Custom Admin Module Grid - Header Text Not Showing but Grid Showing

Question

I am creating a custom backend module that has a grid. All the functionality is working fine except that the content-header portion is not showing. this means that the "add entry" button also does not appear.

As you can see in the code below, i have added debugging log statements to check if the code is running. for all of them, the statements gets logged as expected... except for the __construct() method in rules.php (the grid container file).

Thank you in advance for the help!

Config.xml:

<config>
 <modules>
 <Mycompany_Mymodule>
 <version>1.0.0</version>
 </Mycompany_Mymodule>
 </modules>
 <global>
 <models>
 <mycompany_mymodule>
 <class>Mycompany_Mymodule_Model</class>
 <resourceModel>mycompany_mymodule_resource</resourceModel>
 </mycompany_mymodule>
 <mycompany_mymodule_resource>
 <class>Mycompany_Mymodule_Model_Resource</class>
 <entities>
 <rules>
 <table>mycompany_mymodule_rules</table>
 </rules> 
 </entities>
 </mycompany_mymodule_resource>
 </models>
 <resources>
 <mycompany_mymodule_setup>
 <setup>
 <module>Mycompany_Mymodule</module>
 </setup>
 </mycompany_mymodule_setup>
 </resources> 
 <blocks>
 <mycompany_mymodule>
 <class>Mycompany_Mymodule_Block</class>
 </mycompany_mymodule>
 </blocks>
 <helpers>
 <mycompany_mymodule>
 <class>Mycompany_Mymodule_Helper</class>
 </mycompany_mymodule>
 </helpers>
 </global>
 <admin>
 <routers>
 <adminhtml>
 <args>
 <modules>
 <Mycompany_Mymodule before="Mage_Adminhtml">Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml</Mycompany_Mymodule>
 </modules>
 </args>
 </adminhtml>
 </routers>
 </admin>
 <adminhtml>
 <layout>
 <updates>
 <mycompany_mymodule>
 <file>mycompany/mymodule.xml</file>
 </mycompany_mymodule>
 </updates>
 </layout>
 </adminhtml>
</config>

Adminhtml.xml:

<config>
 <menu>
 <mycompany_mymodule translate="title" module="mycompany_mymodule">
 <title>Customer Sort</title>
 <sort_order>100</sort_order>
 <children>
 <rules translate="title" module="mycompany_mymodule">
 <title>Rules</title>
 <sort_order>10</sort_order>
 <action>adminhtml/mycompany_mymodule_rules</action>
 </rules>
 </children>
 </mycompany_mymodule>
 </menu>
</config>

RulesController.php:

<?php
class Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml_Mycompany_Mymodule_RulesController extends Mage_Adminhtml_Controller_Action
{
 public function indexAction()
 {
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml_Mycompany_Mymodule_RulesController indexAction" );
 $this->loadLayout();
 $this->_setActiveMenu('mycompany_mymodule');
 $this->_addContent($this->getLayout()->createBlock('mycompany_mymodule/adminhtml_rules_grid'));
 $this->renderLayout();
 }
 public function gridAction(){
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml_Mycompany_Mymodule_RulesController gridAction" );
 $this->loadLayout();
 $this->getResponse()->setBody(
 $this->getLayout()->createBlock('mycompany_mymodule/adminhtml_rules_grid')->toHtml()
 );
 }
 public function editAction()
 {
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml_Mycompany_Mymodule_RulesController editAction" );
 $this->loadLayout();
 $this->_setActiveMenu('mycompany_mymodule');
 $this->_addContent($this->getLayout()->createBlock('mycompany_mymodule/adminhtml_rules_edit'));
 $this->renderLayout();
 }
 public function newAction()
 { 
 // We just forward the new action to a blank edit form
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml_Mycompany_Mymodule_RulesController newAction " );
 $this->_redirectReferer();
 } 
 public function saveAction()
 {
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml_Mycompany_Mymodule_RulesController saveAction " );
 $this->_redirect('*/*/');
 } 
 public function deleteAction()
 {
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml_Mycompany_Mymodule_RulesController deleteAction " );
 $this->_redirect('*/*/');
 } 
 public function massDeleteAction()
 {
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml_Mycompany_Mymodule_RulesController massDeleteAction" );
 $this->_redirectReferer();
 } 
}

Rules.php:

<?php
class Mycompany_Mymodule_Block_Adminhtml_Rules extends Mage_Adminhtml_Block_Widget_Grid_Container {
 public function __construct(){
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Block_Adminhtml_Rules" );
 $this->_blockGroup = 'mycompany_mymodule'; # the first part of the grouped class name, i.e. (some_module)/whatever
 $this->_controller = 'adminhtml_rules';
 $this->_headerText = Mage::helper('mycompany_mymodule')->__('Manage Rules');
 $this->_addButtonLabel = Mage::helper('mycompany_mymodule')->__('Add New Rule');
 parent::__construct();
 }
}

Grid.php

<?php
class Mycompany_Mymodule_Block_Adminhtml_Rules_Grid extends Mage_Adminhtml_Block_Widget_Grid
{
 public function __construct()
 {
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Block_Adminhtml_Rules_Grid" );
 parent::__construct(); 
 $this->setId('rulesGrid'); 
 $this->setDefaultSort('rules_id'); 
 $this->setDefaultDir('asc'); 
 $this->setSaveParametersInSession(true); 
 $this->setUseAjax(true);
 }
 protected function _prepareCollection(){
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Block_Adminhtml_Rules_Grid _prepareCollection" );
 $collection = Mage::getModel('mycompany_mymodule/rules')->getCollection();
 $this->setCollection($collection);
 return parent::_prepareCollection();
 }
 protected function _prepareColumns()
 {
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Block_Adminhtml_Rules_Grid _prepareColumns" );
 $this->addColumn(
 'rules_id', 
 array(
 'type' => 'number', 
 'header' => Mage::helper('mycompany_mymodule')->__('ID'),
 'width' => '30px',
 'index' => 'rules_id', 
 'sortable' => true, 
 )
 );
 $this->addColumn(
 'searchstring',
 array(
 'header' => Mage::helper('mycompany_mymodule')->__('Search String'),
 'width' => '400px',
 'index' => 'searchstring',
 )
 );
 $this->addColumn(
 'destination',
 array(
 'type' => 'number',
 'header' => Mage::helper('mycompany_mymodule')->__('Destination'),
 'width' => '50px',
 'index' => 'destination', 
 )
 ); 
 $this->addColumn(
 'order',
 array(
 'type' => 'number',
 'header' => Mage::helper('mycompany_mymodule')->__('Order'),
 'width' => '50px',
 'index' => 'order', 
 ) 
 );
 $this->addColumn(
 'enabled',
 array(
 'type' => 'number',
 'header' => Mage::helper('mycompany_mymodule')->__('Enabled'),
 'width' => '50px',
 'index' => 'enabled', 
 ) 
 ); 
 return parent::_prepareColumns();
 }
 public function getRowUrl($row)
 { 
 return $this->getUrl('*/*/edit', array('rules_id' => $row->getId()));
 }
 protected function _prepareMassaction()
 {
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Block_Adminhtml_Rules_Grid _prepareMassaction" );
 $this->setMassactionIdField('mass_id');
 $this->getMassactionBlock()->setFormFieldName('mass');
 $this->getMassactionBlock()->addItem(
 'delete',
 array(
 'label' => Mage::helper('mycompany_mymodule')->__('Delete'),
 'url' => $this->getUrl('*/*/massDelete'),
 'confirm' => Mage::helper('mycompany_mymodule')->__('Are you sure?')
 )
 );
 return $this;
 }
}

--UPDATE--

mymodule.xml

<layout>
 <adminhtml_rules_index>
 <reference name="content">
 <block type="mycompany_mymodule/adminhtml_rules" name="mycompany_mymodule_rules" />
 </reference>
 </adminhtml_rules_index>
</layout>

Answer 1

You don't need to specify some layout XML here.

The problem here is that your controller code:

 $this->loadLayout();
 $this->_setActiveMenu('mycompany_mymodule');
 $this->_addContent($this->getLayout()->createBlock('mycompany_mymodule/adminhtml_rules_grid'));
 $this->renderLayout();

Will do the following:

• load your layout XML file
• add mycompany_mymodule/adminhtml_rules to the content using your layout XML
• this block will automatically add the grid block
• add mycompany_mymodule/adminhtml_rules_grid to the content using your controller code
• render the layout

First you need to replace:

$this->_addContent($this->getLayout()->createBlock('mycompany_mymodule/adminhtml_rules_grid'));

With:

$this->_addContent($this->getLayout()->createBlock('mycompany_mymodule/adminhtml_rules'));

Then you can get rid of your layout XML file and that should fix your problem. Don't forget to get rid of the declaration in your config.xml as well

Answer 2

change your Rules.php

<?php
 class Mycompany_Mymodule_Block_Adminhtml_Rules extends Mage_Adminhtml_Block_Widget_Grid_Container {
 public function __construct(){
 parent::__construct();
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Block_Adminhtml_Rules" );
 $this->_blockGroup = 'mycompany_mymodule'; # the first part of the grouped class name, i.e. (some_module)/whatever
 $this->_controller = 'adminhtml_rules';
 $this->_headerText = Mage::helper('mycompany_mymodule')->__('Manage Rules');
 $this->_addButtonLabel = Mage::helper('mycompany_mymodule')->__('Add New Rule');
}
}

and put parent::__construct(); at the starting of your function and try again and let me know its working or not

Answer 3

Update indexAction() function code to follwing

public function indexAction()
 {
 Mage::log( "Mycompany_Mymodule_Adminhtml_Mycompany_Mymodule_RulesController indexAction" );
 $this->loadLayout();
 $this->_setActiveMenu('mycompany_mymodule');
 $this->renderLayout();
 }

Grid will be included with container block that you already added in mymodule.xml.