Add custom option on catalog_product_new_action

Question

I have a simple need which is that I hae a custom product type and that product needs options attached to it. I need these options to be editable and removable so I'm going to use what is built in. I have the observer working and the method is being fired. When I do a var_dump($product);die(); I can search for the title of the sample custom option and find that it is apart of the output. When I get to the new product page I am not seeing the options. This is what I have.

public function catalog_product_new_action($observer) {
    //check that we haven't made the option already
    $product = $observer->getEvent()->getProduct();
    $options = $product->getOptions();
    if ($options){
        foreach ($options as $option) {
            if ($option['title'] == 'Auto Date & Time' && $option['type'] == 'date_time' && !$option['is_delete']) {
                //we've already added the option
                return;
            }
        }
    }
    $option = array(
        'title' => 'Auto Date & Time',
        'type' => 'date_time',
        'is_require' => 1,
        'sort_order' => 0,
        'is_delete' => '',
        'previous_type' => '',
        'previous_group' => '',
        'price' => '0.00',
        'price_type' => 'fixed',
        'sku' => ''
    );
    $product->setProductOptions(array($option));
    $product->setCanSaveCustomOptions(true);
    $product->setHasOptions(true);
    $product->save();


}

It is close, but it's not displaying on the back end. What I don't want to do is force a user to save the product and then auto generate the options after the fact, so I'm not wanting to use any of the on saves events and why I am using that catalog_product_new_action event

Update It is worth noting that the save ( $product->save(); ) will save an empty product but it will not be used when you are landing on the next leg of a new product after choosing the type ( admin/product/new/type/#/ ).

Answer 1

The event catalog_product_new_action is triggered when this page is loaded:

On this request no product gets created! The $product object is only for temporary use, that's why you get an empty product when you save it.

But the action of this form is adminhtml/catalog_product/save, will save the product with id, type and attribute set and redirect you to the edit page. So if you observe the event catalog_product_save_before you will actually see the custom options immediately on the newly created product.

To prevent creating them again on subsequent saves, use isObjectNew():

if ($product->isObjectNew()) {
    // create custom options
}