Stop a custom block from auto rendering

Question

I have a custom block and when I add it to local.xml it auto renders:

<catalog_product_view>
 <reference name="head">
 <action method="addJs">
 <script>fileuploader/filepop.js</script>
 </action>
 </reference>
 <reference name="content"> 
 <block type="fileuploader/fileuploader" name="product.attachments" template="fileuploader/desc_attachments.phtml"/>
 </reference>
</catalog_product_view>

This is bad because I actually want it in a very specific spot. I am able to call this block using getBlockHtml in my catalog/product/view.php but then it shows up twice.

How can I get the block to STOP auto rendering?? Below is the code for the block:

class Uni_Fileuploader_Block_Fileuploader extends Mage_Core_Block_Template {
 public function _prepareLayout() {
 return parent::_prepareLayout();
 }
 public function getProductAttachments($productId=0) {
 $attach = array();
 $_helper = Mage::helper('fileuploader');
 $data = Mage::getModel('fileuploader/fileuploader')->getFilesByProductId($productId);
 $totalFiles = $data['totalRecords'];
 if ($totalFiles > 0) {
 $record = $data['items'];
 $i=0;
 foreach ($record as $rec) {
 $i++;
 $file = $_helper->getFilesHtml($rec['uploaded_file'], $rec['title'],$i,true,$rec['content_disp'],true);
 $attach[] = array('title' => $rec['title'], 'file' => $file, 'content' => $rec['file_content']);
 }
 }
 return $attach;
 }
}

Answer 1

It's because you added it under the content block. Replace this:

<reference name="content"> 
 <block type="fileuploader/fileuploader" name="product.attachments" template="fileuploader/desc_attachments.phtml"/>
</reference>

with this:

<reference name="product.info"> 
 <block type="fileuploader/fileuploader" name="product.attachments" template="fileuploader/desc_attachments.phtml"/>
</reference>

Now you can place it wherever you want using getBlockHtml.

Please tell me how it went after that.

• Bill Garrison: This is very close to the actual answer I came up with on my own. For those that are wondering why this is the case, its because the "content" block is a text/list type block. This block will auto render blocks added to it in the order they are added.