Ubercart: Creating Product Attributes

Managing Attributes in Ubercart

In Ubercart, you can manage product attributes at two levels:

• Using store settings, you can create and configure default attributes with default values. If you have product groups that require different attributes, you can create different product classes.
• When a new product is created, default attributes are applied. You can then customize these attributes individually for each product.

Before creating attributes, you must enable the Ubercart Attributes submodule.

Let’s begin by creating default attributes. Create two attributes: Color and Memory.

1. Go to Store administration | Attributes.
2. Click Add an attribute.
3. Fill in the following fields:
   • Name: Enter Color.
   • Label: Optional override of the attribute name on the product form.
   • Help text: Optional guidance for customers.
   • Required: Check this to force customers to select a color before adding to cart.
   • Display type: Select Select box. Alternatives include radio buttons, text fields, and checkboxes.
   • List position: Set to -10 to make this the first attribute listed.
4. Click Submit to create the attribute.
5. Repeat the process to create an attribute named Memory with a position of 10.

Now, let’s add options to these attributes:

1. Click Options next to the Color attribute.
2. Click Add an option.
3. Enter Name: Red (for example), leave other settings as default, and click Submit.
4. Repeat to add more options: Green, Blue, and Yellow.
5. Repeat the above for the Memory attribute with options: 256MB, 512MB, and 1024MB.

Now let’s assign these attributes to a product:

• Locate your product in the catalog and click Edit.
• Click the Attributes tab.
• Click Add attributes to this product.
• Select Color and Memory (use Ctrl for multiple selections) and click Add attributes.
• Click the Options tab to manage specific values and price adjustments if needed, then click Submit.
• Click the Adjustments tab if you want to give unique SKUs to combinations, otherwise leave defaults and click Submit.

Now view the product: you will see dropdowns for both attributes. If a customer tries to add the product to the cart without choosing values, they’ll receive a validation error. Once they select values and add the product to the cart, the cart will display their choices clearly.

That's it! In the next lesson, we’ll explore how to work with product classes.