Magento1 Customer – How to Add Custom Attribute

attributescustomermagento-1module

We need a simple way to add an attribute to a customer record that is not editable by the customer or admin, only programatically. Essentially, we have an ExpressionEngine site coupled with Magento.

We authenticate via webservice and would like to store some JSON that we get back from the authentication into the customer's record and update it each time they login.

We will also want the data modified if they change information in the checkout process, such as shipping address. We will then send the data back to our webservice as we currently do that with each order.

Is this difficult to do as we are now storing some JSON on each product using a custom attribute with MageWorx's Custom Options extension?

I used the Online Module Creator here http://www.silksoftware.com/magento-module-creator/ but am not sure how to modify or retrieve the value once the module is installed.

Where could I learn how to write an extension to do this?

Best Answer

/app/code/local/Your/Customattribute/sql/your_customattribute_setup/install-0.1.0.php

<?php
$installer = $this;

$installer->startSetup();

$setup = new Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Setup('core_setup');

$entityTypeId     = $setup->getEntityTypeId('customer');
$attributeSetId   = $setup->getDefaultAttributeSetId($entityTypeId);
$attributeGroupId = $setup->getDefaultAttributeGroupId($entityTypeId, $attributeSetId);

$setup->addAttribute("customer", "customattribute",  array(
    "type"     => "varchar",
    "backend"  => "",
    "label"    => "Custom Attribute",
    "input"    => "text",
    "source"   => "",
    "visible"  => true,
    "required" => false,
    "default" => "",
    "frontend" => "",
    "unique"     => false,
    "note"       => "Custom Attribute"
));

$attribute   = Mage::getSingleton("eav/config")->getAttribute("customer", "customattribute");

$setup->addAttributeToGroup(
    $entityTypeId,
    $attributeSetId,
    $attributeGroupId,
    'customattribute',
    '999'  //sort_order
);

$used_in_forms=array();

$used_in_forms[]="adminhtml_customer";
//$used_in_forms[]="checkout_register";
//$used_in_forms[]="customer_account_create";
//$used_in_forms[]="customer_account_edit";
//$used_in_forms[]="adminhtml_checkout";
        $attribute->setData("used_in_forms", $used_in_forms)
                ->setData("is_used_for_customer_segment", true)
                ->setData("is_system", 0)
                ->setData("is_user_defined", 1)
                ->setData("is_visible", 1)
                ->setData("sort_order", 100)
                ;
        $attribute->save();



$installer->endSetup();

/app/code/local/Your/Customattribute/etc/config.xml

 <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <config>
        <modules>
            <Your_Customattribute>
                <version>0.1.0</version>
            </Your_Customattribute>
        </modules>
        <global>

            <resources>
                <Your_Customattribute_setup>
                    <setup>
                        <module>Your_Customattribute</module>
                        <class>Mage_Customer_Model_Entity_Setup</class>
                    </setup>
                    <connection>
                        <use>core_setup</use>
                    </connection>
                </Your_Customattribute_setup>
                <Your_Customattribute_write>
                    <connection>
                        <use>core_write</use>
                    </connection>
                </Your_Customattribute_write>
                <Your_Customattribute_read>
                    <connection>
                        <use>core_read</use>
                    </connection>
                </Your_Customattribute_read>
            </resources>
        </global>

    </config>

app/etc/modules/Your_Customattribute.xml 

  <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <config>
        <modules>
            <Your_Customattribute>
                <active>true</active>
                <codePool>local</codePool>
                <version>0.1.0</version>
            </Your_Customattribute>
        </modules>
    </config>

Then to retrieve or edit you use: 

$customer = Mage::getModel('customer/customer')->load($custid);
$customer->getCustomattribute();
$customer->setCustomattribute($yourjson);

You will have to create event observers for the login event, answered here: How can i get customer data from observer after successful login?

and also likely observers for the customer_save_after in case they alter their address in account mgmt, and one for the quote, which could be in different places depending on what you are going for.

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