How can I have a Configurable attribute populated from a source

Question

I have a product attribute, which is populated by a source model which is extended from AbstractSource. Because of this the attribute is not set with 'is_user_defined' = 1 and therefore I am not able to use this attribute as a configurable option.

So my question is... How can I create an attribute that can be used as a configurable option whilst being populated from the database?

Thanks.

Answer 1

General info:
Here are the rules for using an attribute in a configurable product.
They come from \Magento\ConfigurableProduct\Model\Product\Type\Configurable::canUseAttribute

public function canUseAttribute(\Magento\Catalog\Model\ResourceModel\Eav\Attribute $attribute)
{
    return $attribute->getIsGlobal() == \Magento\Eav\Model\Entity\Attribute\ScopedAttributeInterface::SCOPE_GLOBAL &&
        $attribute->getIsVisible() &&
        $attribute->usesSource() &&
        $attribute->getIsUserDefined();
}

So basically, the attribute should be global (is_global = 1 in talbe catalog_eav_attribute), is visible (is_visible = 1 in table catalog_eav_attribute), usesSource (type is select or multiselect and source_model is not empty - all in table eav_attribute) and is user defined (is_user_defined = 1 in the eav_attribute table)

Now for your specific problem. You can change is_user_defined to 1 in the eav_attribute table for your specific product.