page/template_links block not behaving; aParams missing and url deformed

Question

I've inserted a links block to the footer via local.xml:

    <reference name="footer">
        <block type="page/template_links" name="footer.social.links" as="footerSocialLinks">
            <action method="setTitle"><title>Finn oss på...</title></action>
            <action method="setName"><name>footer-social</name></action>
            <action method="addLink" translate="label title">
                <label><![CDATA[<em class="facebook"></em>Facebook]]></label>
                <url>https://www.facebook.com/xxxxx</url>
                <title>Besøk vår Facebook-side</title>
                <aParams>target="_blank"</aParams>
                <position>10</position>
                <prepare/>
            </action>
            <action method="addLink" translate="label title">
                <label><![CDATA[<em class="twitter"></em>Twitter]]></label>
                <url>https://twitter.com/xxxxx</url>
                <title>Følg oss på Twitter</title>
                <aParams>target="_blank"</aParams>
                <position>20</position>
                <prepare/>
            </action>
            <action method="addLink" translate="label title">
                <label><![CDATA[<em class="googleplus"></em>Google+]]></label>
                <url>https://plus.google.com/+xxxxx</url>
                <title>Besøk vår side på Google Plus</title>
                <aParams>target="_blank"</aParams>
                <position>30</position>
                <prepare/>
            </action>
            <action method="addLink" translate="label title">
                <label><![CDATA[<em class="youtube"></em>Youtube]]></label>
                <url>https://www.youtube.com/user/xxxxx</url>
                <title>Se på vår innhold på Youtube</title>
                <aParams>target="_blank"</aParams>
                <position>40</position>
                <prepare/>
            </action>
        </block>
    </reference>

This produces the following html:

<div class="links">
    <div class="block-title"><strong><span>Finn oss på...</span></strong></div>
    <ul id="footer-social">
        <li class="first"><a href="http://www.example.com/https:/www.facebook.com/" title="Besøk vår Facebook-side"><em class="facebook"></em>Facebook</a></li>
        <li><a href="http://www.example.com/https:/twitter.com/" title="Følg oss på Twitter"><em class="twitter"></em>Twitter</a></li>
        <li><a href="http://www.example.com/https:/plus.google.com/" title="Besøk vår side på Google Plus"><em class="googleplus"></em>Google+</a></li>
        <li class=" last"><a href="http://www.example.com/https:/index/www.youtube.com/user/xxxxx/" title="Se på vår innhold på Youtube"><em class="youtube"></em>Youtube</a></li>
    </ul>
</div>

The main problems here are that the urls are horribly malformed and the aParams missing. I don't know where or what magento has done to the urls; in the first 3 cases the user part of the link is missing, and in the 4th link (youtube) there is a mysterious "index" added.

I have tried to wrap the url with CDATA, I've tried removing the empty tag, to no avail. The block code and template provide very few hints.

Maybe I'm just wasting time trying to do something "properly" when I could just include a static block. Meh!

Answer 1

Looking at the signature of the addLink method in Mage_Page_Block_Template_Links class

public function addLink($label, $url='', $title='', $prepare=false, $urlParams=array(),
    $position=null, $liParams=null, $aParams=null, $beforeText='', $afterText='')

the ordering of your parameters is wrong. Try reordering them like so:

<action method="addLink" translate="label title">
    <label><![CDATA[<em class="googleplus"></em>Google+]]></label>
    <url>https://plus.google.com/+xxxxx</url>
    <title>Besøk vår side på Google Plus</title>
    <prepare/>
    <urlParams/>
    <position>30</position>
    <liParams/>
    <aParams>target="_blank"</aParams>
</action>

Answer 2

Funny thing is, the name of the nodes does not matter. Only the order counts and you have to have them all.

This code works too:

<action method="addLink" translate="label title">
            <label><![CDATA[<em class="facebook"></em>Facebook]]></label>
            <url>http://www.facebook.com/xxxxx</url> 
            <title>Besøk vår Facebook-side</title>
            <prepgfdgfdare/>
            <urlPagfdgfdgfdrams/> 
            <position>10</position>
            <liPgfdgfdgfdarams/>
            <aParagfdgfdgfdms>target="_blank"</aParagfdgfdgfdms>
            <beforeTegfdgfdxt></beforeTegfdgfdxt>
            <afterText></afterText>
        </action>