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Specifics of multistore module development

Usage of configuration variables

As indicated in the "Configuration object" section of the "Creating a PrestaShop module" chapter of this developer guide, some of the methods from the Configuration object have three optional parameters, which make it possible to target any other existing store on the current PrestaShop installation: id_shop, id_shop_group and id_lang.

While these parameters can prove useful when having to handle multiple specific and known stores from one of the presented Configuration method, they are not recommended for general usage. Your configuration code should only target the current store using the current Context, which every Configuration method does automatically.

In the few occasions where you need to apply a new value to the same Configuration variable for all existing stores, using the Configuration::updateGlobalValue('myVariable', 'myValue') method. You can then retrieve that value for the current store by using the Configuration::get('myVariable') method.

Handling images and other types of files

Images can be defined on a per-store or a per-store-group basis: an item can have a default image on most stores on the PrestaShop installation, and another image for a specific store.

In order to achieve that, the name of the image must be stored in a configuration variable. The default image is then replaced on the fly with the store-specific image.

Let's explore how the Blockadvertising module does it. Using this module, you can upload an image to be displayed on the front-office of the store, serving as an advertisement to any link you might want. The module was built to make use of the multistore feature: depending on the selected store or store group in the multistore menu, the user can assign the uploaded image to a given store context or store group context.

Here is how it saves a submitted file:

Saving the file on a per-store basis

And here is how it decides which image to display, depending on the context:

Loading the file on a per-store basis

Creating database tables

There can be several scenarios:

  • The object/entity exists in some stores, but not in all of them: you should use an associative table, and handle it using id_group_shop.
  • The object/entity exists in all stores: use the regular tables, with a custom field. Handle it using id_entity, id_group_shop and the attributes.
  • The language must be different for every store: handle it using id_shop in the _lang table.

Object in some stores only

The method to use is Shop::addSqlRestriction($share = false, $alias = null).

It makes it possible to add restrictions to a SQL query, in order to retrieve information on a shop or a shop group.
The parameters are optional:
  • $share: is used to add a "WHERE" clause indicating that we are in the same group as the current store.
  • $alias: is used to set the table alias to which the WHERE clause should be applied.

For instance, this query retrieves visitor connections from a given shop:

Object in all stores

The method to use is Shop::addSqlAssociation($table, $alias, $inner_join = true, $on = null, $force_not_default = false).

It makes it possible to add a JOIN clause to the SQL query, joining a table and its associated table in multistore mode.

For instance, this query automatically associates the _DB_PREFIX_.'product_shop' table to the _DB_PREFIX_.'product' table using the 'p' alias:

This way, the joint between the information from the product and the current store's context is applied.

Different language in every store

The method to use is Shop::addSqlRestrictionOnLang($alias = null, $id_shop = null).

It makes it possible to add a restriction on id_shop for a multishop language table.

For instance, this query automatically associates the _DB_PREFIX_.'product_lang' table to the _DB_PREFIX_.'wishlist_product' table using the 'pl' alias:

This way, the joint between the language information of the product and the current store language is applied.

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