Magento: Using different footers for different page layouts - php

Question

I've tried various tutorials but I can't get this to work.
Basically, I want to have a different footer on my homepage. I've setup two page layouts and have applied them to the cms pages fine.
So in the homepage layout I refer to...
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('footer_home') ?>
And on all the other pages this...
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('footer_alt') ?>
Pretty simple!
Then in the page xml I've amended the part which refers to the footer as follows...
<block type="page/html_footer" name="footer_alt" as="footer_alt" template="page/html/footer_alt.phtml">
<block type="page/html_wrapper" name="bottom.container" as="bottomContainer" translate="label">
<label>Page Footer</label>
<action method="setElementClass"><value>bottom-container</value></action>
</block>
<block type="page/switch" name="store_switcher" as="store_switcher" template="page/switch/stores.phtml"/>
<block type="page/template_links" name="footer_links" as="footer_links" template="page/template/links.phtml"/>
</block>
<block type="page/html_footer" name="footer_home" as="footer_home" template="page/html/footer_home.phtml">
<block type="page/html_wrapper" name="bottom.container" as="bottomContainer" translate="label">
<label>Page Footer2</label>
<action method="setElementClass"><value>bottom-container</value></action>
</block>
<block type="page/switch" name="store_switcher" as="store_switcher" template="page/switch/stores.phtml"/>
<block type="page/template_links" name="footer_links" as="footer_links" template="page/template/links.phtml"/>
</block>
I think this is where the problem lies. With the above all pages show the 'footer_alt' footer and I'm not sure why.
I can confirm that 'page/html/footer_alt.phtml' and 'page/html/footer_home.phtml' are setup fine.
I hope that makes sense. Thanks.

Answer 1

All of these answers are way too complex for what is a straightforward solution. Rewriting is overkill. Rewriting Magento core, even if done properly, should always set off alarms and immediately compel that developer to thoroughly read the Magento source. In my experience, every Magento heartache is accompanied by a cryptic but entirely gratifying solution. This is one of those heartaches with a gratifying solution.
It comes as no surprise that Magento arbitrarily decided to ensure that the footer templates do not generate a unique cache key. This means that the footer cannot be different depending on the section of the site loaded; to be clear, it actually can, but only if the block cache is disabled. The block cache should never be disabled, though, so ultimately, this is tantamount to being restricted to a single footer across the entire site.
There are legitimate use cases for wanting a different footer in different parts of the site. For example, in the checkout: the checkout should be immersive and distraction-free. However, the moment any page on the site is hit, the footer from those pages will be cached, and then the checkout will display that same footer.
Solutions described here require either a core rewrite, which is no good, or some other conditional check, which will not reasonably scale beyond a few conditions.
My solution is simple: add a cacheKey to the new template. Target the layout handle for the given page, reference the footer, set the template, and then add the cacheKey. This is just standard Magento layout XML. This layout XML changes the footer on the onepage checkout--and only on the onepage checkout. Furthermore, caching will continue to work for every unique footer defined in this way.
<checkout_onepage_index>
<reference name="footer">
<action method="setTemplate">
<template>linusmoneymaker/page/html/checkout-footer.phtml</template>
</action>
<action method="setCacheKey">
<key>your-own-unique-cache-key-for-linus-moneymaker</key>
</action>
</reference>
</checkout_onepage_index>
This works for the following reason. Here is the source for app/code/core/Mage/Core/Block/Abstract.php, which handles all the block caching:
/**
* Get Key for caching block content
*
* #return string
*/
public function getCacheKey()
{
if ($this->hasData('cache_key')) {
return $this->getData('cache_key');
}
/**
* don't prevent recalculation by saving generated cache key
* because of ability to render single block instance with different data
*/
$key = $this->getCacheKeyInfo();
//ksort($key); // ignore order
$key = array_values($key); // ignore array keys
$key = implode('|', $key);
$key = sha1($key);
return $key;
}
Notice that if a cacheKey is defined, that one will take precedence over the one that will be generated from the getCacheKeyInfo method in app/code/core/Mage/Page/Block/Html/Footer.php, which does not produce a per-template unique cacheKey. By providing a cacheKey from the layout XML, Magento effectively abandons the default, non-unique footer cacheKey in favour of the one provided manually through the layout XML for the given part of the site.
Not only is this the proper way, but it scales infinitely. Every page on the site could realistically define its own footer.

Answer 2

The reason for you problem should be magento's block cache.
Like the header the footer is cached by default and
the cache key does not include the template
to verify its a cache problem try this first:
Check if the block cache is enabled.
Then navigate to your page. The footer on the first page should be on any of the following.
So if your first page view is your alt footer it will be on any other page and vise versa.
if the problem is the cache you should be able to solve this
by rewriting the "Mage_Page_Block_Html_Footer" and
modify getCacheKeyInfo() to include the template like this
public function getCacheKeyInfo()
{
return array(
'PAGE_FOOTER',
Mage::app()->getStore()->getId(),
(int)Mage::app()->getStore()->isCurrentlySecure(),
Mage::getDesign()->getPackageName(),
Mage::getDesign()->getTheme('template'),
Mage::getSingleton('customer/session')->isLoggedIn(),
$this->getTemplate()
);
}
this should solve your problem.

Answer 3

Create 2 static Blocks named "home_page_footer" and "inner_page_footer".
Open footer.phtml and place the following code.
<?php $home = Mage::getSingleton('cms/page')->getIdentifier(); ?>
<?php if ($home):?>
<div style="clear:both;">
<?php echo $this->getLayout()->createBlock('cms/block')->setBlockId('home_page_footer')->toHtml(); ?>
</div>
<?php else: ?>
<div style="clear:both;">
<?php echo $this->getLayout()->createBlock('cms/block')->setBlockId('inner_page_footer')->toHtml(); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
Hope it will help.