Magento

For the site I’m working on we needed to be able to drill down the category menu to view the products but still see the sub categories in the left column. Using app\design\frontend\OC\default\template\catalog\navigation\left.phtml I was able to do this BUT once you reached the bottom category the menu was blank because the code provided in Magento simply can’t find any more sub categories so shows nothing.  However, I needed the menu to be a bit smarter and to realise that it was at the lowest level and get the menu from it’s parent level instead and display that.

I have attached the replacement left.phtml file with the modified code.

left.phtml  (File Size: 4KB - Downloads: 387)

Dan,

I think you need to visit this site

http://www.magentocommerce.com/company/jobs

When I implement this code (looks great btw) and click into the lowest level of sub-categories, I get an odd error. Any ideas on how to get rid of this, or work around it? Seems like it is only at the last level or so.

exception ‘Varien_Exception’ with message ‘Invalid method Mage_Catalog_Block_Navigation::_getChildCategories(Array
(
[0] => Mage_Catalog_Model_Category Object
(
[_designAttributes:private] => Array
(
[0] => custom_design
[1] => custom_design_apply
[2] => custom_design_from
[3] => custom_design_to
[4] => page_layout
[5] => custom_layout_update
)

[_treeModel:protected] =>
[_defaultValues:protected] => Array
(
)

[_eventPrefix:protected] => core_abstract
[_eventObject:protected] => object
[_resourceName:protected] => catalog/category
[_resource:protected] =>
[_resourceCollectionName:protected] => catalog/category_collection
[_data:protected] => Array
(
[entity_id] => 4
[entity_type_id] => 9
[attribute_set_id] => 12
[parent_id] => 3
[created_at] => 2008-01-24 20:16:20
[updated_at] => 2008-04-25 13:48:56
[is_active] => 1
[path] => 1/3/4
[position] => 28
[name] => Furniture
[url_key] => furniture
)

[_origData:protected] => Array
(
[entity_id] => 4
[entity_type_id] => 9
[attribute_set_id] => 12
[parent_id] => 3
[created_at] => 2008-01-24 20:16:20
[updated_at] => 2008-04-25 13:48:56
[is_active] => 1
[path] => 1/3/4
[position] => 28
[name] => Furniture
[url_key] => furniture
)

[_idFieldName:protected] => entity_id
[_isDeleted:protected] =>
)

[1] => 0
)
)’ in /lib/Varien/Object.php:486

Dan, I tried your code but nothing changes, then I realized the file for the left column layered nav is view.phtml, in the layer folder, not the navigation\left. I am certain of this as I modified the class names and markup for the layered nav, and all along it’s showing my version.

Something I didn’t know about the ‘left.phtml’?

Click thumbnail to see full-size image

I am getting a similar error as a person above when I click on the generated sub categories.