Accessing Overridden CategoryController via alias

Question

I have overridden the CategoryController, and can access the overridden controller using the direct URL: eg. http://myshop.dev/catalog/category This URL has the following alias associated with it: http://myshop.dev/men-s/clothing However, when accessing the alias, the original controller is used. How can I make Magento use the overridden controller here as well?

My config.xml rewrite rule is as follows:

...
<rewrite>
    <rivers_controllers_catalog_view>
        <from><![CDATA[#^/catalog/category/#]]></from>
        <to>/riverscontroller/category/</to>
    </rivers_controllers_catalog_view>
</rewrite>

Answer 1

Which Magento version are you using? As far as I know, this way of rewriting controllers was used in previous versions. With newest versions (>1.4), you could use the following:

<config>
    <frontend>
        <routers>
            <catalog>
                <args>
                    <modules>
                        <mynamespace_mymodule before="Mage_Catalog">Mynamespace_Mymodule</mynamespace_mymodule>
                    </modules>
                </args>
            </catalog>
        </routers>
    </frontend>
</config>

Now Magento will look in your controllers folder first - notice the before attribute - every time a request for catalog is received. Next, place a CategoryController.php in your controllers folder. The class should look like this:

require_once('Mage/Catalog/controllers/CategoryController.php');
class Mynamespace_Mymodule_CategoryController extends Mage_Catalog_CategoryController
{
    // Your code here
}

Don't forget to manually include the original controller, as controllers are not autoloaded by Magento.

For further reference, see also http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/5_-_modules_and_development/0_-_module_development_in_magento/how_to_overload_a_controller