')) ?>" title="<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($this->getImageLabel($_product, 'small_image')) ?>" />
</a>
<h5><a href="<?php echo $_product->getProductUrl() ?>" title="<?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_product->getName()) ?>"><?php echo $this->htmlEscape($_product->getName()) ?></a></h5>
<?php //echo $this->getPriceHtml($_product, true) ?>

</p>
</td>
<?php if ($i%2==0 	&#37; $i!=$_collectionSize): ?>
</tr>
<?php endif ?>
<?php endforeach ?>
<?php for($i;$i%2!=0;$i++): ?>
<td class="empty-product">	&#37;</td>
<?php endfor ?>
<?php if ($i%2==0): ?>
</tr>
<?php endif ?>
</table>
<script type="text/javascript">decorateTable('product-list-table')</script>
</div>

<?php endif; ?>

• app/design/frontend/*/*/template/cms/home.phtml (modify path/to/your/cms/page/home.phtml to be specific to your needs)

<?php //Home Page View ?> <div>
<?php //display featured products ?>
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('featured.products') ?>
</div>

• app/design/frontend/*/*/layout/page/page.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout version="0.1.0">
<!-- Default layout, loads most of the pages -->
<!-- Insert into existing page.xml file, do not replace this with your current file -->
<default>
<block type="core/text_list" name="featured.products" as="featured.products"/>
</default>
</layout>

Create new Category

This ccould be called “Featured Products”) and set the Admin->Catalog->Manage Categories->specificCategoryName->General Information->”Is Active” = “No”.

Display structural block

Either via CMS page or .phtml page through the CMS page:
(modify path/to/your/cms/page/home.phtml to be specific to your needs)

• CMS Page: {{block type=”core/template” template=”path/to/your/cms/page/home.phtml”}}
• .phtml page: inside CMS page->Custom Design:

<reference name="content">
<remove name="cms_page" />
<block name="home_page" type="core/template" template="path/to/your/cms/page/home.phtml">
<block name="featured.products" type="catalog/product_list" template=
"catalog/product/featured-products.phtml" />
</block>
</reference>
<reference name="root">
<action method="setTemplate">
<template>page/1column.phtml</template>
</action>
</reference>

Set Your Category Id

Now you should be able to checkout the code in the featured-products.phtml, and match the “7″ to your actual product category id. (see category id within the Admin->Catalog->Manage Categories->Your Category).

Now, any product inside that category gets displayed on the home page!

Please feel free to download the structural block files and place into your theme structure relative to the root Magento directory.

And take a look at the site we’ve used it on with our client, Keramikos Kitchen.

Let us know your thoughts!

Appreciative,
Lee