Display custom block on Homepage

I have a problem with custom module and displaying custom block template on homepage.

I create a custom module to show product form specified category.

my config.xml file:

<config> <modules> <Vendor_Module> <version>0.1.0</version> </Vendor_Module> </modules> <global> <blocks> <vendor_module> <class>Vendor_Module_Block</class> </vendor_module> </blocks> <models> <vendor_module> <class>Vendor_Module_Model</class> </vendor_module> </models> </global> <frontend> <layout> <updates> <promotedproducts> <file>promotedproducts.xml</file> </promotedproducts> </updates> </layout> </frontend> </config> 

my Model file:

<?php class Vendor_Module_Model_Products extends Mage_Catalog_Model_Product { public function getItemsCollection($valueId) { $category = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($valueId); $productCollection = $category->getProductCollection(); $productCollection ->addStoreFilter() ->setVisibility(Mage::getSingleton('catalog/product_visibility')->getVisibleInCatalogIds()) ->addMinimalPrice() ->addFinalPrice() ->addAttributeToSelect(Mage::getSingleton('catalog/config')->getProductAttributes()) ->addUrlRewrite(); return $productCollection; } } 

my Block file:

<?php class Vendor_Module_Block_List extends Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_Abstract { protected $_itemCollection = null; public function getItems() { $catid = $this->getCatid(); if (!$catid) return false; if (is_null($this->_itemCollection)) { $this->_itemCollection = Mage::getModel('vendor_module/products')->getItemsCollection($catid); } return $this->_itemCollection; } } 

and here is my template file :

<?php $_items = $this->getItems(); var_dump($_items);die; ?> <div id="promoted-product-list"> <div class="block-content"> <ul class="promoted-products-list"> <?php foreach ($_items as $_item): ?> <?php endforeach; ?> </ul> </div> </div> 

and here is my custom layout file:

<?xml version="1.0"?> <layout version="0.1.0"> <default> <reference name="head"> <action method="addCss"><stylesheet>css/promotedproducts.css</stylesheet></action> </reference> </default> <cms_index_index> <reference name="head"> <action method="addCss"><stylesheet>css/promotedproducts.css</stylesheet></action> </reference> <reference name="content"> <block type="vendor_module/list" name="promotedproduct" template="vendor/module/list.phtml"/> </reference> </cms_index_index> </layout> 

So, when i use

{{block type="vendor_module/list" name="promotedproduct" template="vendor/module/list.phtml" catid="252"}} 

in my cms contact page it shows as i expected. but on cms_index_index it does not show. the custom css file is included, but the block does not show. It gives me a warning

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach()

, and when I use

$_items = $this->getItems()->getData(); 

it gives me an error that it is type boolean, but using var_dump($_items) on cms_contact shows me object, and var_dump($_items->getData()) shows me array with 4 elements (I have 4 product in this category).

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.