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Magento 101
Getting Started with Magento Development
Crash Course For PHP Developers

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Mathew Beane
@aepod
Director of Systems Engineering - Robofirm
Zend Z-Team Volunteer – Magento Division
Family member – 3 Kids and a Wife
Magento Certified Developer

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• The Magento application
• Common toolsets for Magento developers
• Quick start Magento development
 Brief Overview
 Install guide
 Backend Development
 Frontend Development
• About training & certification
• Magento 2
Todays tl;dr

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Magento Application
Overview & Best Practices

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• Magento Application
• Common Toolsets
• Magento Development Quick start
• Training & Certification
• Community Resources
• Magento 2
Magento

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What is Magento?
Magento is an open-source content management
system for e-commerce web sites.
- Wikipedia
• Open-source PHP E-Commerce Market Leader
• Large community
• Full Featured E-Commerce Platform
• Incredibly Flexible
• Highly Structured
• Steep learning curve because of complexity
• Enterprise Edition offers support and more
features
So its not a color, super villain or an
electrical generator?

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• Community Edition (CE): 1.9.2.1
• Enterprise Edition (EE): 1.14.2.0
• Magento 2 Merchant Beta (1.0.0-beta)
Currently in very active development.
Full refactor, introducing modern OO concepts.
Todays Magento

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Patch it…. Patch it now!!!
http://magento.com/security/news/which-security-patches-should-i-update-my-version-magento
Community member John Knowles produced this amazing patch guide.

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• Design Patterns
• Core code
• Configuration & Data Structure
• Frontend Designs
• Extensions
• Class Overrides
• Event / Observers
Magento Application Overview

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Magento employs the MySQL relational database management system, the PHP programming language, and
elements of the Zend Framework. It applies the conventions of object-oriented programming and model-view-
controller architecture. Magento also uses the entity–attribute–value model to store data.
- Wikipedia
Selected Design Patterns
 Model View Controller Pattern
Business logic happens in the models and the controller maps the model-data to the views. The block
system helps with rendering because Magento is heavy on the Model/View side.
 Front Controller Pattern
Magento uses an index.php which has a single point of entry Mage::app() which initializes the
environment and routes the request to the controller.
 Factory Pattern
Heavily used by Magento, a good example is the getModel() function which accesses models via aliases
from the configuration XML.
 Module Pattern
Magento relies on a very modular architecture, however a lot of functionality breaks this due to heavy
usage of the Mage core class throughout the application.
Magento Design Patterns
http://magenticians.com/12-design-patterns-magento

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Partial List of Core Files
• index.php
• app/code/core
• app/design/[adminhtml,frontend]/[base,default]
• js/libaryinstalledwithmagento/
• lib/libraryinstalledwithmagento/
• skin/[adminhtml,frontend]/[base,default]
For a complete list, download current Magento and look through the code.
Magento Core Code
Everything in
the Magento
zip file should
be considered
core code.

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• Magento allows class overrides on nearly everything.
• Magento’s Event/Observer mechanism is pre-built into most business logic. You can
add more if you need.
• Designs/Templates have a fallback system that allows you to utilize any of the core
layouts and templates, or replace them in your current design.
• Even the index.php? Outside of development and very rare implementations you
should never need to edit this.
Keeping Magento Core Clean

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• Patches: Magento releases patches that are not revisioned via
composer or version number.
• Updating Shared Libraries: For instance CM_Redis, or a payment
gateway that are included with core Magento.
On your local Copy:
Careful not to commit any changes from core, employ a .gitignore strategy.
• Changing core to learn about Magento is OK
• Changing core to debug is OK.
Magento Core Changes That Are OK

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Magento Core Directory Overview
Path Usage
/app/ Where most of the PHP resides
/js/ External Javascript library. Typically only used by extensions
that are including common assets.
/lib/ “External code library” With lots of core code, this can also
contain 3rd party frameworks and other goodies.
/skin/ CSS, Images and Javascript
/var/ Contains logs, reports, session files and a variety of other
goodies.
/ - Directory Root

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Magento Core Directory Overview
Path Usage
/app/code/community Downloaded modules built by Magento 3rd party
developers.
/app/code/core/ Core modules, out of the box Magento, do not touch.
/app/code/local/ Modules built for the specific application/store.
/app/code/

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Magento Core Directory Overview
Path Usage
/app/etc/local.xml Master configuration file for Magento,
contains database, cache and other
settings.
/app/etc/config.xml Default settings, with some directory
locations. Usually this is not touched.
app/etc/modules/ Modules loading configuration files.
/app/etc/

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Magento Core Directory Overview
Path Usage
/skin/frontend/default/default/css Default Theme CSS files
/skin/frontend/default/default/images Default Theme Images
/skin/frontend/default/default/js Default Theme Javascript
/skin/
Paths for skin directories fall into this pattern:
skin/<area>/<package>/<theme>/[css,images,js]
The same fallback strategy that is present for design layout and template files is present for skin
assets. If files are not found in your selected <package>/<theme> the application will follow the
fallback strategy and find the appropriate files in the default directories.

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“base” package with a “default” theme. (this theme is very barebones)
“default” package with “default” theme. (Default Magento historic theme)
“rwd” package with “default” theme. (Default Magento responsive theme)
“enterprise” package with “default” theme. (Default Magento Enterprise theme)
Magento Packages and Themes

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Magento Packages and Themes Fallback
Graph from: http://blog.belvg.com/magento-fallback-configuration-default-and-
specific-themes-packages-design-exceptions-temporary-theme-configuration.html
Package: custom_package
Theme: custom_theme
Never edit base/default, or default/default. These should be
considered core code. When creating a new design use the
override system creating a custom_package and custom_theme.

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• XML Based
• Hierarchical with overrides
• Used for configuration values (cached via Configuration Cache)
• Used for layout rules (cached via Layout Cache)
• xpaths are used in core_config_data table in mysql
• In the app you can call any config value using the xpath
• Scoped for different views
Magento Configuration Structure

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• Global Scope
 Default Values
 Used if not found in scope
• Website Scope
 Website scope is used to override global scope per website.
 Used to support Multi-Store environments
• View Scope (subset of website scope)
 Used for currency, tax, and language settings
 Typically shown as a dropdown for Language/Currency
 Limited Configuration Values Available
Magento Configuration Scope

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• Magento uses a basic CRUD Model
• There are three basic components to the data interface
 Model: Doesn’t contain database code
 Resource Model: Read/Write adapters for communicating to database
 Collection: PHP Object used to hold model instances, implements several
PHP Standard Library interfaces to work with the collection.
“Most Magento Models can be categorized in one of two ways. There's a basic,
ActiveRecord-like/one-object-one-table Model, and there's also an Entity Attribute
Value (EAV) Model.“
- http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/m1x/magefordev/mage-for-dev-5.html
Magento Database Interface Structure

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• Most of the tables are InnoDB
• Several Hundred Tables
• The DB can grow very large due to logging, carts, and other data
• Typically not edited by hand in any way at any time.
Selected Tablespace Areas:
 core_ : Many of the core system settings tables reside here.
 catalog_ : Stores products, categories, associations, and other data.
 customer_ : Stores the customer information
 sales_ : Quotes, invoices and orders, as well as other related data
Magento Database

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• Designs
 Layouts: XML Configurations
 Templates: phtml templates
 Static Files (css,js,media)
• Extensions
 Blocks: business logic interface for phtml templates
 Controllers: request routing
 Helpers: general functions and helpers
 Models: business logic interface for database
Magento Business Logic

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Magento Common
Toolsets

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•Zend Studio
Built in support for Magento, built on eclipse and a very nice platform for editing Magento.
http://www.zend.com/en/products/studio
•PHPStorm with Magicento Plugin
PHPStorm with the Magicento is also very popular.
https://www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/
http://magicento.com/
IDE Choices

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•Magento does well on the Zend Server platform. Zend provides
great PHP support. It has Z-Ray, tools for deployment,
monitoring and other features which make it very nice in
production.
•Newrelic: Magento even has an official plugin to send data to
newrelic. http://newrelic.com/robofirm
•blackfire.io : Used for tracing code, like newrelic + xhprof.
•Z-Ray: With built in support for Magento, this is a great way to
get insight into the application. Now available sans-zendserver.
Server Stack
http://magento.com/resources/system-requirements

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• N98-magerun:
https://github.com/netz98/n98-magerun
A must have CLI tool, the swiss army knife for Magento Developers.
• Alan Storm’s Commerce Bug:
http://store.pulsestorm.net/products/commerce-bug-2
This thing is amazing, best $50 I ever spent on Magento.
Application Stack

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Magento Quick Start
Overview

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• Installation: Manual and automated installation methods. And a
short discussion of source control.
• Development: The basic parts of an extension.
• Designs: Layouts and templates.
Magento Quick Start Itinerary

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Magento Quick Start
Installation

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• Operating System
 Linux x86-64
• Web Server
 Apache 2.x
 Nginx 1.7.x
• Database
 MySQL 5.6 (Oracle or Percona)
• PHP
 PHP 5.4 – 5.5
Magento System Requirements
• Optional Services
 Redis
 Memcache
 Apache SOLR
• Required PHP Extensions
 CURL
 DOM
 gd
 hash
 Iconv
 mcrypt
 pcre
 pdo
 pdo_mysql
 simplexml

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• http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/m1x/install/installing_install.html
Installing Magento from scratch is really only a couple basic steps.
1. Create database, database user and proper grants.
2. Copy source files into the webroot.
i. (Optional) Add sample data to database, and media to webroot/media
3. Set and confirm permissions on all files for webserver.
4. Point web browser at your webroot.
5. Step through the installer.
6. Do any post install tasks, because your done.
Manual Installation

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• https://github.com/rjbaker/simple-magento-vagrant
Name says it all, no puppet or chef. Virtualbox + Vagrant. Magento 1.9.1.0
with sample data. A little stale.
• https://github.com/mike182uk/magento-dev-vagrant-chef-solo
A more active and configurable vagrant install. Virtualbox, Vagrant and Chef.
Magento 1.9.2.1 with sample data.
• https://hub.docker.com/r/alexcheng/magento/
Ready to go docker container, you will have to do a little configuration to
make this one work. Magento 1.9.1.0, no sample data.
Automated Installation

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• https://github.com/Cotya/magento-composer-installer
Manage all your extensions, designs, and other stuff via composer.
• https://github.com/AydinHassan/magento-core-composer-installer
Manage core install with this community package. It makes it easy to update
your core if you require it using composer.
• http://packages.firegento.com/
A community repository of a lot of the common extensions that are used by a
lot of Magento developers.
Magento Loves Composer

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• git is really required for managing a Magento installation.
• Use symbolic links and .gitignore for volatile directories and sensitive files.
• When used with composer gitignore will require a more complex strategy.
• Checkout Fabrizo Branca’s presentations on this for a very in depth study:
http://www.slideshare.net/aoepeople/rock-solid-magento
http://www.slideshare.net/aoepeople/2014-04-magento-meetup-composer
http://www.slideshare.net/aoepeople/continuous-development-and-deployment-workflows-and-patterns
• Sonassi hass another great guide:
https://www.sonassi.com/knowledge-base/our-magento-git-guide-and-work-flow/
Keeping It Clean: Using Git

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Magento Quick Start
Development

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• Design Components
 Layouts: XML Configurations
 Templates: phtml templates
 Static Files (css,js,media)
• Extension/Module Code
 Configuration: Module status and xpath configuration values
 Blocks: business logic interface for phtml templates
 Controllers: request routing
 Helpers: general functions and helpers
 Models: Business Logic, Resource Models for DB, and Collections
 Installers/Upgrades: Keeps your extension up to date
Exploring Magento Extensions - Overview

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• Configuration File – Module Status
 /app/etc/modules/demo_example.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
<modules>
<Demo_Example>
<active>true</active>
<codePool>community</codePool>
</Demo_Example>
</modules>
</config>
Exploring Magento Extensions - Configuration

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• Configuration File – Module Status
 /app/code/community/Demo/Example/etc/config.xml
Exploring Magento Extensions - Configuration
• About the config.xml
 Merged into with the rest of the configuration
 Defines all models, blocks and classes for the module
 Similar to the app/etc/local.xml or data in the core_config_data table
 Controls installation and updates of module data

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• Extensions
 Configuration Files
• /app/etc/modules/demo_example.xml
 Blocks: business logic interface for phtml templates
• app/etc/code/community/Demo/Example/Blocks
 Layouts: extensions will have layouts as well as designs
• app/design/frontend/default/default/layout/demo_example.xml
 Media or Assets: extensions will also have these
• skin/frontend/default/default/[css,images,js]/demo/filename
Exploring Magento Extensions – Design Components

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• Extensions
 Controller:
• /app/code/community/Demo/Example/controllers/
 Helper:
• /app/code/community/Demo/Example/Helper/
 Model
• /app/code/community/Demo/Example/Model/
Exploring Magento Extensions

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• Easy and “Safe” way to override core functionality
• Files are placed in:
 /app/code/local/Mage/Catalog/Block/Navigation.php
• This will override and replace
 /app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Block/Navigation.php
Copy the file from the original and edit as you would expect. Use this
method very sparingly.
Not preferred and some still consider this editing core.
Using Core Class Overrides

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• Easy and “Safer” way to override core functionality
• Requires an extension to create a class rewrite
• Chain rewrites together to create complex dependencies
• config.xml
<config>
<global>
<models>
<catalog>
<rewrite>
<product>Demo_Example_Model_Product</product>
<rewrite>
</catalog>
</blocks>
</global>
</config>
Extending a Magento Class - Rewrites

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• App/code/community/Demo/Example/Product.php
<?php
include(‘Mage/Catalog/Model/Product.php’);
class Demo_Example_Model_Product extends Mage_Catalog_Model_Product{
// Functions here will be in the Magento Catalog Product Model Class
}
• Extends Core class
• Preserves code through upgrade
• Safer than just overriding the whole class, because its isolated in an
extension.
• Winner takes all strategy makes this bothersome as site grows.
Extending a Magento Class - Rewrites

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• Config.xml Node
<config>
<global>
<blocks>
<exampleblock>
<class>Demo_Example_Block</class>
</exampleblock>
</blocks>
</global>
</config>
• Block Skeleton:
<?php
class Demo_Example_Block_Blockname
extends Mage_Core_Block_Template{
//Functions that would be called in phtml
// they would use the $this->functionName to call them
}
Blocks

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• The proper way to hook into Magento Business Logic
• Declared in config.xml
• Many Observers to One Event
• Observers are Models in the modules Model/ directory
app/code/community/Demo/Example/Model/Observer.php
<?php
class Demo_Example_Model_Observer
{
public function custom_method($observer) {
$event = $observer->getEvent();
// Some sort of business logic here
}
}
Events / Observers

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• Observers observe events via a declaration in etc/config.xml
<config>
<global>
<events>
<exampleobserver>
<observers>
<demo_example_eventname_observer>
<type>singleton</type>
<class>example/observer</class>
<method>custom_method</method>
</demo_example_eventname_observer>
</observers>
</ exampleobserver >
</ events >
</global>
</config>
• List of events in CE 1.9
https://wiki.magento.com/display/m1wiki/Magento+1.x+Events+Reference
Observer – config.xml

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• Config.xml Node
<config>
<frontend>
<routers>
<example>
<use>standard></use>
<args>
<module>Demo_Example</module>
<frontName>exampleroute</frontname>
</args>
</example>
</routers>
</config>
Controller – config.xml

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• Example: http://examplemagento.com/exampleroute/shipping
app/code/community/Demo/Example/controllers/IndexController.php
<?php
class Demo_Example_IndexController extends
Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action
{
public function shippingAction() {
echo “shipped it!”;
exit;
//more typically you will see it as
// some business logic first and then
// $this->loadLayout()->renderLayout();
}
}
Controller – IndexController.php

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$model = Mage::getModel(‘example/foo’);
• Config.xml Node
<config>
<global>
<models>
<foo>
<class>Demo_Example_Model</class>
</foo>
</models>
</global>
</config>
app/code/community/Demo/Example/Model/Foo.php
<?php
class Demo_Example_Model_Foo extends
Mage_Core_Model_Abstract
{
protected function _construct()
{
// Some sort of work to be done by this model
}
}
Model

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• Instanced with config.xml
• Used to wrap Mysql functionality, away from the business logic
inside model
• Uses simple CRUD Interface for Magento
• Read and write adapters can be separated
• Too complex to cover in this presentation
Resource Models

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• Lists of Models – An Array with a few PHP Standard Lib Interfaces
#Grabs all products
$_products = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')
->getCollection()
->addAttributeToSelect('*');
# filter to a single sku
$_products->addFieldToFilter(‘sku’,’12345’);
# print out the whole lot
foreach($_products as $product){
var_dump($product->getData());
}
Model Collections

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• Uses the module version in app/etc/module/Demo_Example.xml
and compares against core_resource
• Requires resource models to be setup properly
• Install and upgrade scripts live in:
app/code/community/Demo/Example/sql/uniquename/
 Install-0.1.0.1.php would contain and $installer
• This will fire off on ANY request if the config_cache is cleared,
“upgrading” modules can be confusing.
• Good Write up on this:
http://alanstorm.com/magento_setup_resources
Install and Upgrade Scripts

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Magento Quick Start
Designs

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• Designs can easily become extensions and become dependent on
extensions easily.
• Designs are also highly dependent on the front-end HTML choices
that are made.
• Magento has a built in Responsive Design(RWD)
• When designing for an existing or new site, there are a lot more
constraints than when looking at extensions.
Designs and Design Choices

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• Layouts can drive how the page is displayed
• Here is an example of setting a page to be 1 column wide:
<demo_index_index>
<reference name=“root”>
<action method=“setTemplate”>
<template>page/1column.php</template>
</action>
</reference>
</demo_index_index>
Layout XML files

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• Layouts also drive what loads where (blocks and templates)
• Here is an example of displaying mymodule’s content block:
<demo_index_index>
<reference name=“content”>
<block type=“core/template” name=“awesome_content”
template=“mymodule/awesome_content.phtml”>
</reference>
</demo_index_index>
Layout XML files – Blocks and Templates

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• Layouts are powerful, we can add content to EVERY page too!
• Here is an example of pulling in a tag on every page:
<default>
<reference name=“head”>
<action method="addJs">
<script>mytag/tag.js</script>
</action>
</reference>
</default>
Layout XML files - Pages

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• Templates are our key to theming Magento
• Templates are created as “.phtml” documents
• Magic variable “$this” allows us to access parent block class
• Template best practices:
 Frontend components should be as modular as possible
 Logic should only be used when coming directly from parent block class
 Backend logic (i.e. querying data) should NEVER live in templates
 Responsive frameworks make prototyping easier and faster
Magento Designs – Template files and blocks

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Acumen is a 5 year old theme by Gravity Department
http://themeforest.net/item/acumen-the-highly-extensible-magento-theme/978466
• 960 Grid
• HTML5 + CSS3
• High Quality
• Loaded to the gills with widgets and features
• Maintained by author
• Not Responsive Design
Great Starting Theme: Acuman ($94)

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Magento Training
and Certification
Learning Magento

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• StackExchange: https://magento.stackexchange.com/
Very active community, easy to get answers.
• Magento site: http://magento.com/training/overview
Tons of resources, documentations for Magento 1 is in a great spot.
• Locally: www.magetraining.us
Current all classes booked up, but they have great course work and I
have really enjoyed working with their team.
• Blogs:
 Alan Storm: http://alanstorm.com/
 Belvg: http://blog.belvg.com/
 Ichoo: http://inchoo.net/category/magento/
Magento Training

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• Magento has 4 Certifications:
 CERTIFIED SOLUTION SPECIALIST
 FRONT END DEVELOPER
 CERTIFIED DEVELOPER
 CERTIFIED DEVELOPER PLUS
Magento Certification
“Experienced Magento professionals can validate their real-world skills by earning a Magento
Certification. Magento Certification Exams are geared toward professionals who want to
differentiate themselves from the competition with the ultimate Magento credential.”
- http://magento.com/training/catalog/certification

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• Basics: Introduction to Magento code hierarchies, modules and configuration.
• Request Flow: Learn how Magento bootstraps itself and handles requests.
• Rendering: Understand how pages are rendered - themes, layouts, blocks and templates
• Databases: Discover models, resources models and collections.
• EAV: Entity Attribute Value tables, explained.
• Adminhtml: Manage admin area forms and grids.
• Catalog: Find out about categories, products, layered navigation and taxes.
• Checkout: Covering quotes, orders and shipping and payment methods
• Sales: Order creation and management
• Advanced: API and Widgets etc
Magento Certification Subjects

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• http://info.magento.com/rs/magentocommerce/images/Certification-Study-Guide-MCD-v1.pdf
Official study guide, a good starting point for studying for the exam. It will give you a broad overview of the
subjects.
• http://magento.com/training/catalog/technical-track
On-demand course, really quite a good course even if a bit dated. Then again, so is the test.
• http://magento.com/training/catalog/moderators-kit
Cheap alternative, covers the entire gamut of the test and is really a great learning tool for teams.
• http://magecert.com/
Put together by some of the community as a way to dig into examples for each of the subjects in the test.
• https://shop.vinaikopp.com/grokking-magento/
A great companion to the moderators kit, with Vinai Kopp taking you through each of the examples for the
first part of the moderator kit.
Certification Study Guides

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Magento 2

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Magento 2 - Release Information
http://www.envoydigital.com/files/6014/4188/1475/magento2timeline.gif

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Magento 2 - What's under the hood?
http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.0/architecture/archi_perspectives/arch_diagrams.html

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• Very modular with a strong backbone in open-source
• CE will not have all of the scalability and clustering features
• Many Client-side and frontend enhancements
• Up to 3 master databases for separate business domains
Main (Catalog),Checkout and Order
• Varnish support out of the box (Swapable for FPC)
• Support for RabbitMQ and other queueing systems
Present in the deferred stock update feature
• Asynchronous order insertion
Magento 2 – Quick Feature Overview

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• https://github.com/magento/magento2
You can branch, make Pull Requests and they are actively participating in issues
there.
• http://magento.com/developers/magento2
Central hub for all the official Magento 2 information
• http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.0/architecture/arch_whatis.html
Documentation, which is still being developed actively. You can branch and PR here
as well.
• http://magento.com/training/catalog/fundamentals-of-magento-2-development
Magento 2 training course, on-demand. Still in development, however its very
inexpensive right now.
• https://magento.com/security/news/join-magento-2-security-challenge
Magento 2 Bug Bounty. Get paid to hack Magento 2.
Magento 2 - Get Involved

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Magento Talks here at Zendcon
Thijs Feryn: Making Magento Go Fast
Catch this talk Tuesday at 2:45PM in Artist 2
Fabrizio Branca: How to Build a Pure Evil Magento Module
Catch this talk Tuesday at 4:00pm in Artist 3
Mathew Beane: Z-Ray & Magento: A Customizable Development Tool Belt
Catch this talk Wednesday at 11:00am in Artist 4
Fabrizio Branca: Rock-solid Magento Development and Deployment Workflows
Catch this talk Wednesday at 2:45PM in Artist 5
Joshua Warrens: Magento 2 – An Introduction to a Modern PHP-Based System
Catch this talk Wednesday at 4:00PM in The Joint

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• My Family – For putting up with me making these slides.
• Magento Community – Very good people, deserve a lot of thanks.
• PHP Community – For just being so damned cool.
• Ben Marks - Community Magento @benmarks on twitter
• Zend – Another great team to be a part of.
• Robofirm – They also put up with me making these slides.
Thanks

74.
Contact
Twitter: @aepod
mbeane@robofirm.com
https://joind.in/talk/view/15524
THANKS FOR ATTENDING