Magento 2 Add Product Attribute Programmatically

In this article, we will find out how to create a product attribute in Magento 2 programatically. As you know, Magento 2 manage Product by EAV model, so we cannot simply add an attribute for product by adding a column for product table. Please read the article Magento 2 EAV model to understand about this.

Before we start with this, please read the article Magento 2 Install/Upgrade script to know how to create a module setup class.

Overview of Adding Product Attribute Programmatically

• Step 1: Create file InstallData.php
• Step 2: Define the install() method
• Step 3: Create custom attribute

In this article, we will use the Mageplaza HelloWorld module to learn how to add a product attribute.

Step 1: Create file InstallData.php

We will start with the InstallData class which located in app/code/Mageplaza/HelloWorld/Setup/InstallData.php. The content for this file:

<?php
namespace Mageplaza\HelloWorld\Setup;

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

class InstallData implements InstallDataInterface
{
	private $eavSetupFactory;

	public function __construct(EavSetupFactory $eavSetupFactory)
	{
		$this->eavSetupFactory = $eavSetupFactory;
	}
	
}

Step 2: Define the install() method

<?php
	
public function install(ModuleDataSetupInterface $setup, ModuleContextInterface $context)
{
	
}

Step 3: Create custom attribute

Here are all lines code of InstallSchema.php to create product attribute programmically.

<?php
namespace Mageplaza\HelloWorld\Setup;

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

class InstallData implements InstallDataInterface
{
	private $eavSetupFactory;

	public function __construct(EavSetupFactory $eavSetupFactory)
	{
		$this->eavSetupFactory = $eavSetupFactory;
	}
	
	public function install(ModuleDataSetupInterface $setup, ModuleContextInterface $context)
	{
		$eavSetup = $this->eavSetupFactory->create(['setup' => $setup]);
		$eavSetup->addAttribute(
			\Magento\Catalog\Model\Product::ENTITY,
			'sample_attribute',
			[
				'type' => 'text',
				'backend' => '',
				'frontend' => '',
				'label' => 'Sample Atrribute',
				'input' => 'text',
				'class' => '',
				'source' => '',
				'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' => ''
			]
		);
	}
}

As you can see, all the addAttribute method requires is:

• The type id of the entity which we want to add attribute
• The name of the attribute
• An array of key value pairs to define the attribute such as group, input type, source, label…

All done, please run the upgrade script php bin/magento setup:upgrade to install the module and the product attribute sample_attribute will be created. After run upgrade complete, please run php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy and go to product from admin to check the result. it will show like this:

If you want to remove product attribute, you can use method removeAttribute instead of addAttribute. It will be like this:

public function install(ModuleDataSetupInterface $setup, ModuleContextInterface $context)
    {
        $eavSetup = $this->eavSetupFactory->create(['setup' => $setup]);
        $eavSetup->removeAttribute(
          \Magento\Catalog\Model\Product::ENTITY,
           'sample_attribute');
    }