This SQL:

select emm.view_name,
    emm.status,
    emm.version_id as metadata_version,
    cl_max_versions.max_version as cl_version,
    (cl_max_versions.max_version - emm.version_id) as behind
from enterprise_mview_metadata emm
left join (
    select 'enterprise_url_rewrite_redirect' as view_name, max(version_id) as max_version from enterprise_url_rewrite_redirect_cl union
    select 'cataloginventory_stock_status_view' as view_name, max(version_id) as max_version from cataloginventory_stock_status_cl union
    select 'enterprise_url...

The XMLRPC API parameters always confuse me, they're below:

Login:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<methodCall>
  <methodName>login</methodName>
  <params>
    <param>
        <value><string>zapier</string></value>
    </param>
    <param>
        <value><string>monkey</string></value>
    </param>
  </params>
</methodCall>

Order list:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<methodCall>
  <methodName>call</methodName>
  <params>
    <param>
        <value>
            <string>884e467da9850...

Magento has a Datetime backend model but formats a Zend_Date object without the time. So if you want to store datetime (actually with time) you will need to setup your own backend model.

Here is how i've done it:

class Namespace_Module_Model_Entity_Attribute_Backend_Datetime extends Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Attribute_Backend_Datetime
{
    const DATETIME_DATEPICKER_FORMAT = 'd/m/Y H:i';

    /**
     * Prepare date for save in DB
     *
     * @param   string | int $date
     * @return  string
     */
    public function formatDate($dat...

Often, you'll want to add a column to a collection used in a grid, and to do so you'd use _prepareCollection():

protected function _prepareCollection()
{
    $collection = Mage::getResourceModel($this->_getCollectionClass());
    $this->setCollection($collection);

    $collection->getSelect()
       ->joinLeft(
           array('table_alias' => 'some_long_table_name'),
           'main_table.something = table_alias.something',
           array('some_column' => 'table_alias.some_column')
       );

...

Handy to add attributes to sales_flat_order:

$installer->getConnection()->addColumn(
    $this->getTable('sales/order'),
    'some_attribute',
    [
        'type' => Varien_Db_Ddl_Table::TYPE_INTEGER,
        'length' => 1,
        'comment'=> 'Comment'
    ]
);

This script sets up everything for UK VAT from a default 1.9.1.0 install.

<?php
/* @var $installer Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Setup */
$installer = $this;
$installer->startSetup();

/**
 * Define VAT band names
 */
define('VAT_STANDARD', 'VAT Standard');
define('VAT_REDUCED', 'VAT Reduced');
define('VAT_ZERO', 'VAT Zero');

/**
 * Remove current rules, rates and product classes
 */
$taxCalculation = Mage::getModel('tax/calculation');
foreach (Mage::getModel('tax/calculation_rule')->g...

I took this script from somewhere (sorry I forgot where!) but it didn't work for 1.9.1.0, so I fixed it up. Really basic, but useful, I used it to test pagination:

<?php
require 'app/Mage.php';
Mage::app()->setCurrentStore(Mage_Core_Model_App::ADMIN_STORE_ID);
for ($i = 0; $i < 100; $i++) {
    Mage::getModel('catalog/product')
        ->setWebsiteIds(array(1))
        ->setAttributeSetId(4)
        ->setTypeId('simple')
        ->setSku($i)
        ->setStatus(1)
        ->setTaxClassId(2)
  ...

This resolves the value of the attribute, so rather than supplying you with a value ID, it will supply you with the associated value, via the source model:

$_product->getAttributeText('brand');

When a category is created whilst in a store scope, and a value is set against an attribute which has is_required set to false, and has a scope more specific than global, then a value is not set against the global scope, resulting in the store scope having a value, but the global scope having no value. This also has the effect of causing the flat category table for the store in question to have a null value for the attribute, even in the store scope that it is set in.

On this install, the attribute in question is display_as_link:

!...

Yes, very dirty, but it works a treat! Save this file in your Magento root directory, then fire up a command line and run whatever.php Mage_Core_Model_App (or some other class) and you should see the output.

Output looks like below:

$ ./classmethods.php Varien_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql
__construct                      Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract      lib/Zend/Db/Adapter/Abstract.php:43
__destruct                       Varien_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql   lib/Varien/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Mysql.php:30
__sleep                          Zend_Db_Ada...

How to get the theme for each component, works on the active store:

Mage::getSingleton('core/design_package')->getTheme('locale');
Mage::getSingleton('core/design_package')->getTheme('template');
Mage::getSingleton('core/design_package')->getTheme('skin');
Mage::getSingleton('core/design_package')->getTheme('layout');
Mage::getSingleton('core/design_package')->getTheme('default');

Layout XML files are loaded here via this stack - here we are loading the layout update for the rwd/default design package, for the CMS home page. I've put a dashed line on the demarcation between layout code and other code:

Mage_Core_Model_App->run(Array)
Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Front->dispatch()
Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Router_Standard->match(Mage_Core_Controller_Request_Http)
Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Action->dispatch('index')
Mage_Cms_IndexController->indexAction()
Mage_Cms_Helper_Page->renderPage(Mage_C...

nginx

fastcgi_read_timeout

php-fpm

request_terminate_timeout

php:

max_execution_time

varnish:

.first_byte_timeout
.between_bytes_timeout

You might want to do this on media or elsewhere, handy cut-and-paste job:

find . -type d -exec chmod 0755 {} \;
find . -type f -exec chmod 0644 {} \;

Or with an xargs version (which should be faster):

find media -type d -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 0755
find media -type f -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 0644