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Technical articles and tutorials on Magento development, testing, and checkout optimization

WTF is a proxy in Magento?
Magento 2, Magento Proxy, Coding tips, di.xml

WTF is a proxy in Magento?

Proxies in Magento allow you to wait with the rendering of the object until it is actually needed, but what does that even mean?
September 28th, 2020
Running Magento 2.4.0 with Valet Plus
Valet Plus+, Magento 2

Running Magento 2.4.0 on Valet+

Valet+ has support for ElasticSearch 6.8, but Magento 2.4.0 requires you to install a newer version, 7.6 or higher. How do you handle that with Valet+
September 10th, 2020
Save environment specific settings env.php
Magento 2, Magento 2 local environment

Save environment specific settings in your env.php file

This scenario has happened to me too many times: I downloaded a backup of a site (stripped from customer data of course), import the database in my local environment and open the site. At this moment you will get redirected to the site where the data originates from and you figure you need to change some URLs.
August 26th, 2020
How to disable Magento 2.4.0 2 factor authentication
Magento 2, 2 factor authentication

How to disable 2-factor authentication in Magento 2.4.0

In previous versions of Magento it was possible to enable 2 factor authentication (2fa) for admin users. In Magento 2.4.0 Adobe decided to kick the security up a notch and force 2-factor authentication for all users in the backend. Now 2-factor authentication is great as it adds another layer of security in your webshop, but it can also be too much. Especially when you work by following OTAP where you have multiple environments.
August 20th, 2020
Testing Magento 2 extensions in continuous integration
Magento 2, Continuous Integration, Integration test, Testing

Testing Magento 2 extensions in a continuous integration pipeline

As you might know, I like to write code that is tested. Now, writing tests in Magento can be quite hard, but running your tests in a continuous integration pipeline can be even harder. It is even harder to test standalone Magento 2 extensions in a continuous integration pipeline.
July 21st, 2020
Where to place code in a Magento 2 module
Magento 2, Coding tips, Controller

Where to place code in a Magento 2 module?

Magento 2 has a few building blocks for you when building a module, but placing your code in the right place can be hard. Here i try to sum up where you should place your code.
March 23rd, 2020
using-di-xml-to-improve-your-code-quality.jpg
Magento 2, Dependency Injection, di.xml, Coding tips

Using di.xml to improve your code quality

In this article i'm going to show you a technique that i like to apply in some of the larger Magento 2 module i write.
January 22nd, 2020
leveraging-the-queue-in-magento-2-in-a-simple-way.jpg
Magento 2, Queue

Leveraging the queue in Magento 2 in a (semi) simple way

Using queus is a good way to move some heavy processing to the background of your application. It makes sure expensive operations don't come in the way of the experience of your end user. But configuring and using queues can be a time consuming process. The method described here does help you get things up and running fast.
November 13th, 2019
working-with-temporary-files-in-magento-2.jpg
Controller, Magento 2

Working with temporary files in Magento 2

Recently i had to create an export in Magento 2 using PhpSpreadsheet. I created the sheet and added my data, but them i did hit a bump in the road: how do i download this file?
September 30th, 2019
introducing-laravel-email-on-event-1569688196.jpg
Composer, Laravel Nova, Laravel, Open source

Introducing Laravel Email on Event

Recently I was working on a Laravel project and I needed to add some sales e-mails: onboarding when someone registers, an e-mail when an order was placed. Those kinds of things.
August 1st, 2019
testing-jobs-laravel.jpg
Laravel, Testing, Queue

Testing jobs in Laravel

Recently someone in a Slack channel i’m a member of asked the following:I want to test if job A fires job B, but how do you test something like that?Niek ten HoopenEspecially when the queue is set up to be run asychronus this seems impossible to test. The normal flow would be something like this:
July 15th, 2019
manage-wordpress-composer.jpg
Composer, Continuous Deployment, GIT, Valet Plus+, WordPress

Manage WordPress using Composer

It took me a while before i finally found the right combination, but i now have a full working setup where is manage my WordPress dependencies using Composer. Before this i used to have a local copy of my WordPress site where i run all updates, and then committed all code that was changed so i could get deployed. I knew this was dirty, but i've tried on multiple occasions to find a better solution but my Google fu failed me.
July 8th, 2019
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