- Open the admin control panel
- Open the system tab and select configuration
- Select Main Website or Name of your website (NOT DEFAULT CONFIG) from the Current Configuration Scope drop down
- Select Developer on the left sidebar
- Open the Debug drop down
- Set Template Path Hints To Yes
- Click on Save Config to save down your changes
When developing themes for the front-end Magento has included an easy way to show you which file you need to edit: Template Path Hints (enable it via System > Configuration > Developer > Debug > Template Path Hints = only visible when changing to website or store scope)
Unfortunately the same trick doesn’t work when developing for the back-end. This Quick Tip shows you how can have the same hints for the back-end.
Simply paste the following into
app/code/core/Mage/Adminhtml/Block/Template.php
public function fetchView($fileName){Varien_Profiler::start($fileName);extract ($this->_viewVars);$do = $this->getDirectOutput();if (!$do) {ob_start();}echo '<div style="position:relative; border:1px dotted red; margin:6px 2px; padding:18px 2px 2px 2px; zoom:1;"><div style="position:absolute; left:0; top:0; padding:2px 5px; background:red; color:white; font:normal 11px Arial; text-align:left !important; z-index:998;" onmouseover="this.style.zIndex=\'999\'" onmouseout="this.style.zIndex=\'998\'" title="'.$fileName.'">'.$fileName.'</div>';$thisClass = get_class($this);echo '<div style="position:absolute; right:0; top:0; padding:2px 5px; background:red; color:blue; font:normal 11px Arial; text-align:left !important; z-index:998;" onmouseover="this.style.zIndex=\'999\'" onmouseout="this.style.zIndex=\'998\'" title="'.$thisClass.'">'.$thisClass.'</div>';try {include $this->_viewDir . DS . $fileName;} catch (Exception $e) {ob_get_clean();throw $e;}echo '</div>';if (!$do) {$html = ob_get_clean();} else {$html = '';}Varien_Profiler::stop($fileName);return $html;}
before the last closing brace }.
Just be sure to remove the code again then you are finished. If there is enough demand for it I might package the change up into a new MageBase extension.
Update: Thanks to Olivier’s comment I have quickly bundled up a separate extension so no core edits are required – simply download and unpack into your Magento root folder. A cache refresh is required. Then choosing Template Path Hints is available in the default scope – enabling it will show comments in the back-end as well as front-end.
Just be sure to remove the code again then you are finished. If there is enough demand for it I might package the change up into a new MageBase extension.
Update: Thanks to Olivier’s comment I have quickly bundled up a separate extension so no core edits are required – simply download and unpack into your Magento root folder. A cache refresh is required. Then choosing Template Path Hints is available in the default scope – enabling it will show comments in the back-end as well as front-end.
