Magento Attributes - Fresh View

Magento attributes Fresh view

Monday, October 14, 13

Alex Gotgelf

Senior Software Developer at Eltrino

Contacts:

[email protected]

ramzes3988

http://www.linkedin.com/in/gotgelf


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



‣ Magento Attributes EAV concepts

‣ Not trivial problems and solutions

Lecture Overview


EAV has quite a long history. Some of its earliest applications were storage systems for clinical data back in 1970s.

As a storage method EAV borrows from early object-oriented languages. SIMULA 67 is cited as one such influence. Functional languages such as LISP are also known to have contributed to the development of EAV. They contain storage structures that record object information in attribute-value pairs – a principle fundamental to EAV.

EAV History


EAV conception

‣ E - Entity

‣ A - Attribute

‣ V - Value


EAV conception

‣ Entity attributes vary significantly in terms of data type

‣ The number of possible entity types is large and entity types have individual sets of attributes

Eav becomes especially useful when the following conditions are presented:


Advantages of EAV

‣ Scalability - you can change your data without changing the structure of db

‣ Flexible mechanism to work with attributes associated to entity


Weakness of EAV

‣ Performance (complex join structures etc...)


Attributes Bottlenecksin Magento


Problem #1

Product Select Attribute with Large Options Set (several thousands of options) at the admin side

Problem #1


Let’s create select attribute with 5 options

$installer = $this;$installer->addAttribute(Mage_Catalog_Model_Product::ENTITY, 'test_select', array( 'group' => 'General', 'type' => 'int', 'input' => 'select', 'label' => 'Test Select', 'global' => Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Eav_Attribute::SCOPE_GLOBAL, 'required' => true,));

$attributeId = $installer ->getAttributeId(Mage_Catalog_Model_Product::ENTITY, 'test_select');

for ($i = 1; $i <= 5; $i++) { $data[] = 'Opt' . $i;}$option = array ( 'attribute_id' => $attributeId, 'values' => $data);

$this->addAttributeOption($option);$installer->endSetup();

PHP

Problem #1


• Usability

• Performance

Problem #1






PHP

Let’s create select attribute with 10000 optionsProblem #1


• Usability

• Performance

Problem #1Problem #1






PHP



• Usability

• Performance

Fatal error : Allowed memory size of 268435456 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 32 bytes

memory_limit: 1024M



As ResultProblem #1


Solution for Problem #1- AutoComplete

Problem #1


Select2 - jquery based

replacement for

Select Boxes

Problem #1 - SolutionProblem #1


http://ivaynberg.github.io/select2/

Problem #1

Problem #1 - Solution




‣ Enhancing native selects with search

‣ Loading data from JavaScript: easily load items via ajax and have them searchable.

‣ Nesting opt-groups: native selects only support one level of nested. Select2 does not have this restriction.

‣ Tagging: ability to add new items on the fly.

‣ Working with large, remote datasets: ability to partially load a dataset based on the search term.

‣ etc ...

Select2 Advantages

Problem #1


Magento Renderers

‣ Button

‣ Checkbox

‣ Select

‣ Text

‣ Radio

‣ ...

Varien_Data_Form_Element

Problem #1


<?php$installer = $this;$installer->addAttribute(Mage_Catalog_Model_Product::ENTITY, 'test_select', array( 'group' => 'General', 'type' => 'int', 'input' => 'select2', 'label' => 'Test Select', 'global' => Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Eav_Attribute::SCOPE_GLOBAL, 'required' => true, 'input_renderer' => 'examples_customselect/renderer_select'));

PHP

Step 1 - create test attribute with custom renderer

custom renderer

Problem #1


<reference name="head"> <action method="addItem"><type>js_css</type>

<name>jquery/select2/select2.css</name><params/></action>

<action method="addJs"> <file>jquery/jquery-1.9.min.js</file> <params><![CDATA[name="js_001_first"]]></params> </action> <action method="addJs"> <file>jquery/select2/select2.min.js</file> <params><![CDATA[name="js_002_second"]]></params> </action></reference>

XML

Problem #1

Step 2 - create layout with select2 js and css files


public function getElementHtml(){ $html = ' <p> <input type="hidden" id = "test_attribute" name = "product[test_attribute]" value = ' . $this->getValue() . ' data-placeholder="-- Please select --"

style="width:300px"/> </p>';

$defaultOptionText = $this->getDefaultOptionText();...

PHP

Problem #1

Step 3 - create custom renderer block


...$js = <<<EOF<script type="text/javascript">jQuery.noConflict()(document).ready(function() { jQuery.noConflict()('#test_attribute').select2({ minimumInputLength: 4, placeholder: 'Search', ajax: { url: '{$this->getLink()}', dataType: 'json', data: function(term, page) { return { search: term, attribute_code: '{$this->getId()}' }; }, results: function (data, page) { return { results: data }; } },...

PHP

Problem #1



...initSelection : function (element, callback) { var data = {id: '{$this->getValue()}', text: '{$defaultOptionText}'}; callback(data); } }); });</script>EOF;

$html .= $js; return $html;}

PHP

Problem #1



public function testAction() { if (!$this->getRequest()->isAjax()) { $this->_forward('noRoute'); return; } $search = $this->getRequest()->getParam('search'); $attributeCode = $this->getRequest()->getParam('attribute_code'); $attribute = Mage::getModel('eav/entity_attribute')-> loadByCode(Mage_Catalog_Model_Product::ENTITY, $attributeCode); $options = Mage::getModel('examples_customselect/select')-> getAttributesLikeSearch($attribute->getId(), $search); $this->getResponse()->setBody(Mage::helper('core')-> jsonEncode($options)); }

PHP

Problem #1

Step 4 - create admin controller


... $select = $this->_getReadAdapter()->select()->from(array('a' => $this->getTable('eav/attribute_option_value'))) ->joinLeft( array('b' => $this->getTable('eav/attribute_option')), 'a.option_id = b.option_id', array() ) ->where('a.store_id = ?', $store->getId()) ->where('b.attribute_id = ?', $attributeId) ->where('a.value LIKE ?', $search .'%');

...

loading array data using ajax

PHP

Problem #1

Step 5 - create model and resource model


https://github.com/gotgelf/magento-examples

Customselect Module

Problem #1







Saving Attribute via admin side with a Large Number of Options

Problem #2

Problem #2


Problem #2


...

Problem #2


• Change Opt1, change Opt300

• Click “Save Attribute” button

• As result Opt1 will be changed and Opt300 will not

Problem #2

Problem #2


Problem: POST request is truncated, so we need to increase it’s size

Solution: increase max_input_vars (since PHP 5.3.9 ) variable, by default it’s 1000

Problem #2

Problem #2


Product Select Attribute with Large Options Set (several thousands of options) at the Frontend

Problem #3

Problem #3


$installer = $this;$installer->addAttribute(Mage_Catalog_Model_Product::ENTITY, 'frontend_select', array( 'group' => 'General', 'type' => 'varchar', 'input' => 'int', 'label' => 'Frontend Select', 'global' => Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Eav_Attribute::SCOPE_GLOBAL, 'required' => true, 'visible_on_front' => true, ));

$attributeId = $installer ->getAttributeId(Mage_Catalog_Model_Product::ENTITY, 'frontend_select');



} important !



• Crete test product and assign to it some option

• Go to Frontend



Option load takes about 0.9 sec !!!

Problem #3

Problem #3


Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_View_Attribtues

Mage_Eav_ModelEntity_Attribute_Frontend_Abstract

getAdditionalData()

getValue()

getOption()

getOptionText()

Mage_Eav_ModelEntity_Attribute_Source_Table

getAllOptions()

Problem #3

Problem #3


public function getAllOptions($withEmpty = true, $defaultValues = false) { $storeId = $this->getAttribute()->getStoreId(); if (!is_array($this->_options)) { $this->_options = array(); } if (!is_array($this->_optionsDefault)) { $this->_optionsDefault = array(); } if (!isset($this->_options[$storeId])) { $collection = Mage::getResourceModel('eav/entity_attribute_option_collection') ->setPositionOrder('asc') ->setAttributeFilter($this->getAttribute()->getId()) ->setStoreFilter($this->getAttribute()->getStoreId()) ->load(); $this->_options[$storeId] = $collection->toOptionArray(); $this->_optionsDefault[$storeId] = $collection->toOptionArray('default_value'); } $options = ($defaultValues ? $this->_optionsDefault[$storeId] : $this->_options[$storeId]); if ($withEmpty) { array_unshift($options, array('label' => '', 'value' => '')); } return $options; }

Problem #3

PHP

We load all options to retrieve selected option text !!!


Attribute Custom Frontend

Model

Problem #3



...

$installer = $this;$installer->addAttribute(Mage_Catalog_Model_Product::ENTITY, 'frontend_select', array( 'group' => 'General', 'type' => 'varchar', 'input' => 'int', 'label' => 'Frontend Select', 'global' => Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Eav_Attribute::SCOPE_GLOBAL, 'required' => true, 'frontend' => 'examples_customselect/catalog_product_attribute_frontend_select', 'visible_on_front' => true, ));

...

Сustom Frontend Model

Problem #3

PHP

Step 1 - create test attribute with custom frontend model


Examples_Сustomselect_Model_Catalog_Product_Attribute_Frontend_Select

getAdditionalData()getValue()

Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_View_Attribtues

Problem #3

Problem #3


public function getValue(Varien_Object $object) { $optionId = $object->getData($this->getAttribute()

->getAttributeCode()); $storeId = $this->getAttribute()->getStoreId(); $data = Mage::getModel('examples_customselect/select') ->getOptionText($optionId, $storeId); $value = $data['value']; return $value; }

Problem #3

PHP

Step 2 - create getValue() method at our custom model


Option load takes about 0.0014 sec !!! instead 0.9



Layer Navigation Issues

(a lot of attributes or a lot of options)

Problem #4

Problem #4


For each attribute which is used for Layer Navigation, it will make a call to getAllOptions() method at Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Attribute_Source_Table model and during this call we will load all attribute option collection !!!



Problem #4

public function getAllOptions($withEmpty = true, $defaultValues = false) { ... $collection = Mage::getResourceModel('eav/entity_attribute_option_collection') ->setPositionOrder('asc') ->setAttributeFilter($this->getAttribute()->getId()) ->setStoreFilter($this->getAttribute()->getStoreId()) ->load(); ... }

PHP

Problem #4


Create custom getAllOptions method

which will load all values for all

attributes at once

(using static variable)

Problem #4 - SolutionProblem #4


public function getAllOptions($withEmpty = true, $defaultValues = false) {

... if (!isset($this->_options[$storeId])) { $options = $this->_getAttributeOptionsByStore($storeId,

$this->getAttribute()->getId()); $this->_options[$storeId] = $options['store']; $this->_optionsDefault[$storeId] = $options['default']; } ... }

PHP

Problem #4



protected static $_predefinedOptions = array();

protected static function _getAttributeOptionsByStore($storeId, $attributeId) { if (!isset(self::$_predefinedOptions[$storeId])) {

// load options collection }

if (isset(self::$_predefinedOptions[$storeId][$attributeId])) { return self:: $_predefinedOptions[$storeId][$attributeId]; }

}

Problem #4

PHP



Preconditions: one dropdown attribute with 10000 options, used at layer navigation. Cache is disabled.

Problem #4

Problem #4


Category Page, loading time

Problem #4


Problem #5

Usage of attribute created via install script at Layer Navigation

Problem #5


Problem #5...

$installer->addAttribute(Mage_Catalog_Model_Product::ENTITY, 'test_select', array( 'group' => 'General', 'type' => 'int', // int or varchar type ? 'input' => 'select', 'label' => 'Test Select', 'global' => Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Eav_Attribute::SCOPE_GLOBAL, 'required' => true,));

...

Problem #5

PHP


protected function _getIndexableAttributes($multiSelect) { $select = ...

if ($multiSelect == true) { $select->where('ea.backend_type = ?', 'varchar') ->where('ea.frontend_input = ?', 'multiselect'); } else { $select->where('ea.backend_type = ?', 'int') ->where('ea.frontend_input = ?', 'select'); }

return $this->_getReadAdapter()->fetchCol($select); }

if backend_type is varchar, our attribute will not work correctly at Layer Navigation (as example - default Magento attribute ‘manufacture’), use int backend type instead.

Problem #5

PHP


Load all category collection (getStoreCategories() method) to add

needed attributes for each item in the collection.



PHP

Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Category_Tree

protected function _getDefaultCollection($sorted = false) { $this->_joinUrlRewriteIntoCollection = true; $collection = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->getCollection();

$attributes = Mage::getConfig()->getNode('frontend/category/collection/attributes'); if ($attributes) { $attributes = $attributes->asArray(); $attributes = array_keys($attributes); } $collection->addAttributeToSelect($attributes);

... }

Problem #6


<category> <collection> <attributes> <name/> <url_key/> <is_active/> </attributes> </collection> </category>

XML

Catalog/etc/config.xml

Problem #6


Additional Example

Change Product Attribute Set (for simple products) on the Fly



public function addNewActionToProductGrid($observer) { $block = $observer->getBlock(); if ($block instanceof Mage_Adminhtml_Block_Catalog_Product_Grid){ $attributeSets = Mage::getResourceModel('eav/entity_attribute_set_collection') ->setEntityTypeFilter(Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->getResource()->getTypeId()) ->load() ->toOptionHash(); ...

PHP

Step 1 - add Observer to create new mass action


$block->getMassactionBlock()->addItem('attr_set', array( 'label'=> Mage::helper('catalog')->__('Change Attribute Set'), 'url' => $block->getUrl('*/index/test', array('_current'=>true)), 'additional' => array( 'visibility' => array( 'name' => 'attribute_set', 'type' => 'select', 'class' => 'required-entry', 'label' => Mage::helper('catalog')->__('Select Attribute Set'), 'values' => $attributeSets ) ) )); } }

PHP

Step 1 - add Observer to create new mass action


...foreach ($productIds as $productId) { $product = Mage::getSingleton('catalog/product')->load($productId); $attributes = Mage::getModel('catalog/ product_attribute_api')->items($product->getAttributeSetId());

$product ->setStoreId($storeId) ->setAttributeSetId($this->getRequest()->getParam('attribute_set')) ->setIsMassupdate(true) ->save(); $this->_cleanOldAttributeValues($product, $attributes);}...

PHP

Step 2 - create custom Controller


protected function _cleanOldAttributeValues($product, $attributes){ $productResource = $product->getResource(); foreach ($attributes as $attribute) {

if (!in_array($attribute['code'], $this->_fixAttributes)) { $product->setData($attribute['code'], null); $productResource->saveAttribute($product, $attribute['code']); }

}

return $this;}

PHP

Step 3 - remove old attribute’s values


There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so

simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more

difficult.

(Tony Hoare)


https://twitter.com/gotgelf




Thank You !

Questions


Technology

Magento Attributes - Fresh View