Extract Transaction's Customer Info to be written to a file?

I would like to "intercept" a transaction's customer details, in order to write it to a text file.

I know that this is possible (because customer information is in the database, accessible by Zen Cart's PHP scripts, and displayable accordingly), but I don't know what is the correct approach to implement it?

Should I hack an existing PHP file to pipe this information to the text file?

Or is there already a "hook" somewhere in Zen Cart that allows me to do that more cleanly and/or elegantly?

Thanks,
Daniel

I would like to tap/hook into the PHP page that sends order confirmation email, so that I can retrieve customer information from there and write it to a temporary file.

Where do I do that?

Thanks,
Daniel

You can look in includes/modules/checkout_process.php about line 75

//send email notifications
$order->send_order_email($insert_id, 2);
$zco_notifier->notify('NOTIFY_CHECKOUT_PROCESS_AFTER_SEND_ORDER_EMAIL');

kobra:

You can look in includes/modules/checkout_process.php about line 75

//send email notifications
$order->send_order_email($insert_id, 2);
$zco_notifier->notify('NOTIFY_CHECKOUT_PROCESS_AFTER_SEND_ORDER_EMAIL');

Thank you! I was mistakenly looking for it under /includes/modules/pages/checkout_process and I really needed this tip to know where to start. At least now I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I understand that I now need to create a handler (observer class) for the NOTIFY_CHECKOUT_PROCESS_AFTER_SEND_ORDER_EMAIL event, right?

I think that the following tutorial can be helpful:

<http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Developers_API_Tutorials>

Any other tips you can recommend?

Perhaps there already is a handler/observer/hook in the contrib section that can save me the time of development and testing?

Thanks,
Daniel

You should be on the correct track with that and the correct file to start with

kobra:

You should be on the correct track with that and the correct file to start with
Thank you. After some learning, I managed to create an auto_loader config file in includes/auto_loader/ (first step required).

Then, the file containing the actual intelligence of my mod, needs to be created. It's an observer class file in includes/classes/observers/ in which the main trick, IMHO, is to find the right object to attach. After some learning and research (with the help of DrByte, thank you!) I concluded that that object should be 'orders' (please correct if I am wrong). Thus, the resulting observer.writecustinfo.php looks like:

<?php
/**
 * Observer class to write customer info to a temp file.
 */
class writecustinfo extends base {

 /**  constructor method !
   *  Attaches our class to the $orders class and watches for 1 notifier event.
   */
  function writecustinfo() {
    $orders->attach($this, array('NOTIFY_CHECKOUT_PROCESS_AFTER_SEND_ORDER_EMAIL'));
  }

 /**   Actual Method to write data to file
   *  Called by observed class when any of our notifiable events occur
   *
   * @param object $class
   * @param string $eventID
   */
  function writetofile(&$class, $eventID) {
    /**
	* Write the following fields to a file
	*/

	orders->fields[orders_id];
	orders->fields[customers_id];
	orders->fields[customers_name];
	orders->fields[customers_company];
	orders->fields[customers_street_address];
	orders->fields[customers_suburb];
	orders->fields[customers_city];
	orders->fields[customers_postcode];
	orders->fields[customers_state];
	orders->fields[customers_country];
	orders->fields[customers_telephone];
	orders->fields[customers_email_address];
	orders->fields[customers_address_format_id];
	orders->fields[delivery_name];
	orders->fields[delivery_company];
	orders->fields[delivery_street_address];
	orders->fields[delivery_suburb];
	orders->fields[delivery_city];
	orders->fields[delivery_postcode];
	orders->fields[delivery_state];
	orders->fields[delivery_country];
	orders->fields[delivery_address_format_id];
	orders->fields[billing_name];
	orders->fields[billing_company];
	orders->fields[billing_street_address];
	orders->fields[billing_suburb];
	orders->fields[billing_city];
	orders->fields[billing_postcode];
	orders->fields[billing_state];
	orders->fields[billing_country];
  }
}
?>

Does the above make sense at all?

Do you identify fundamental flaws in the code or in my understanding of the process?

(for simplicty, I didn't include the actual file writing code, I will start working on it shortly).

Thanks,
Daniel

That is the concept, yes

DrByte:

That is the concept, yes
Concepts are great but when it comes to real life... :smile:

When I tried to implement the above using $orders->attach(), the entire store blanked! This puzzled me for a moment since the 'freeProduct' example in the Developers API Tutorial works on my system without any problem (or modification).

At first, I tried changing the $autoLoadConfig offset (aka 'action point'), in the config file, from 90 to 210, thinking that perhaps this has to do with the fact that $orders is not instantiated until offset 180. That didn't help (same exact white blank page).

So, after some research I came across this excellent thread: Use Of Notifiers - How To.

I then realized that, despite having different symptoms, I probably have the same exact problem: attempting to use a class ($orders) instead of the 'stub' notifier class, $zco_notifier. It is also the class that actually sends the notification. That solved the blanking problem! :clap:

So, I can now start working on the actual functionality of this observer.

OK, I got the update() method of the observer class to act upon email confirmation and to write something to a test text file. :smile:

The only problem now is that... all $orders->fields[] elements seem to be empty. :huh:

Using SuperGlobals Plus I can see at the successful checkout page that the $orders->fields[] elements are there and contain valid and correct values. So it seems that by the time my observer class receives the NOTIFY_CHECKOUT_PROCESS_AFTER_SEND_ORDER_EMAIL notification, the $orders->fields[] array has gone??? :blink:

I will try tying my observer class to NOTIFY_HEADER_START_CHECKOUT_SUCCESS to see if I can intercept that $orders->fields ...

Thanks again Kobra & DrByte for all your help and guidance. It's fun to program in such great environment.

Daniel

Isn't the object named $order, not $orders ?

DrByte:

Isn't the object named $order, not $orders ?
No, it is $orders, as can be seen in the attached image.

I am still lost as to why the contents of the $orders->fields[] array is empty or what is the proper stage to "snatch" it. I tried the following notificatications - to no avail:

NOTIFY_HEADER_START_CHECKOUT_SUCCESS
NOTIFY_HEADER_END_CHECKOUT_SUCCESS
NOTIFY_CHECKOUT_PROCESS_AFTER_SEND_ORDER_EMAIL

I am still successful at writing test text (and variables) to the test file in upon any of the above notifications. However, the $orders->fields[] seems to be empty when I do that, since non of those fields get written to the file.

Any idea how to snatch correctly those $orders->fields[] values?

Thanks,
Daniel

A "queryFactoryResult" object is the returned data from a database query.

The actual order object that contains the data for the currently in-progress order while checkout_process is creating and storing an order, is $order.

DrByte:

A "queryFactoryResult" object is the returned data from a database query.

The actual order object that contains the data for the currently in-progress order while checkout_process is creating and storing an order, is $order.
Thanks for pointing this out. I tried the same exact thing with $order (instead of $orders) but I am receiving the same results. :(

By now I am almost certain that my problem is not a syntax bug, but something conceptual that I am missing.

What could it be?

Well, I haven't solved the mystery yet, but I can already admit to one conceptual mistake: I forgot to read the source code (and relied, instead, on documentation and existing threads in the Zen Cart forums). :blush:

Also, so that I can save other beginners from the same syntax mistake, the correct syntax for accessing the $orders->field[] array elements is $orders->fields['customers_name'], not $orders->fields[customers_name] (long live single quotes...)

Fixing this syntax mistake didn't help, of course, because IMHO my problem lies within the scope/lifetime of the objects I am trying to "snatch".

In the meanwhile, I am providing here a snapshot of the my partially working solution, along with what actually gets written to the file:

includes\auto_loaders\config.writeCustInfo.php:

<?php

$autoLoadConfig[90][] = array('autoType'=>'class',
                              'loadFile'=>'observers/class.writeCustInfo.php');
$autoLoadConfig[90][] = array('autoType'=>'classInstantiate',
                              'className'=>'writeCustInfo',
                              'objectName'=>'writeCustInfo');

?>

includes\classes\observers\class.writeCustInfo.php:

<?php
/**
 * Observer class to write customer info to a temp file.
 */
class writeCustInfo extends base {

 /**  constructor method !
   * 
   * Attach observer class to the global $zco_notifier and watches for a single notifier event.
   */
  function writeCustInfo() {
	global $zco_notifier;
    $zco_notifier->attach($this, array('NOTIFY_CHECKOUT_PROCESS_AFTER_SEND_ORDER_EMAIL'));
  }

 /**   Actual Method that writes customer info to file
   * 
   * Called by observed class when any of the notifiable events occur
   *
   * @param object $class
   * @param string $eventID
   */
  function update(&$class, $eventID) {
	$myFile = "testFile.txt";
	$fh = fopen($myFile, 'a') or die("can't open file");

	/**
	* Write the following fields to a file
	*/
	$stringData = "This is the first line of ";
	$stringData = $stringData . $myFile;
	fwrite($fh, $stringData);
	fwrite($fh, "\r\n");
	
	$customerInfo = "Customer Information: \r\n";
	$customerInfo = $customerInfo . $myFile;
	$customerInfo = $customerInfo . $order->fields['customers_name'];
	$customerInfo = $customerInfo . $order->fields['customers_company'];
	$customerInfo = $customerInfo . $order->fields['customers_street_address'];
	fwrite($fh, $customerInfo);
	fwrite($fh, "\r\n");

	fclose($fh);	
  }
}
?>

The output, in testFile.txt:

This is the first line of testFile.txt
Customer Information:
testFile.txt
I will post here the complete solution, once I have it. But if you notice any gross mistake in my code that could explain the mystery, that would help me post the solution faster. :smile:

Thanks,
Daniel

Try making the following alterations ...

from this:$customerInfo = "Customer Information: \r\n"; $customerInfo = $customerInfo . $myFile; $customerInfo = $customerInfo . $order->fields['customers_name']; $customerInfo = $customerInfo . $order->fields['customers_company']; $customerInfo = $customerInfo . $order->fields['customers_street_address'];to this:```
global $order;
$customerInfo = "Customer Information: \r\n";
$customerInfo .= 'First: ' . $order->customer['firstname'] . "\r\n";
$customerInfo .= 'Last: ' . $order->customer['lastname'] . "\r\n";
$customerInfo .= 'Email: ' . $order->customer['email_address'] . "\r\n";
$customerInfo .= "\r\n\r\n\r\nOther information available is described here:\r\n" . print_r($order, true) . "\r\n";

Dr. Byte - you seem to be a true doctor :smile: - Thank you so much!

I did discover by myself that the class 'order' has no member called 'fields' but has a member named 'customer' (array) - and I tried a fix similar to what you suggested, which of course didn't work because... I was missing the line

global $order;

That was my "conceptual" mistake. Although I remembered to place a similar line in the observer's constructor:

global $zco_notifier;

I failed to tell update() that $order is global.

Now all is well and here is the final result (config.writeCustInfo.php remains unchanged and so I will post the complete code for class.writeCustInfo.php only):

<?php
/**
 * Observer class to write customer info to a temp file.
 */
class writeCustInfo extends base {

 /**  constructor method !
   * 
   * Attach observer class to the global $zco_notifier and watches for a single notifier event.
   */
  function writeCustInfo() {
	global $zco_notifier;
    $zco_notifier->attach($this, array('NOTIFY_CHECKOUT_PROCESS_AFTER_SEND_ORDER_EMAIL'));
  }

 /**   Actual Method that writes customer info to file
   * 
   * Called by observed class when any of the notifiable events occur
   *
   * @param object $class
   * @param string $eventID
   */
  function update(&$class, $eventID) {
	$myFile = "testFile.txt";
	$fh = fopen($myFile, 'a') or die("can't open file");

	/**
	* Write the following fields to a file
	*/
	$stringData = "This is the first line of ";
	$stringData = $stringData . $myFile;
	fwrite($fh, $stringData);
	fwrite($fh, "\r\n");

	
    global $order;
    $customerInfo = "Customer Information: \r\n";
    $customerInfo .= 'First: ' . $order->customer['firstname'] . "\r\n";
    $customerInfo .= 'Last: ' . $order->customer['lastname'] . "\r\n";
    $customerInfo .= 'Email: ' . $order->customer['email_address'] . "\r\n";
 //   $customerInfo .= "\r\n\r\n\r\nOther information available is described here:\r\n" . print_r($order, true) . "\r\n";

	
	fwrite($fh, $customerInfo);
	fwrite($fh, "\r\n");

	fclose($fh);	
  }
}
?>

Thanks again!
Daniel