Call to a member function getSortedChildren() on a non-object product attributes

Question

On my product view page I get the following error:

 Fatal error: Call to a member function getSortedChildren() on a non-object in /template/catalog/product/view/type/options/configurable.phtml on line 32

Here's configurable.phtml

<?php
   $_product    = $this->getProduct();
   $_attributes = Mage::helper('core')->decorateArray($this->getAllowAttributes());
   $_jsonConfig = $this->getJsonConfig();
   $_renderers = $this->getChild('attr_renderers')->getSortedChildren(); // LINE THE ERROR REFERS TO
?>
<?php if ($_product->isSaleable() && count($_attributes)):?>
<dl>
<?php foreach($_attributes as $_attribute): ?>
    <?php
    $_rendered = false;
    foreach ($_renderers as $_rendererName):
        $_renderer = $this->getChild('attr_renderers')->getChild($_rendererName);
        if (method_exists($_renderer, 'shouldRender') && $_renderer->shouldRender($_attribute, $_jsonConfig)):
            $_renderer->setProduct($_product);
            $_renderer->setAttributeObj($_attribute);
            echo $_renderer->toHtml();
            $_rendered = true;
            break;
        endif;
    endforeach;

    if (!$_rendered):
    ?>
    <dt><label class="required"><em>*</em><?php echo $_attribute->getLabel() ?></label></dt>
    <dd<?php if ($_attribute->decoratedIsLast){?> class="last"<?php }?>>
        <div class="input-box">
            <select name="super_attribute[<?php echo $_attribute->getAttributeId() ?>]" id="attribute<?php echo $_attribute->getAttributeId() ?>" class="required-entry super-attribute-select">
                <option><?php echo $this->__('Choose an Option...') ?></option>
              </select>
          </div>
    </dd>
    <?php endif; ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</dl>
<script type="text/javascript">
    var spConfig = new Product.Config(<?php echo $_jsonConfig ?>);
</script>
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('after') ?>

I haven't made any changes to the attributes lately, I only uploaded some swatch images, I've renamed the folder and the code still isn't working

Answer 1

I think you are using custom theme so make sure that in catalog.xml file

in

<PRODUCT_TYPE_configurable translate="label" module="catalog">

under this tag

<reference name="product.info.options.wrapper">
            <block type="catalog/product_view_type_configurable" name="product.info.options.configurable" as="options_configurable" before="-" template="catalog/product/view/type/options/configurable.phtml">
                <block type="core/text_list" name="product.info.options.configurable.renderers" as="attr_renderers" />
                <block type="core/text_list" name="product.info.options.configurable.after" as="after" />
            </block>
        </reference>

this block exist if its not then just add this block under

<PRODUCT_TYPE_configurable>

if its not works then place your catalog.xml here so someone can check