Magento 2 What is the use of 'apply_to' to add product attribute?

Question

I have seen one option 'apply_to' while adding an product attribute.

ex.

$eavSetup->addAttribute(
        \Magento\Catalog\Model\Product::ENTITY,
        'sample_attribute',
        [
            'type' => 'text',
            'backend' => '',
            'frontend' => '',
            'label' => 'Sample Atrribute',
            'input' => 'text',
            'global' => \Magento\Eav\Model\Entity\Attribute\ScopedAttributeInterface::SCOPE_GLOBAL,
            'visible' => true,
            'required' => true,
            'user_defined' => false,
            'default' => '',
            'searchable' => false,
            'filterable' => false,
            'comparable' => false,
            'visible_on_front' => false,
            'used_in_product_listing' => true,
            'unique' => false,
            **'apply_to' => ''**
        ]
    );

Can anyone explain what is the use of 'apply_to' option? Thanks in Advance.

Answer 1

Magento\Bundle\Setup\Patch\Data\ApplyAttributesUpdate

If you look at this class closely ,

You will see that apply_to has value bundle

this means this attribute will only work with bundle product type.

Here vendor/magento/module-catalog/Setup/CategorySetup.php

you will see some of attribute only applicable to simple,bundle

'apply_to' => 'simple,bundle',

Answer 2

apply_to indicates that in which type of product you want to add attribute.

For ex : you can see Magento\Catalog\Setup\CategorySetup.php class

'special_price' => [
                        'type' => 'decimal',
                        'label' => 'Special Price',
                        'input' => 'price',
                        'backend' => Price::class,
                        'required' => false,
                        'sort_order' => 3,
                        'global' => ScopedAttributeInterface::SCOPE_WEBSITE,
                        'used_in_product_listing' => true,
                        'apply_to' => 'simple,virtual',
                        'group' => 'Prices',
                        'is_used_in_grid' => true,
                        'is_visible_in_grid' => false,
                        'is_filterable_in_grid' => true,
                    ],

Here you can see that, special_price attribute apply only for simple and virtual product.

Answer 3

The 'apply_to' option is used to assign to particular product type Like 'apply_to' => 'simple,configurable', Check below code to create product attribute programmatically.

<?php
namespace Vendor\ProductAttribute\Setup;

use Magento\Framework\Setup\InstallDataInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\ModuleContextInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\ModuleDataSetupInterface;
use Magento\Eav\Setup\EavSetup;
use Magento\Eav\Setup\EavSetupFactory;

class InstallData implements InstallDataInterface
{
    private $eavSetupFactory;
    /**
     * Constructor
     *
     * @param \Magento\Eav\Setup\EavSetupFactory $eavSetupFactory
     */
    public function __construct(EavSetupFactory $eavSetupFactory)
    {
        $this->eavSetupFactory = $eavSetupFactory;
    }

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

        $eavSetup->addAttribute(
            \Magento\Catalog\Model\Product::ENTITY,
            'sample_attribute',
            [
                'type' => 'varchar',
                'backend' => '',
                'frontend' => '',
                'label' => 'Sample Attribute',
                'input' => 'text',
                'class' => '',
                'source' => '',
                'global' => 1,
                'visible' => true,
                'required' => false,
                'user_defined' => true,
                'default' => null,
                'searchable' => false,
                'filterable' => false,
                'comparable' => false,
                'visible_on_front' => true,
                'used_in_product_listing' => true,
                'unique' => false,
                'apply_to' => 'simple,configurable',
                'system' => 1,
                'group' => 'General'
            ]
        );
    }
}

Hope this will help you.