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In Magento, Attributes are quantifiable or descriptive aspects of a product, from the color, to the manufacturer, to the SKU number. There are two kinds of attributes in Magento: System Attributes and Custom Attributes.
By default, Magento includes all the necessary System Attributes. These cannot be deleted, and every product must have each of these attributes. Therefore, all Attribute Sets must include these attributes (more on Attribute sets in the next section). These type of attributes include Name, Price, and SKU, without which a product would not function.
Custom Attributes, on the other hand, are attributes created by the Store Owner. These will likely be more specific for individual products, and therefore will not necessarily be included in every Attribute set. For example, if you were to create an attribute for color, with values of blue, green, yellow, etc., you may want to apply this attribute to an Attribute Set for shirts, which you sell in various colors, but you probably would not include it in an Attribute Set for DVDs, for which color is not really an applicable attribute.
Attribute Code - Required. Used internally by Magento. Must be unique with no spaces. Cannot be edited after creation.
Scope - This drop-down determines the level at which the values of this attribute are shared. When creating a product, you will be able to see the Scope to the right of each attribute.
Store View : the value of this attribute for a given product can differ in all Websites and all Store Views. For example, if you were creating an attribute called Color, with a Store View Scope, you would be able to set the color of a product to green in one Store View, and blue in another Store View.
Website : Website means that the value of this attribute for a given product can differ in different Websites, however it cannot differ between Store Views contained under the same Website
Global : the value of this attribute for a given product must be the same for all websites and stores on this Magento installation
Catalog Input Type for Store Owner - Data entry field type for this attribute. Note that Attributes whose input type requires multiple predefined options, such as the Dropdown or Multiple Select types, cannot later be changed to direct input types like text boxes.
Default Value - If you enter a default value, each new product created with this attribute will automatically have this attribute prepopulated with this value. This field is not displayed for Multiple Select, Drop down, or Media Image Input Types. Drop down or Multiple Select Input Type default value can be set in the Manage Label/Options tab
Unique Value - This option defines how the attribute you are working can be used by Magento.
Yes : Magento will only allow any single label/option of this attribute to be used once and only once by any product. So if one product has already selected a label/option in this attribute list, then no other product my select that same value.
No : Multiple products can share the same value for this attribute.
Values Required - The option sets whether Magento will require the attribute have a value selected when creating the product.
Yes : This attribute will be treated as a required input field when products are created and edited
No - This attribute will be treated as an optional input field. You can create a product with this attribute and have this specific attribute be left blank
Input Validation for Store Owner - This controls the type of check Magento places on the values entered for this attribute for each product. If you select None, you can enter any type of information as the value for this attribute. If you select Email, for example, Magento will make sure that the value entered for each product resembles an email address. If it does not, you will receive a warning message.
Decimal number :
Integer number :
Email :
-
Letters :
Letters and numbers :
Apply To - Required. Determines which product types can include this attribute. This is a multi-select field.
All product types :
Selected product types :
Meaning of the properties options for frontend
Use in Quick Search - Adds this attribute to the list of fields the quick search (single form field on every frontend page) uses when searching
Use in Advanced Search - Adds this attribute to the advanced search options
Comparable on Front-end - Adds this attribute to the comparable views
Use In Layered Navigation - Adds this attribute to the layer navigation panel when products have this attribute are displayed in the list. Can be used only with catalog input type Dropdown, Multiple Select and Price
Use In Search Results Layered Navigation - Adds this attribute to the layer navigation panel when products have this attribute are displayed in the search results. Can be used only with catalog input type Dropdown, Multiple Select and Price
Use for Promo Rule Conditions
Position
Position of attribute in layered navigation block - Position of attribute in layered navigation block
-
Allow
HTML Tags on Frontend - Allow attribute values that have
HTML tags enclosing them to have those
HTML tags honoured.
Visible on Product View Page on Front-end - Adds this option to the product view details
Used in Product Listing - Depends on design theme.
Yes : The attribute gets added to the Flat product table. This allows the display or and attribute able to be Selected as part of a lookup in the database. So, for example for new products the news_from_date and news_to_date need to be present in the flat product table for them to be used when “Use Flat Catalog Product” is selected in the Configuration→Catalogue→Frontend→Use Flat Catalog Product
Used for Sorting in Product Listing - By setting this option to Yes the attribute gets added to the default sort options. So at the bottom of the product list this attribute can be chosen as a sort option.
Enter a label and options (for dropdown input types) for the attribute. You can enter different labels for each store. If you leave a store field blank, it will use the default (admin) label.
