Magento creating new product with self-created attributes and options

Question

Similar questions here didn't helped me with my problem, so I'll just ask by myself.

I've got a php file which creates an attribute (Drop-Down) and a php file which creates options for it.

Now I want to create a php file which generates me a simple product for magento with one or more attributes (which were created before)

Here's my piece of code to generate the data for it:

$code = "\$newProductData = array(  
          " . ((!empty($name)) ? "'name' => '$name', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($websites)) ? "'websites' => '$websites[0]', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($description)) ? "'description' => '$description', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($description_short)) ? "'description_short' => '$description_short', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($price)) ? "'price' => '$price', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($type)) ? "'type' => '$type', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($status)) ? "'status' => '$status', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($weight)) ? "'weight' => '$weight', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($tax_class_id)) ? "'tax_class_id' => '$tax_class_id', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($categories)) ? "'categories' => '$categories', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($manufacturer)) ? "'manufacturer' => '$manufacturer', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($color)) ? "'color' => '$color', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($url_key)) ? "'url_key' => '$url_key', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($url_path)) ? "'url_path' => '$url_path', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($visibility)) ? "'visibility' => '$visibility', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($news_from_date)) ? "'news_from_date' => '$news_from_date', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($news_to_date)) ? "'news_to_date' => '$news_to_date', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($special_price)) ? "'special_price' => '$special_price', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($special_from_date)) ? "'special_from_date' => '$special_from_date', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($special_to_date)) ? "'special_to_date' => '$special_to_date', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($meta_title)) ? "'meta_title' => '$meta_title', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($meta_keyword)) ? "'meta_keyword' => '$meta_keyword', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($meta_description)) ? "'meta_description' => '$meta_description', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($enable_googlecheckout)) ? "'enable_googlecheckout' => '$enable_googlecheckout', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($custom_design)) ? "'custom_design' => '$custom_design', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($custom_design_from)) ? "'custom_design_from' => '$custom_design_from', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($custom_design_to)) ? "'custom_design_to' => '$custom_design_to', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($custom_layout_update)) ? "'custom_layout_update' => '$custom_layout_update', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($page_layout)) ? "'page_layout' => '$page_layout', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($old_id)) ? "'old_id' => '$old_id', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($required_options)) ? "'required_options' => '$required_options', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($has_options)) ? "'has_options' => '$has_options', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($image_label)) ? "'image_label' => '$image_label', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($small_image_label)) ? "'small_image_label' => '$small_image_label', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($thumbnail_label)) ? "'thumbnail_label' => '$thumbnail_label', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($gift_message_available)) ? "'gift_message_available' => '$gift_message_available', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($cost)) ? "'cost' => '$cost', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($is_in_stock)) ? "'is_in_stock' => '$is_in_stock', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($qty)) ? "'qty' => '$qty', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($minimal_price)) ? "'minimal_price' => '$minimal_price', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($tier_price)) ? "'tier_price' => '$tier_price', " : "") . "
          " . ((!empty($options_container)) ? "'options_container' => '$options_container', " : "") . "
       );";

      /* evaluate code */
      eval($code);

      /* cause i dunno if i could simple add the attributes under the evaluated code, i'm merging  each attribute to main array with product data like productdata = (array)productdata + (array)attributeX */
     /* $attributes[$iteration] = "myattributename like custommanufacturer" */
     /* $attributeoptions[$iteration] = "myoptionname like customname" */
      while($iteration != $attr_count -1)
      {
        $iteration++;
        $attributeData = array($attributes[$iteration] => $attributeoptions[$iteration]);
        $newProductData = array_merge((array)$newProductData,(array)$attributeData);
      }
    if ($proxy->create($type, $set['set_id'], $sku, $newProductData)) 
      {
          $hp_bereich .= "\nsuccess=yes";
          $hp_bereich .= "\nwarning=";
          $hp_bereich .= "\nerrorcode=0";
          $hp_bereich .= "\nSKU=" .$sku;
      } 
      else 
      {
          $hp_bereich .= "\nsuccess=no";
          $hp_bereich .= "\nwarning=Error creating product see scriptblock";
          $hp_bereich .= "\nerrorcode=-2001";
          $hp_bereich .= "\nSKU=" .$sku;
      }

Now here's the problem: Product creating : done perfectly Attribute will be shown on Admin-Panel inside of the Product (Drop-Down with selected Option for it): nope.

Could anyone help me with this problem?

I must create a product from scratch (with few information) including attributes which will be created by the user who's controlling/filling the php-file with information.

Answer 1

Firstly, and most importantly, do not use eval. It's too risky and could allow code injection, if just one of those many variables wasn't properly validated it could contain attacking code. There is a reason many web hosts disable it completely. In this case there is no benefit to eval, it achieves nothing you cannot do otherwise.

---

To make a simple product is very simple indeed.

Mage::getModel('catalog/product')
    ->setTypeId('simple')
    ->setWebsiteIds($websites)
    ->setName($name)
    ->setDescription($description)
    ->setDescriptionShort($description_short)
    // etc...
    ->save();

The setters are magic methods so you can use any attribute name you like. If the value passed is null the attribute is unset so it is safe to call all those setters unconditionally. If you are building those variables from an array - perhaps using extract() - then it is quicker to use the array directly:

Mage::getModel('catalog/product')
    ->setTypeId('simple')
    ->addData($array)
    ->save();

---

If you want to learn how an existing product stores it's attributes use something like the following:

$product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($productId);
print_r($product->debug());

This is a good debugging technique and reveals a lot. Do this to find how the drop-down attributes are stored.