How to check which template /view file is used - rendered

Question

I am trying to make changes to registration page and add the address info fields in registration / account creation page. my browser reads mysite/customer/account/create

by following the instructions here on stack exchange I have taken multiple steps but non seems to be working. for example I am using rwd inbuilt Magento theme. My Magento ver. is 1.9.2.4

1. commented the code - <?php // if($this->getShowAddressFields()): ?> in /web/app/design/frontend/rwd/default/template/persistent/customer/form/registration.phtml and in /web/app/design/frontend/rwd/default/template/customer/form/registration.phtml.

2. add local.xml file in /web/app/design/frontend/rwd/default/layout/ with code <customer_account_create> <reference name="customer_form_register"> <action method="setShowAddressFields"><param>true</param></action> </reference> </customer_account_create>

3. cleared all cache after following these steps.

is there any tool which can be used to check which view file is used/rendered?

but nothing seems to work. can't make out what I am missing here.

Answer 1

First you need to know which template is used for your store. This can be checked in System > Configuration > Design. Package will tell you which of the folder from app/design/frontend to check and templates or default will tell you which subdir of the package directory to check. You might also want to check System > Design as you can define custom design changes for the specific store which may override those settings.

Now when you know package and theme you can check its etc/theme.xml file to see which parent theme it extends. Now there are couple of elements that manipulates page layout. In app/design/frontend/package/theme/layout folder you may have customer.xml. If so this file is solely responsible for defining blocks and template files that are used during rendering. If there is no such file it means that this theme uses the parent one. In that case go to the parent theme folder and check there.

But there might be local.xml file. If so you must check if it contains <customer_account_create>...</customer_account_create> nodes and see if any of theme does anything to blocks on the page. This should get you on the track which block and template file is used in your case.

You can also go to System > Configuration > Developer, change the scope for the website you want to inspect, and in the Debug group turn Template Path Hints to Yes