How to add extra attributes specific to a product?

Question

I am trying to figure out how could I achieve the same structure as: http://catalog.uk.toolstore.com/#/?search=0349-0109

The table below the description varies from product to product and it has different attributes. Some of the attributes (like 'Art. no.' or 'Weight') are always there while others vary from product to product (one product has a 'Bits for hex holes' attribute while another does not).

The question is, how could I add extra attributes, specific to a particular product, so on the product page I could see a list of attributes similar to the one in the example?

Answer 1

I had to solve the same issue. The way I handled it was to create tokenized strings in a single attribute and parse them accordingly.

Answer 2

In your comment above you state that you don't want to create an attribute set for each product.

You still could create an attribute set that contains all of the attributes that you need. You would then create attributes that don't necessarily need to be filled in.

When you don't want to show these attributes when they are empty, you could apply what is described in this post. It's basically about filtering out the empty-valued attributes.

Answer 3

You need to add new attribute through install script like this:

$installer->addAttribute(
    Mage_Catalog_Model_Product::ENTITY,
    'attribute_name',
    array(
        'type'                    => 'int',
        'label'                   => 'Attribute Title',
        'input'                   => 'boolean',
        'class'                   => '',
        'group'                   => 'Prices',
        'apply_to'                => 'configurable',
        'global'                  => Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Eav_Attribute::SCOPE_STORE,
        'visible'                 => true,
        'required'                => false,
        'user_defined'            => false,
        'default'                 => '',
        'searchable'              => false,
        'filterable'              => false,
        'comparable'              => false,
        'visible_on_front'        => true,
        'unique'                  => false,
    )
);

The key thing is:

'visible_on_front' => true,

There is a specific block wich renders all attributes that has that option set to TRUE.

Or you can edit the property for already existed attribute from admin page Catalog -> Attributes -> Manage Attributes: