Magento: How to Override Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action

Question

I\'d like to override Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action to add ACL checks to all front-end controller actions, similar to the way it\'s done in Mage_Admin

Answer 1

Instead of overriding Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action (which is almost impossible without, as you mentioned, overriding each front controller that is based on this class), you can put an observer on the controller_action_predispatch event, and use the controller_action value that is sent with it (and which should actually be on front-end the current instance of Mage_Core_Controller_Front_Action).