Magento – What purpose have category attribute sets

attribute-setavs-fastsimpleimportcategory

Since Categories are EAV Models, they also have an attribute set. All categories, which are created from the admin panel get the default attribute set. This is set by the controller (\Mage_Adminhtml_Catalog_CategoryController::saveAction).

On the other side, when I create a category programatically and don't set the attribute set id, the id 0 is saved to the entity table. The category is shown in frontend and backend anyway and seems to have all attributes.

Also the import module Avs_Fastsimpleimport hardcodes the attribute set id to 0 in the category import (\AvS_FastSimpleImport_Model_Import_Entity_Category::_saveCategories).

It seems that the attribute set id of categories doesn't matter. So what purpose has this and should I set the attribute set id when I create categories programmatically?

Best Answer

Magento uses several eav entity types like product, category, order, quote, customer... They have same implementation on eav resource abstract class level, so they uses same tables (eav_attribute, eav_entity_attribute, eav_enetity_type, eav_attribute_set, eav_attribute_group ...) for persistence. But only product model has practical use of attribute sets for editing several product types with own attributes on backend. If you want to research further you can start at point protected function _getLoadAttributesSelect($object, $table) of the class Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Abstract.

I recommend to use same Magento approach saving and creating a category:

$category->setAttributeSetId($category->getDefaultAttributeSetId());

And this will preserve models from misbehaving

Related Solutions

Magento – Cant create a custom category attribute in admin

$attributeUtility = Mage::getModel('core/setup');

$attributeUtility->addAttribute('catalog_category', 'attribute_code',
    array(
        'sort_order' => '0',
        'backend_type' => 'int',
        'input' => "boolean",
        'label' => 'Custom Attribute Label',
        'source_model' => 'eav/entity_attribute_source_boolean',
        'required' => '0',
        'user_defined' => false,
        'default_value' => '0',
        'unique' => '0',
        'note' => '',
        'global' => '1',
        'visible' => '1',
        'searchable' => '0',
        'filterable' => '0',
        'comparable' => '0',
        'visible_on_front' => '0',
        'html_allowed_on_front' => '1',
        'used_for_price_rules' => '0',
        'filterable_in_search' => '0',
        'used_in_product_listing' => '0',
        'used_for_sort_by' => '0',
        'configurable' => '0',
        'apply_to' => 'configurable',
        'visible_in_advanced_search' => '0',
        'position' => '0',
        'wysiwyg_enabled' => '0',
        'used_for_promo_rules' => true,
        'search_weight' => '1',
    )
);

You'll need to keep in mind that your 'source_model' needs to match a data type that makes sense for your attribute. The other values below do various things that need to be looked into for your implementation. The first parameter in the 'addAttribute' call is 'catalog_category' this maps out to a value from the database table eav_entity_type. For more information on EAV attributes see: Advanced ORM - by Alan Storm

Magento – Multi Select Category Attribute not saving

Well first it seems that there is an obvious error with $installer->startSetup(); missing near the start, then you may also need to define the backend used for the attribute in order to save it:

'backend'           => 'eav/entity_attribute_backend_array',

Otherwise instead of:

$installer = new Mage_Sales_Model_Mysql4_Setup;

i would try to use:

$installer = new Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Setup('default_setup');

My two cents hoping it helps you if still needed. :)

the modified code:

require_once('app/Mage.php');
Mage::app()->setCurrentStore(Mage::getModel('core/store')->load(Mage_Core_Model_App::ADMIN_STORE_ID));
$installer = new Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Setup('default_setup');
$installer->startSetup();

$attribute  = array(
    'type' => 'text',
    'label'=> 'Room Type',
    'input' => 'multiselect',
    'backend' => 'eav/entity_attribute_backend_array',
    'global' => Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Eav_Attribute::SCOPE_GLOBAL,
    'visible' => true,
    'required' => false,
    'user_defined' => true,
    'default' => "",
    'group' => "General Information",
    'option' => array ( 
        'value' => array(
            'kitchen' => array('Kitchen'), 
            'bedroom' => array('Bedroom'), 
            'bathroom' => array('Bathroom'), 
            'loft' => array('Loft'), 
            'basement' => array('Basement'), 
            'lounge' => array('Lounge')
        ) 
    )
);

$installer->addAttribute(Mage_Catalog_Model_Category::ENTITY, 'room_type', $attribute);
$installer->endSetup();

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Magento – Cant create a custom category attribute in admin

Magento – Multi Select Category Attribute not saving

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