Magento 1.9.1 configurable product attribute sorting

Question

As i already mentioned, there seems to be a problem with magento 1.9.1 and the sorting of attributes of configurable products. The options of a configurable product now ALWAYS depend on the product ID of the simple product. The order of the attribute options are ignored.

I went back to magento 1.9.0.1. Maybe someone can determine how the sorting in 1.9.1 is done. It would be great for everyone who uses configurable products to fix that.

If somebody wants to see that, you can do it here in magento demo store. I wasnt able to sort the sizes correctly.

Answer 1

Note: It has been brought to my attention that this solution does not work for Magento 1.9.2. In order to save others wasted time I'd like to point this out at the top of this post. If I develop my own solution or find someone else's solution that works for 1.9.2 I will update this post at that time.

Notice: The solution laid out here extends a block class file in Magento's core library. I reviewed Magento's source code prior to this approach and determined that there was not a good event to observe to avoid this approach. If in a future version of Magento this sorting issue is resolved, you may undo these changes below simply by disabling the extension in it's app/etc/modules XML file.

Step 1: create the file app/etc/modules/FirstScribe_CatalogOptionSortFix.xml

Contents:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <FirstScribe_CatalogOptionSortFix>
            <active>true</active>
            <codePool>local</codePool>
            <depends>
                <Mage_Catalog />
            </depends>
        </FirstScribe_CatalogOptionSortFix>
    </modules>
</config>

Note: For step 2 and 3, create directories for these files as necessary. For example, you may already have the directory app/code/local, or you may not, depending on what extensions you have already installed on your site.

Step 2: Create the file app/code/local/FirstScribe/CatalogOptionSortFix/etc/config.xml

Contents:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
/**
 * Magento 1.9.1.0 has a bug in that the configurable options are sorted by
 * ID rather than position for the Configurable Product's front end view script.
 * This extension addresses this problem.
 *
 * @category    FirstScribe
 * @package     FirstScribe_CatalogOptionSortFix
 * @version     2014.12.15
 */
-->
<config>
    <modules>
        <FirstScribe_CatalogOptionSortFix>
            <version>1.0.0</version>
        </FirstScribe_CatalogOptionSortFix>
    </modules>
    <global>
        <blocks>
            <catalog>
                <rewrite>
                    <product_view_type_configurable>FirstScribe_CatalogOptionSortFix_Block_Product_View_Type_Configurable</product_view_type_configurable>
                </rewrite>
            </catalog>
        </blocks>
    </global>
</config>

Step 3: Create the file app/code/local/FirstScribe/CatalogOptionSortFix/Block/Product/View/Type/Configurable.php

Contents:

<?php
/**
 * Magento 1.9.1.0 has a bug in that the configurable options are sorted by
 * ID rather than position for the Configurable Product's front end view script.
 * This extension addresses this problem.
 *
 * @category    FirstScribe
 * @package     FirstScribe_CatalogOptionSortFix
 * @version     2014.12.15
 */
class FirstScribe_CatalogOptionSortFix_Block_Product_View_Type_Configurable extends Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_View_Type_Configurable
{
    /**
     * @var Magento_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql
     */
    protected $_read;

    /**
     * @var string
     */
    protected $_tbl_eav_attribute_option;

    /**
     * Composes configuration for js
     *
     * @version 2014.12.15 - Addition of this line:
     *    $info['options'] = $this->_sortOptions($info['options']);
     *
     * @return string
     */
    public function getJsonConfig()
    {
        $attributes = array();
        $options    = array();
        $store      = $this->getCurrentStore();
        $taxHelper  = Mage::helper('tax');
        $currentProduct = $this->getProduct();

        $preconfiguredFlag = $currentProduct->hasPreconfiguredValues();
        if ($preconfiguredFlag) {
            $preconfiguredValues = $currentProduct->getPreconfiguredValues();
            $defaultValues       = array();
        }

        foreach ($this->getAllowProducts() as $product) {
            $productId  = $product->getId();

            foreach ($this->getAllowAttributes() as $attribute) {
                $productAttribute   = $attribute->getProductAttribute();
                $productAttributeId = $productAttribute->getId();
                $attributeValue     = $product->getData($productAttribute->getAttributeCode());
                if (!isset($options[$productAttributeId])) {
                    $options[$productAttributeId] = array();
                }

                if (!isset($options[$productAttributeId][$attributeValue])) {
                    $options[$productAttributeId][$attributeValue] = array();
                }
                $options[$productAttributeId][$attributeValue][] = $productId;
            }
        }

        $this->_resPrices = array(
            $this->_preparePrice($currentProduct->getFinalPrice())
        );

        foreach ($this->getAllowAttributes() as $attribute) {
            $productAttribute = $attribute->getProductAttribute();
            $attributeId = $productAttribute->getId();
            $info = array(
                    'id'        => $productAttribute->getId(),
                    'code'      => $productAttribute->getAttributeCode(),
                    'label'     => $attribute->getLabel(),
                    'options'   => array()
            );

            $optionPrices = array();
            $prices = $attribute->getPrices();
            if (is_array($prices)) {
                foreach ($prices as $value) {
                    if(!$this->_validateAttributeValue($attributeId, $value, $options)) {
                        continue;
                    }
                    $currentProduct->setConfigurablePrice(
                            $this->_preparePrice($value['pricing_value'], $value['is_percent'])
                    );
                    $currentProduct->setParentId(true);
                    Mage::dispatchEvent(
                            'catalog_product_type_configurable_price',
                            array('product' => $currentProduct)
                    );
                    $configurablePrice = $currentProduct->getConfigurablePrice();

                    if (isset($options[$attributeId][$value['value_index']])) {
                        $productsIndex = $options[$attributeId][$value['value_index']];
                    } else {
                        $productsIndex = array();
                    }

                    $info['options'][] = array(
                            'id'        => $value['value_index'],
                            'label'     => $value['label'],
                            'price'     => $configurablePrice,
                            'oldPrice'  => $this->_prepareOldPrice($value['pricing_value'], $value['is_percent']),
                            'products'  => $productsIndex,
                    );
                    $optionPrices[] = $configurablePrice;
                }
            }

            // CALL SORT ORDER FIX
            $info['options'] = $this->_sortOptions($info['options']);

            /**
             * Prepare formated values for options choose
             */
            foreach ($optionPrices as $optionPrice) {
                foreach ($optionPrices as $additional) {
                    $this->_preparePrice(abs($additional-$optionPrice));
                }
            }
            if($this->_validateAttributeInfo($info)) {
                $attributes[$attributeId] = $info;
            }

            // Add attribute default value (if set)
            if ($preconfiguredFlag) {
                $configValue = $preconfiguredValues->getData('super_attribute/' . $attributeId);
                if ($configValue) {
                    $defaultValues[$attributeId] = $configValue;
                }
            }
        }

        $taxCalculation = Mage::getSingleton('tax/calculation');
        if (!$taxCalculation->getCustomer() && Mage::registry('current_customer')) {
            $taxCalculation->setCustomer(Mage::registry('current_customer'));
        }

        $_request = $taxCalculation->getDefaultRateRequest();
        $_request->setProductClassId($currentProduct->getTaxClassId());
        $defaultTax = $taxCalculation->getRate($_request);

        $_request = $taxCalculation->getRateRequest();
        $_request->setProductClassId($currentProduct->getTaxClassId());
        $currentTax = $taxCalculation->getRate($_request);

        $taxConfig = array(
                'includeTax'        => $taxHelper->priceIncludesTax(),
                'showIncludeTax'    => $taxHelper->displayPriceIncludingTax(),
                'showBothPrices'    => $taxHelper->displayBothPrices(),
                'defaultTax'        => $defaultTax,
                'currentTax'        => $currentTax,
                'inclTaxTitle'      => Mage::helper('catalog')->__('Incl. Tax')
        );

        $config = array(
                'attributes'        => $attributes,
                'template'          => str_replace('%s', '#{price}', $store->getCurrentCurrency()->getOutputFormat()),
                'basePrice'         => $this->_registerJsPrice($this->_convertPrice($currentProduct->getFinalPrice())),
                'oldPrice'          => $this->_registerJsPrice($this->_convertPrice($currentProduct->getPrice())),
                'productId'         => $currentProduct->getId(),
                'chooseText'        => Mage::helper('catalog')->__('Choose an Option...'),
                'taxConfig'         => $taxConfig
        );

        if ($preconfiguredFlag && !empty($defaultValues)) {
            $config['defaultValues'] = $defaultValues;
        }

        $config = array_merge($config, $this->_getAdditionalConfig());    

        return Mage::helper('core')->jsonEncode($config);
    }

    /**
     * Sort the options based off their position.
     *
     * @param array $options
     * @return array
     */
    protected function _sortOptions($options)
    {
        if (count($options)) {
            if (!$this->_read || !$this->_tbl_eav_attribute_option) {
                $resource = Mage::getSingleton('core/resource');

                $this->_read = $resource->getConnection('core_read');
                $this->_tbl_eav_attribute_option = $resource->getTableName('eav_attribute_option');
            }

            // Gather the option_id for all our current options
            $option_ids = array();
            foreach ($options as $option) {
                $option_ids[] = $option['id'];

                $var_name  = 'option_id_'.$option['id'];
                $$var_name = $option;
            }

            $sql    = "SELECT `option_id` FROM `{$this->_tbl_eav_attribute_option}` WHERE `option_id` IN('".implode('\',\'', $option_ids)."') ORDER BY `sort_order`";
            $result = $this->_read->fetchCol($sql);

            $options = array();
            foreach ($result as $option_id) {
                $var_name  = 'option_id_'.$option_id;
                $options[] = $$var_name;
            }
        }

        return $options;
    }
}

Step 4: If enabled, refresh Magento's "Configuration" cache type under System -> Cache Management of the admin panel.

Extension overview

1. Extend the Mage_Catalog_Block_Product_View_Type_Configurable class.
2. Add a method to sort options by their position value by pulling this info from the database.
3. Rewrite the getJsonConfig method to call our new function after having gathered the options for an attribute.

Answer 2

Just to add my two cents, the other two answers did well to point me in fix's direction, but I thought I'd attack it at the source rather than the block presentation point.

You can achieve the same result by extending the Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Product_Type_Configurable_Attribute_Collection model's _loadPrices() method, which despite the name is where a change was made (presumably for performance) resulting in the attributes being ordered by ID rather than by relevance.

The change appears to have been made to avoid nested foreach statements, but in turn loses the correct order as well. This solution modifies the updated logic slightly to track the attribute options, then performs another loop based on the original order to actually do the adding.

Here's an adjusted walkthrough similar to meogi's answer above:

---

Step 1: Register a new module

Note: if you already have one, re-use an existing one.

# File: app/etc/modules/YourCompany_AttributeFix.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <YourCompany_AttributeFix>
            <active>true</active>
            <codePool>local</codePool>
            <depends>
                <Mage_Catalog />
            </depends>
        </YourCompany_AttributeFix>
    </modules>
</config>

Step 2: Create the module's configuration

# File: app/code/local/YourCompany/AttributeFix/etc/config.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <YourCompany_AttributeFix>
            <version>0.1.0</version>
        </YourCompany_AttributeFix>
    </modules>    
    <global>
        <models>
            <catalog_resource>
                <rewrite>
                    <product_type_configurable_attribute_collection>YourCompany_AttributeFix_Model_Resource_Product_Type_Configurable_Attribute_Collection</product_type_configurable_attribute_collection>
                </rewrite>
            </catalog_resource>
        </models>
    </global>
</config>

Step 3: Add the resource model extension

# File: app/code/local/YourCompany/AttributeFix/Model/Resource/Product/Type/Configurable/Attribute/Collection.php
/**
 * Catalog Configurable Product Attribute Collection - overridden to re-enable the attribute option
 * sorting by relevance rather than by ID as changed in the Magento core class
 */
class YourCompany_AttributeFix_Model_Resource_Product_Type_Configurable_Attribute_Collection
    extends Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Product_Type_Configurable_Attribute_Collection
{
    /**
     * Load attribute prices information
     *
     * @return Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Product_Type_Configurable_Attribute_Collection
     */
    protected function _loadPrices()
    {
        if ($this->count()) {
            $pricings = array(
                0 => array()
            );

            if ($this->getHelper()->isPriceGlobal()) {
                $websiteId = 0;
            } else {
                $websiteId = (int)Mage::app()->getStore($this->getStoreId())->getWebsiteId();
                $pricing[$websiteId] = array();
            }

            $select = $this->getConnection()->select()
                ->from(array('price' => $this->_priceTable))
                ->where('price.product_super_attribute_id IN (?)', array_keys($this->_items));

            if ($websiteId > 0) {
                $select->where('price.website_id IN(?)', array(0, $websiteId));
            } else {
                $select->where('price.website_id = ?', 0);
            }

            $query = $this->getConnection()->query($select);

            while ($row = $query->fetch()) {
                $pricings[(int)$row['website_id']][] = $row;
            }

            $values = array();

            foreach ($this->_items as $item) {
                $productAttribute = $item->getProductAttribute();
                if (!($productAttribute instanceof Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Attribute_Abstract)) {
                    continue;
                }
                $options = $productAttribute->getFrontend()->getSelectOptions();

                $optionsByValue = array();
                foreach ($options as $option) {
                    $optionsByValue[$option['value']] = $option['label'];
                }

                /**
                 * Modification to re-enable the sorting by relevance for attribute options
                 * @author Robbie Averill <robbie.averill@kathmandu.co.nz>
                 */
                $toAdd = array();
                foreach ($this->getProduct()->getTypeInstance(true)
                             ->getUsedProducts(array($productAttribute->getAttributeCode()), $this->getProduct())
                         as $associatedProduct) {

                    $optionValue = $associatedProduct->getData($productAttribute->getAttributeCode());

                    if (array_key_exists($optionValue, $optionsByValue)) {
                        $toAdd[] = $optionValue;
                    }
                }

                // Add the attribute options, but in the relevant order rather than by ID
                foreach (array_intersect_key($optionsByValue, array_flip($toAdd)) as $optionValueKey => $optionValue) {
                    // If option available in associated product
                    if (!isset($values[$item->getId() . ':' . $optionValue])) {
                        // If option not added, we will add it.
                        $values[$item->getId() . ':' . $optionValueKey] = array(
                            'product_super_attribute_id' => $item->getId(),
                            'value_index'                => $optionValueKey,
                            'label'                      => $optionsByValue[$optionValueKey],
                            'default_label'              => $optionsByValue[$optionValueKey],
                            'store_label'                => $optionsByValue[$optionValueKey],
                            'is_percent'                 => 0,
                            'pricing_value'              => null,
                            'use_default_value'          => true
                        );
                    }
                }
                /**
                 * End attribute option order modification
                 * @author Robbie Averill <robbie.averill@kathmandu.co.nz>
                 */
            }

            foreach ($pricings[0] as $pricing) {
                // Addding pricing to options
                $valueKey = $pricing['product_super_attribute_id'] . ':' . $pricing['value_index'];
                if (isset($values[$valueKey])) {
                    $values[$valueKey]['pricing_value']     = $pricing['pricing_value'];
                    $values[$valueKey]['is_percent']        = $pricing['is_percent'];
                    $values[$valueKey]['value_id']          = $pricing['value_id'];
                    $values[$valueKey]['use_default_value'] = true;
                }
            }

            if ($websiteId && isset($pricings[$websiteId])) {
                foreach ($pricings[$websiteId] as $pricing) {
                    $valueKey = $pricing['product_super_attribute_id'] . ':' . $pricing['value_index'];
                    if (isset($values[$valueKey])) {
                        $values[$valueKey]['pricing_value']     = $pricing['pricing_value'];
                        $values[$valueKey]['is_percent']        = $pricing['is_percent'];
                        $values[$valueKey]['value_id']          = $pricing['value_id'];
                        $values[$valueKey]['use_default_value'] = false;
                    }
                }
            }

            foreach ($values as $data) {
                $this->getItemById($data['product_super_attribute_id'])->addPrice($data);
            }
        }
        return $this;
    }
}

Step 4: Clear your cache

---

For reference, the actual change to the core class in a git diff would be below (do not directly edit core files!):

diff --git a/app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Model/Resource/Product/Type/Configurable/Attribute/Collection.php b/app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Model/Resource/Product/Type/Configurable/Attribute/Collection.php
index 135d9d3..4d2a59b 100644
--- a/app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Model/Resource/Product/Type/Configurable/Attribute/Collection.php
+++ b/app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Model/Resource/Product/Type/Configurable/Attribute/Collection.php
@@ -254,6 +254,11 @@ class Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Product_Type_Configurable_Attribute_Collection
                     $optionsByValue[$option['value']] = $option['label'];
                 }

+                /**
+                 * Modification to re-enable the sorting by relevance for attribute options
+                 * @author Robbie Averill <robbie.averill@kathmandu.co.nz>
+                 */
+                $toAdd = array();
                 foreach ($this->getProduct()->getTypeInstance(true)
                              ->getUsedProducts(array($productAttribute->getAttributeCode()), $this->getProduct())
                          as $associatedProduct) {
@@ -261,22 +266,31 @@ class Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Product_Type_Configurable_Attribute_Collection
                     $optionValue = $associatedProduct->getData($productAttribute->getAttributeCode());

                     if (array_key_exists($optionValue, $optionsByValue)) {
-                        // If option available in associated product
-                        if (!isset($values[$item->getId() . ':' . $optionValue])) {
-                            // If option not added, we will add it.
-                            $values[$item->getId() . ':' . $optionValue] = array(
-                                'product_super_attribute_id' => $item->getId(),
-                                'value_index'                => $optionValue,
-                                'label'                      => $optionsByValue[$optionValue],
-                                'default_label'              => $optionsByValue[$optionValue],
-                                'store_label'                => $optionsByValue[$optionValue],
-                                'is_percent'                 => 0,
-                                'pricing_value'              => null,
-                                'use_default_value'          => true
-                            );
-                        }
+                        $toAdd[] = $optionValue;
                     }
                 }
+
+                // Add the attribute options, but in the relevant order rather than by ID
+                foreach (array_intersect_key($optionsByValue, array_flip($toAdd)) as $optionValueKey => $optionValue) {
+                    // If option available in associated product
+                    if (!isset($values[$item->getId() . ':' . $optionValue])) {
+                        // If option not added, we will add it.
+                        $values[$item->getId() . ':' . $optionValueKey] = array(
+                            'product_super_attribute_id' => $item->getId(),
+                            'value_index'                => $optionValueKey,
+                            'label'                      => $optionsByValue[$optionValueKey],
+                            'default_label'              => $optionsByValue[$optionValueKey],
+                            'store_label'                => $optionsByValue[$optionValueKey],
+                            'is_percent'                 => 0,
+                            'pricing_value'              => null,
+                            'use_default_value'          => true
+                        );
+                    }
+                }
+                /**
+                 * End attribute option order modification
+                 * @author Robbie Averill <robbie.averill@kathmandu.co.nz>
+                 */
             }

             foreach ($pricings[0] as $pricing) {

This is also on GitHub if anyone wants it for reference.

Edit: I've also logged this as a bug with Magento.

Answer 3

This is not really a proper fix but it's what I've done temporarily to avoid having to go back to 1.9.0.1 until the next Magento release hopefully fixes the issue properly. It will sort the option values alphabetically, you could of course sort by anything you want but I don't know how to access the sort order set in the backend and alphabetically is good enough for my purposes.

Change the file

/app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Block/Product/View/Type/configurable.php

Change line 215

if($this->_validateAttributeInfo($info)) {
   $attributes[$attributeId] = $info;
}

to

usort($info['options'], function ($a,$b)
    {
        return strcmp($a['label'],$b['label']);
    }
);
if($this->_validateAttributeInfo($info)) {
   $attributes[$attributeId] = $info;
}