Problem : Attribute int type vs varchar for product sorting showing no diffrence

Question

I have created Custom attribute for product sorting in magento 2.1.1. by Setup>installData.php `namespace Vendor\Module\Setup;

use Magento\Catalog\Model\Product;
use Magento\Catalog\Model\Product\Type;
use Magento\Catalog\Model\Resource\Eav\Attribute;
use Magento\Eav\Setup\EavSetupFactory;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\InstallDataInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\ModuleContextInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\ModuleDataSetupInterface;


/**
 * @codeCoverageIgnore
 */
class InstallData implements InstallDataInterface
{
    /**
     * EAV setup factory
     *
     * @var EavSetupFactory
     */
    private $eavSetupFactory;
    /**
     * Init
     *
     * @param EavSetupFactory $eavSetupFactory
     */
    public function __construct(EavSetupFactory $eavSetupFactory)
    {
        $this->eavSetupFactory = $eavSetupFactory;
        /* assign object to class global variable for use in other class methods */
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     * @SuppressWarnings(PHPMD.ExcessiveMethodLength)
     */
    public function install(ModuleDataSetupInterface $setup, ModuleContextInterface $context)
    {
         $setup->startSetup();
        /** @var EavSetup $eavSetup */
        $eavSetup = $this->eavSetupFactory->create(['setup' => $setup]);


        /**
         * Add attributes to the eav/attribute
       */
       $eavSetup->addAttribute(
         \Magento\Catalog\Model\Product::ENTITY,
       'sorting_attribute',
       [
       'type' => 'int',
        'backend' => '',
        'frontend' => '',
        'label' => 'Sorting Attribute',
        'input' => 'text',
        'class' => '',
        'source' => '',
        'global' => 1,
        'visible' => true,
        'required' => false,
        'user_defined' => true,
        'default' => 0,
        'searchable' => false,
        'filterable' => false,
        'comparable' => false,
        'visible_on_front' => true,
        'used_in_product_listing' => true,
        'unique' => false,
        'apply_to' => 'simple,configurable,virtual,bundle,downloadable,grouped',
        'group'=> 'General'
       ]
      );






       $setup->endSetup();
    }
}`

Expected sorting for product

    Product a: custom_attribute = 12,
    Product b: custom_attribute = 42,
    Product c: custom_attribute = 55,
    Product d: custom_attribute = 135,
    Product e: custom_attribute = 325,
    Product f: custom_attribute = 443,
    Product g: custom_attribute = 1134,
    Product h: custom_attribute = 2231

but actually it is sorting as :

  Product a: custom_attribute = 443,
    Product b: custom_attribute = 135,
    Product c: custom_attribute = 325,
    Product d: custom_attribute = 55,
    Product e: custom_attribute = 42,
    Product f: custom_attribute = 1134,
    Product g: custom_attribute = 12,
    Product h: custom_attribute = 2231

After switching with other option and refreshing the page the sorting order gets changed , How it works ?? I tried with varchar type attribute created through admin it was also behaving very similar to the same.

Answer 1

remove these fields from the script

'backend' => '',
'frontend' => '',

after running setup:upgrade you will see backend_type is int in eav_attribute table. Also add this in your script

'used_for_sort_by'=>1

After the attribute is created, do not save this attribute from admin because if you save it, backend_type will again change from int to varchar.