Understanding Magento Block and Block Type

magento block
Anup_Tripathi picture Anup_Tripathi · Jul 9, 2011 · Viewed 85.4k times · Source

I just want to understand the meaning of

 <block type="page/html" name="root" output="toHtml" template="example/view.phtml">

I got many references from Google and understood many things about it but I am still unable to understand the formation of type="page/html" how to form a type for my custom module.

Please explain

type="A/B"

Let me know where this A and B come from?

Answer

Kamesh Jungi picture Kamesh Jungi · Aug 2, 2012

For understanding more about magento block types following are some built-in block types which are widely used in layout.

  1. core/template: This block renders a template defined by its template attribute. The majority of blocks defined in the layout are of type or subtype of core/template.
  2. page/html: This is a subtype of core/template and defines the root block. All other blocks are child blocks of this block.
  3. page/html_head: Defines the HTML head section of the page which contains elements for including JavaScript, CSS etc.
  4. page/html_header: Defines the header part of the page which contains the site logo, top links, etc.
  5. page/template_links: This block is used to create a list of links. Links visible in the footer and header area use this block type.
  6. core/text_list: Some blocks like content, left, right etc. are of type core/text_list. When these blocks are rendered, all their child blocks are rendered automatically without the need to call thegetChildHtml() method.
  7. page/html_wrapper: This block is used to create a wrapper block which renders its child blocks inside an HTML tag set by the action setHtmlTagName. The default tag is <div> if no element is set.
  8. page/html_breadcrumbs: This block defines breadcrumbs on the page.
  9. page/html_footer: Defines footer area of page which contains footer links, copyright message etc.
  10. core/messages: This block renders error/success/notice messages.
  11. page/switch: This block can be used for the language or store switcher.

This is a list of only commonly used block types. There are many other block types which are used in advanced theme implementations.

Related questions

Magento static CMS block in XML layout with two or more storeviews

I have two static CMS Blocks called "promo_en" and "promo_de" - translated for the two existing storeviews "en" and "de". I'd like to add them to the sidebar of some modules using the layout.xml files of the …

Read More
CMS page add block magento

I have in CMS->page "home page" file. In content i am writing line like this: {{block type="myfolder/newfile" template="myfolder/newfile.phtml"}} I want to render in content file newfile.phtml. What i am doing wrong ? My …

Read More
Change order of blocks via local.xml file

Is it possible to change the order of already existing blocks via the local.xml file? I know you can change the order of a block with the after or before attribute, but how can one change those attributes of …

Read More