25 Apr

Nested XML Menus using addLink() in Magento

Natively Magento doesn't have a direct method to nest menu items using the page/template_links->addLink() function, but we had some menus that will never change and are best set in the layout XML rather than in the database/CMS. There is a feature to addLinkBlock() - but this relies on the block outputting the wrapping <li> - … Continue reading

20 Apr

Giving support access to Magento (for EE support) ... with a regex

As part of an EE upgrade, we've just hit a reproducable core bug with 1.11; as we have to focus on the other fixes, we're letting Magento's EE SLA'ed support take care of the core bugs. But, in order to do that, they need access to the machine. The Magento support IPs 207.86.19.64/28 216.127.124.224/27 67.88.151.96/28 … Continue reading

20 Apr

Maintenance page with Nginx with specific permitted access

At the moment, we're in a fairly complicated upgrade of a Magento live store and during the upgrade window, it is necessary to put up a holding page. A simple maintenance.flag file isn't going to cut it for this process, so cutting off users at the web server is more suitable. For this particular customer, … Continue reading

16 Apr

Magento Checklist for Design Elements

We are starting a new Magento Enterprise project today and whilst populating some of the base items in the Basecamp project, I thought it might be of use to the community to list the basic minimum items we add to our templating/skinning check-list for a Magento website. Ignoring any project specific pages/customisations, the following list … Continue reading

12 Apr

Magento Product Price Is Zero with Catalogue Price Rule

We have come across a somewhat critical core code error in Magento versions less than 1.5 when using the "Fixed Amount discount". Any SKU that the respective rule applies to results in the final sale price of the product being £0. This seems to only occur in certain scenarios, but is easily replicated on a … Continue reading

11 Apr

Success through the Magento Partner Program

First, I'll introduce who we are, we are Sonassi - a web development company that for almost 4 years has specialised in developing Magento stores, providing the fastest, most reliable and stable Magento hosting in Europe and providing Magento consultative services. Amongst our peers; Blue Acorn, Inchoo, Classy Llama, Sumo Heavy and a few more; … Continue reading

26 Mar

Stop Magento Permissions Errors ... Permanently

When working with customers not hosting with Sonassi Hosting, we continually run into the same permissions errors - along with the rest of the Magento using world. This isn't an issue if PHP runs as the same user as your FTP/SSH user, but if they are different, all kinds of headaches ensue. Whenever granted root … Continue reading