Quick way to show the full catalog in front-end layered navigation grid

Question

In the base layout/catalog.xml, there's the 'catalog_category_layered' handle:

<catalog_category_layered translate="label">
    <label>Catalog Category (Anchor)</label>
    <reference name="left">
        <block type="catalog/layer_view" name="catalog.leftnav" after="currency" template="catalog/layer/view.phtml"/>
    </reference>
    <reference name="content">
        <block type="catalog/category_view" name="category.products" template="catalog/category/view.phtml">
            <block type="catalog/product_list" name="product_list" template="catalog/product/list.phtml">
                <!-- <action method="addReviewSummaryTemplate"><type>default</type><template>review/helper/su.phtml</template></action> -->
                <block type="catalog/product_list_toolbar" name="product_list_toolbar" template="catalog/product/list/toolbar.phtml">
                    <block type="page/html_pager" name="product_list_toolbar_pager"/>
                    <!-- The following code shows how to set your own pager increments -->
                    <!--
                        <action method="setDefaultListPerPage"><limit>4</limit></action>
                        <action method="setDefaultGridPerPage"><limit>3</limit></action>
                        <action method="addPagerLimit"><mode>list</mode><limit>2</limit></action>
                        <action method="addPagerLimit"><mode>list</mode><limit>4</limit></action>
                        <action method="addPagerLimit"><mode>list</mode><limit>6</limit></action>
                        <action method="addPagerLimit"><mode>list</mode><limit>8</limit></action>
                        <action method="addPagerLimit" translate="label"><mode>list</mode><limit>all</limit><label>All</label></action>
                        <action method="addPagerLimit"><mode>grid</mode><limit>3</limit></action>
                        <action method="addPagerLimit"><mode>grid</mode><limit>6</limit></action>
                        <action method="addPagerLimit"><mode>grid</mode><limit>9</limit></action>
                        <action method="addPagerLimit" translate="label"><mode>grid</mode><limit>all</limit><label>All</label></action>
                    -->
                </block>
                <action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>empty</layout><count>6</count></action>
                <action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>one_column</layout><count>5</count></action>
                <action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>two_columns_left</layout><count>4</count></action>
                <action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>two_columns_right</layout><count>4</count></action>
                <action method="addColumnCountLayoutDepend"><layout>three_columns</layout><count>3</count></action>
                <action method="setToolbarBlockName"><name>product_list_toolbar</name></action>
            </block>
        </block>
    </reference>
</catalog_category_layered>

which eventually filters the product list by category id. Is there a simple way to avoid filtering by category, and list all the products in the store catalog, i.e, a product collection without any filters (except, optionally, store id)?

Answer 1

I would say just add a new category as child of your Store Root Category, then add everything to this.

If you then flag this category as anchor, you will see all the products.

I think you will then have a problem with the menus, but if you ask me, it is easier to fix, then implement your own layered navigation.